Volunteer Connections by Girl Scouts of Nassau County

What happens when you give a group of Girl Scouts and their friends with little or no experience, tools, and tell them to help build a house for a week? You get a 60' x 5’ sidewalk trench, a full room of sheet rock and hundreds of square feet of newly hung siding. Well, at least that is what happened when Valley Stream Girl Scout Troop 2053 , led by Lorraine Pergola and JoAnn Scala, spent the week working for Habitat for Humanity in Salem, New Jersey. After years together as a troop, the girls decided that they wanted to do something meaningful before they went their separate ways and with everyone entering either college or senior year of high school, this would be the last chance to do something together as a group. They decided that with the money they had raised from years of cookie sales that they wanted to do something that would introduce them to a new experience while helping those in need at the same time. Habitat for Humanity was the obvious choice as it offered a great ...

Being a girl has been a different row to hoe for females across the years, and across cultures and continents. In many ways today girls in twenty-first century USA have reached parity with males and even moved ahead in a few areas. But the pressure to succeed, to meet the expectations set for girls by their parents, their schools, their peers and the relentless onslaught of the media to look and act and consume in certain proscribed ways has never been as rough for girls as it is today. When girls lack confidence and courage they are more at risk for their physical, social and emotional health. The obesity crisis rises up against the pandering of the media for girls to grow up too quickly, to buy things that they do not need, to conform to images of beauty that may be totally unreal and unattainable. When girls do not feel confident and safe, they are more likely to miss school, and engage in behaviors that put themselves and their communities at risk. Girl Scouts are addressing thes...

It was a dark and stor my night on Wedne sday even ing, July 21, the last night of C amp Blue Bay’s Session #2. An alleged water spout traveled through Gardiners Bay on the East End of Long Island, wrecking havoc on the Springs section of East Ha mpton, and hitting our property. Rains pour e d and winds blew. Trees fell over. When the storm passed after less than a half hour, the Camp was dark. Very dark. First, as the storm began, our staff acted quickly to move all the girls inside t he Activity Building for their safety. All of the girls and staff remained safe throughout the night. The storm too k out power and phone service. A few staff were able to use their ce ll phones, but then the power outage rendered the cell phone towers out of service. The Counselors kept th e girls singing for hours and hours , until they fell asleep on the floor. Some girls were a little shaken, but everyone of them was safe and well, and they have the stories to tell for many years to co...