LITTLE ROCK — Members of The Sisters Girl Scout Service Unit in Pope and Yell counties will join Girl Scouts worldwide in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the organization, noting 2012 as “The Year of the Girl.”
Statewide activities will begin Friday and continue through March 11 in Little Rock to celebrate the March 12 birthday of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, but local troops will hold a variety of activities as well.
The Sisters Service Unit will “Paint the Town Green” during the celebration, which begins Friday and includes Girl Scout Week, March 11-17.
“We have about 22 troops in our service unit,” said Debbie Davis of Dardanelle, director of The Sisters Service Unit. “We have one troop each in Plainview, Danville, Dardanelle, Hector, Dover and London; two troops in Atkins; and the rest are in Russellville. We will have to get permission from the mayors of these towns to ‘Paint the Town Green.’ We hope to get proclamations from the mayors as well.”
The service unit will also hold a Girl S cout Bir t hday Tea at 3 p.m. March 17 in the Fellowship Hall of the Dardanelle Church of Christ.
“All current Girl Scouts and all alumnae are invited to come,” she said. “We ask that they bring any memorabilia they might have to share with us. Anyone who wishes to participate may call me at (479) 229-1757. We’re hoping for a big turnout.”
Davis said the tea will begin with a flag ceremony and, hopefully, will include a speech by Dardanelle Mayor Carolyn McGee.
“We will also play games that Juliette Gordon Low might have played with her troops,” she said.
L ow founded t he Girl Scouts organization on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Ga.
Refreshments at the tea will include a birthday cake, a drink fountain, a chocolate fountain and cookies made from an original recipe by Low.
There will also be a balloon drop/release.
Girls will be asked to wear their Girl Scout vests or uniforms on Girl Scout Sunday, March 11.
Many of the local Scouts will attend events in LittleRock, set for Friday, Saturday and March 11 at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center. The 100th Birthday Bash Spectacular is co-hosted by the Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas Council and the Clinton Center.
The event on Saturday will kick off the Girl Scout history exhibit featuring unique artifacts, vintage uniforms and photos representing every decade since the 1910s. The exhibit will be open through April 1.
At 2 p.m. Saturday, all Girl Scout alumnae (present and former adult Girl Scouts 18 and older) are invited to an Alumnae Tea in the Great Hall. At 3 p.m., girls and alumnae will gather for a brief ceremony marking theofficial “Bridging to the 2nd Century of Girl Scouting” and will walk across the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge to symbolize entry into the next 100 years of Girl Scouting.
Other Girl Scout troops in the River Valley & OzarkEdition coverage area are planning activities as well. They include the following:
Faulkner County - The Faulkner C ounty S er vice Unit, which serves not only Faulkner County but also Perry and Conway counties, will hold a Girl Scout Celebration from 1-4 p.m. April 22 in Simon Park in Conway. Refreshments will be available.
The event will feature displays of Girl Scout memorabilia.
“We invite the community to come and reminisce with us,” said Susan Eggert, unit treasurer and product sales and program manager. “We have some historians here in Conway working on the project. This display will also be set up at the Faulkner CountyLibrary on April 1.”
Cleburne County - Donna Shrader of Heber Springs, director of the Lakes and Rivers Service Unit, said the Girl Scouts will hold a cookie sale at the Walmart in Heber Springs on Saturday, and therest of the girls will attend the event in Little Rock. She said there are 15 troops in her service unit.
Van Buren, Stone and Searcy counties - Girl Scouts in the four troops of the Buffalo River Service Unit in Van Buren, Stone and Searcy counties will host a birthday party from 2-4 p.m. March 24 in Yellowjacket Hall at Mountain View High School. Activities will include “Juliette’s Trunk,” which will feature a variety of games that might have been played in the early 1900s.
“Games include tying knots, a Game of Grace and Semaphore Flags,” said Kelly Wood of Fayetteville, membership marketing specialist for the Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma andTexas Council that is based in Harrison. “The girls will be experiencing things that the first troops might have done in 1912.”
City of Maumelle - Lois Bolen of Maumelle, director of the Dogwood Service Unit,said members of the 10 Girl Scout troops in Maumelle will attend the activities in Little Rock,
Adults who support Girl Scouts are invited April 14 to attend the 100th anniversary dinner, Girl Scout Reflections: 100 Years of Honoring Women. The event will be held at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock, and reservations are available by contacting the council at (800) 632-6894, ext. 5832, or by making reservations online at girlscoutreflections.eventbrite.com.
In honor of the contributions Girl Scouts have made over the last 100 years, Reflections will honor selected Women of Impact from communities across the council area and will feature a keynote address by Dr. Robyn Silverman. Silverman is a child/ teen development specialist, body image/body bullying expert, sought-after-speaker and award-winning writer known for her no-nonsenseyet positive approach to helping young people and their families thrive.
Reservations are available at three levels, beginning at $100 per person. More information about this event can be found on the Diamonds website at www.girlscoutsdiamonds.org or by calling (800) 632-6894.
Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas serves approximately 18,000 members and includes all counties in Arkansas except Crittenden; three counties in Oklahoma; and two counties in Texas.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 185 on 03/04/2012