Volunteer Connections by Girl Scouts of Nassau County

Over my career, I have worked alongside outstanding volunteers who make time in their lives, careers and families to take on the special leadership role of serving an organization as Chief Volunteer Officer.  The volunteer leadership of any not-for-profit organization has to have a balance of chutzpah and humility, a willingness to put herself in a spokesperson role, to put in time behind the scenes doing the schmoozing  and strategizing.  She has to believe passionately in the work of the organization.  Her reward is not dollars or glory, but the satisfaction of carrying on the legacy of the organization until it is time for the next person to step forward … I am proud to introduce Diane McFarlane, Esq., Girl Scouts of Nassau County’s new President and Chief Volunteer Officer! I have had the privilege of working with Diane for the past six years, first on the Council Nominating Committee, then as Member-at-Large of the Board of Directors and most recently as Executive Vice President

It’s almost time for camp … And from the ages of eight to twenty+, camp was the favorite part of my year. It was at sleep away camp that I could indulge in my active fantasy life. In my youngest years, at camp I was not the chunky, smart kid who was being raised by her aunt and uncle. At camp I was the smart, beautiful, athletic, artsy and somewhat wistful kid, and when her parents didn’t come on visiting day, it was easy to be busy in the craft shack, or otherwise occupied. Nobody asked. As I got older, I made summer friends that lasted into college – Kathy Bray was even my roommate one year – and in adulthood. In high school I became a camp counselor, a job where they paid me to go swimming and ride horses! … And all the way through college, I went back as a volunteer counselor for two weeks at the end of each summer at the Sertoma Camp for Handicapped Kids, held at Camp Winnataska in Alabama.I was lucky.  The camps I went to did not charge a lot of money, and a couple of summe

Most of the time I am going to use this space to tell you about the amazing things that Girl Scouting offers girls, about the host of issues that girls face in today’s world, and about some of our Girl Scouts – girls and adults – who are already making the world a better place.   Today I diverge a bit to remind people how valuable volunteering is to their communities, to their lives, and to their resumes. Girl Scouting only exists because of our dedicated volunteers.   Without the folks who GIVE their time and talent, there would be no Girl Scouts.    – If you already volunteer, I hope that you will use this as a reminder of how to tell your story by including your volunteer work as a valuable piece of your resume. If you are thinking of volunteering, consider the extra benefits… Whenever I have the privilege to speak one-on-one to thank our volunteers, they ALWAYS tell me how much more they get back than they give.   We know that is true in terms of personal satisfaction. VOLUNTEERING

I’m Donna Ceravolo, and I have the best job in the world as Executive Director/CEO of Girl Scouts of Nassau County.  We have 22K girls and 7K adult volunteers here in our jurisdiction; one out of every five girls between the ages of 5 and 17 are Girl Scouts here.  Nassau County is part of the suburbs of New York City; we are the first county to the east of the five Boroughs, in the middle of Long Island.  Nassau County is a compact 287 square miles, with a population of 1,350,000.  I have a great staff of about 60 people, but it is the 7,000 adult volunteers who make Girl Scouting possible here.     I’m always a Girl Scout, but I am also a wife, a mother (21 year-old son) and a good friend. Have a bulldog named Earl Warren, and a Laborado+Poodle named Yancy. My earliest career goal (at age 14) was to have a job where I got dressed-up and had someone else to clean my house, so by my count I’ve been pretty successful! I like to watch TV, read, travel, bake cakes...and there is the shoe t