United Way of Cullman County Annual Meeting

Gabrielle, Maddie, Allison, Lily and Lexi recently performed the flag ceremony for the United Way of Cullman County's annual meeting.

Tuscaloosa Girl Earns Gold Award with Earthapalooza

Caroline earned her Gold Award by organizing an Earth Day Festival (Earthapalooza) held at Paul W. Brant High School and creating six recycling bins for the Schools. Earthapalooza addressed ways that young people can help the environment. Ten different organizations held booths and eco-friendly activities on her school’s football field. She also had a quest speaker from Al Gore’s The Climate Project speak to the students. Approximately 420 students attended and 40 students volunteered with the event. Not only did she help teach others on taking care of our environment, but Caroline and partner Amie Katherine Lemley created recycling bins to make it easier for people to actually take action. “The best part was seeing our students, teachers and clubs come together over this issue,” said Caroline. “Knowing that it had all been put together by students was extraordinary.”

Caroline is a Senior at Paul W. Bryant High School and will graduate with an Advance Academic High School Diploma. Caroline is the daughter of Robert and Fern of Tuscaloosa.

Operation Greener and Cleaner

Amie Katherine earned her Gold Award by providing education and awareness for high school students. She partnered with Caroline Meintzer on the project “Greener and Cleaner.” Amie’s main task was to build and design wooden recycling bins that would organize their school’s recycling shed. She also built drop-off bins for families who don’t have curbside recycling pickup. “Our whole school is being impacted by the recycling bins that we have set up in our school recycling shed as well as those stationed in the back parking area of our school,” Amie states. “The most successful aspect of my project was the positive influence that it had on exciting the students to become more environmentally aware.”

Amie is a sophomore at Paul W. Bryant High School and she is the daughter of Danny and Norma of Tuscaloosa County.

Girl Scouts Around the World Reach Out to Their Haitian Sisters

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Haitians and their friends and families as they begin the process of managing the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake. As always, Girl Scouts want to take action to help those in need. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) has issued a list of organizations that are accepting donations for relief efforts to not only help sister Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, but all Haitians. Below are a couple of items from the list. The complete list of organizations and a list of how Girl Scouts around the world are taking action to help can be found here. It is at times like these that Girl Scouts throughout the world come together in sisterhood and to take action to help those in need. We have seen our Movement rally in support of the victims of natural disasters over the years, and we know that all of us in Girl Scouting will do everything we can to help Haiti and its people in the weeks and months ahead.

Contribute to the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) Haiti Solidarity Fund or the Les Scouts et Guides de France Haiti Fund

Contribute to this year’s World Thinking Day Fund, where WAGGGS is focusing on five specific countries; Haiti, Georgia, Maldives, Sudan and Zimbabwe. The WTD Fund supports the work of WAGGGS globally, it is not exclusively dedicated to Haiti or disaster relief. However, part of the funding raised will go to Haiti in 2010 and specific projects agreed upon by Haiti and WAGGGS. You can find details on the World Thinking Day website.

Girl Scouts Have Cents/Sense

The Alabama Council of Economic Education and Auburn University in Montgomery hosted a Dollars and Sense workshop at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham for the Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama. Girls learned about international currency and how to calculate exchange rates, how to fill out a credit card application and learned about interest rates. The girls also explored investment options and participated in activities that demonstrated the correlation between risk and return and learned about the importance of diversifying their funds. Thanks to The Daniel Foundation, Sterne Agee and Energen for their support in this program.

Pictured: Older Girl Scouts learning about international currency

Shelby County Girl Chosen For National Honor

Girl Scouts of the USA has named Hanna, an Ambassador Girl Scout and a Chelsea High School Senior, as a 2009 National Young Women of Distinction for extraordinary leadership demonstrated through her remarkable community service projects.

Hanna was one of 10 Girl Scouts in the nation chosen for this honor. “This honor completes a goal I set in the seventh grade at the Atlanta National Girl Scout Convention,” states Hanna. “I sat in the sessions and looked at these young women on the stage describing their accomplishments and I set a goal that I would be one of these young women. I also hope the honor will bring more people to view my book about dyslexia, Help For Hanna, which can be found at web.me.com/hannajc.”

"The 2009 National Young Women of Distinction epitomize Girl Scouting as the world's best leadership experience for girls," says Trish Coghlan, CEO of the Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama. "By discovering, connecting and taking action, Hanna has defined what it means to be a female leader in today's global society."

Girl Scouts of the USA and an external committee comprised of high-profile professional women selected 10 National Young Women of Distinction from hundreds of applicants who had already earned the Girl Scout Gold Award. Each honoree has spent one to two years on a community service project that has far-reaching effects in her community and beyond.

For her Gold Award project that earned her this unique honor, Hanna wrote a book to explain the problems she suffers with dyslexia so that teachers and parents could become more familiar with the symptoms. Hanna did a great deal of research and conducted several interviews with experts on dyslexia. She was also responsible for raising the funds to publish her book and did so by participating in the Girl Scouts’ Fall Product Sale and using her earnings to pay for the materials.

“The most important thing I learned from earning my Gold Award was that you need others to help with large projects and that it is important not to procrastinate,” said Hanna.

Hanna will have the opportunity to attend the National Corporate Leadership Meeting, which is a meeting of GSUSA executive staff, GSUSA National Board of Directors, Council CEO’s, and Council Board Chairs. Hanna will now also serve as a National Girl Consultant to consult both National Board members and Girl Scouts of the USA staff members.

“I want to have a voice in the Girl Scouting Program, and being a National Girl Consultant will give me this voice. I have ideas for keeping older girls in Girl Scouting and want to share them.

Hanna encourages girls to stay with Girl Scouting because it allows them to be themselves.

“Girls are not judged by how smart or pretty they are, or if they go to a special classroom. Girl Scouting accepts everyone. They are allowed to develop their talents and by the time girls are in middle school, they run their own troop and plan their own activities. Girl Scouting gives them a place to express themselves and make lifelong friends.”

North Alabama Women of Distinction Luncheon Kicks-Off!

GSNCA has kicked off the planning for its North Alabama Women of Distinction Luncheon. The Women of Distinction program pays tribute to women who have made special contributions to their community through civic, academic or professional involvement. In addition to the outstanding women being honored, GSNCA will honor the Gold Awardees from the past year. The Luncheon will be held on March 26th at the University of Alabama-Huntsville University Center Exhibit Hall and will honor women in Madison, Morgan, Limestone, Lawrence, Jackson, Winston, Cullman, Marshall, DeKalb, Franklin, Colbert and Lauderdale counties.

This years’ Women of Distinction Luncheon chair is Dawn Stanley. Nomination forms and more details are available by clicking here. Tickets to the event will be $25 for Girl Scout members and $40 for general admission tickets.

Photo: Janet Kincherlow-Martin, Sally Barnett and Dawn Stanley (chair). Not pictured: Candy Burnett, Marion Cox, Kay Eastin, Patricia Hartley, Chana Johnson, Vicky Kirby, Mabry Miller, Jennie Robinson and Lisa Washington.