Girl Scouts voice need for volunteers at Rotary meeting
Jeannine LeJeune is the online editor for the Crowley Post-Signal. She can be reached at jeannine.lejeune@crowleytoday.com or 337-783-3450.
Girl Scouts USA has made it the organization’s mission to become better known in the past few years, but those familiar with the program have known the good it can do for years now.
But as that message has grown, so has interest and the need for volunteers.
That continues to be the case in Acadia Parish. Membership Specialist for Girl Scouts of Louisiana Pines to the Gulf Kim Heckard spoke to the Rotary Club of Crowley Tuesday with that message ringing loud and clear: The organization needs volunteers of all kinds.
“We have a few very dedicated volunteers in Acadia Parish,” she said, “but, we need more.”
Currently, according to Heckard, there are six troops serving 132 girls in Acadia, but for the number of girls in Acadia Parish, the organization can serve many, many more.
The Louisiana Pines to the Gulf Council actually serves 42 parishes, all west of the Mississippi River. It is headquartered in Lafayette with service centers in Shreveport and Monroe and satellite offices in Lake Charles and Alexandria. The council also maintains two camp properties — Camp Wawbansee in north Louisiana and Camp Bon Temps in south Louisiana.
Girl Scouts, in general, is for girls in just about all grade levels, starting with the Daisy level (grades kindergarten and first), through Ambassador level (11th and 12th graders) with Brownie (second and third), Junior (fourth and fifth), Cadette (sixth through eighth) and Senior (ninth and 10th) in between.
For those 18 years and older, however, volunteering is the routem said Heckard.
As Girl Scouts is a volunteer-based organization, it is perhaps the most integral part of the organization. Without volunteers to deliver the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and put the organization’s mission to work, it could not and would not exist.
There are many ways to volunteer with Girl Scouts and it all depends on how much time a person has to give to the organization. You can be a troop leader, or even co-leader, host a small group of girls for a series of worship or help out for a day at a camp.
If anyone would like more information about volunteering or would like to volunteer their time, contact Heckard at 337-497-0791 or kheckard@girlscoutspinestogulf.org.