I Can’t Wait to… Volunteer!

I Can’t Wait to… Volunteer!!

By Donna Rivera-Downey

Girl Scouts of the USA is introducing a new recruitment campaign that allows girls and adults to complete the sentence “I Can’t Wait to…” I would complete the sentence with the word Volunteer!

I am a natural born volunteer and I have been doing it a long time. I think it started when I was a child in Girl Scouting, I built upon my experiences in high school when I was in the Volunteer Club, the sorority I belonged to in college always performed community service and when I started my professional career, I worked for large corporations that had organized employee give back days. Today, I belong to Rotary, serve on my library board and I’m a member of several professional organizations as well.

The volunteer experience that I value the most was my time as a Girl Scout Leader. I loved being a Girl Scout as a child and wanted my daughter to have an experience she would treasure as well. As one of the few full time working moms at the time, I didn’t want to be the Troop Leader so I volunteered to be a helping mom who brought snack to the Daisy Troop meetings or chaperoned the trips. When my daughter was a Brownie, I was the Troop’s Fall Products coordinator (now called Mags&Munchies). When my daughter was ready to bridge to Juniors, her Leaders decided they were not returning for a variety of reasons and the existing Junior troop needed a Troop Leader… so I finally raised my hand and took the training to become a Troop Leader. It was the best investment of time I could have made. I got to spend more time with my daughter, I met some great women who have become my lifelong friends and I helped other girls become confident and caring young women.

Today, there are so many ways to be a Girl Scout Volunteer. Yes, we still need troop leaders, but we also need volunteers who can help out at one day events, or who can share special skills like sewing, gardening or robot building. We need volunteers who can be role models for girls in non-traditional career paths like scientists, computer programmers, auto mechanics and engineers. 

If you had to fill out the sentence “I can’t wait to …" could you see yourself filling the blank with “volunteer"? If yes, then you need to contact us and we will find a way to help you fulfill your potential as a volunteer!

Girl Scouts of Nassau County’s Volunteer Interest Indicator>>