Volunteer Award Nominations

In light of today's Academy Award nominations, we'd like to remind you of our council's own award nominations!

February 1 is the deadline for all volunteer award nominations, so take some time and look at the volunteers in your service units. Who has gone above and beyond their job descriptions? Who has helped girls reach our council goals? Who has had an impact on service to girls and adult volunteers. Who has not been recognized for their commitment of time, efforts and resources donated to the Girl Scout organization?

It's time to nominate these extraordinary volunteers.

Find the Adult Recognitions booklet on our website and match the award criteria with the accomplishments of the volunteers on your list. Then, complete the appropriate nominations form and secure the required number of endorsement letters. Mail, fax or e-mail the nominations to your local Girl Scout Center (Toledo, Lima, Dayton or Cincinnati).

Don't forget the deadline is February 1.

(Remember: click here for the link to the booklet).

Today is THE day! Girl Scout cookies are on sale!

Today is the day we've all been waiting for...

The 2011 Girl Scout Cookie Sale has officially started!

From now until February 8, Girl Scouts in Western Ohio will be setting sales goals, asking friends and family to buy all Super Six varities of cookies and best of all, they'll be developing essential life skills and having fun!

This year, Girl Scouts of Western Ohio is proud to be part of a pilot program with Little Brownie Bakers - the Super Six! Our Girl Scouts will be selling six delicious varieties of cookies - Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, Trefoils, Do-si-dos and Lemon Chalet Cremes.

Some 'fun facts' about this year's Girl Scout Cookies:

• - Little Brownie Baker bakes more than 4.5 million Thin Mints PER DAY during peak baking times
• - LBB makes their own caramel for Samoas - the old fashioned way in copper kettles
• - Do-si-dos and Taglongs take 230,000 POUNDS of peanut butter. Per week.
• - Peanut butter creme is deposited on Do-si-do cookies at the rate of 2,800 cookies per minute!
• - A rotary die shapes Trefoils - there are 300 identical Trefoil shapes engraved in one rotary die. The die rotates 17 times a minute, equaling 5,100 cookies per minute!

And just in case you wanted to make a grocery list for a week's worth of baking Girl Scout Cookies...this is what you'd need:

• 21 truckloads of flour (1,050,000 pounds)
• 7 truckloads of shortening (300,000 pounds)
• 50,000 lbs of cocoa
• 500,000 lbs of chocolate coating
• 14.5 truckloads of sugar (650,000 pounds)
• 230,000 lbs of peanut butter
• 75,000 lbs of toasted coconut

Initial order taking for Girl Scout Cookies is Jan. 21 - Feb. 8. Cookies will be delivered Feb. 26 - March 3. And starting March 4 - booth sales!

Don't forget - every cookie has a mission ... to help girls do great things!

Need Girl Scout Cookies? There's an app for that!

Girl Scouts of Western Ohio is excited to annouce that we are part of a pilot program with Little Brownie Bakers offering a new Cookie Locator Mobile app for iPhones and Android phones.

Today - January 13 - the iPhone app has launched!

You can download the app (FREE!) at the iPhone App Store or by calling **GSCOOKIES (**472665437) from your iPhone.

(The Android app is launching soon, as is a mobile website for BlackBerry users).

Once you download the app you can sign up for cookie sale e-mail alerts, and you can search by ZIP code for cookie sales (booth sales) in your area. You can also discover your "cookie personality" with an interactive quiz and share the results via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail!

If you have downloaded the app, let us know what you think by leaving a comment!

Get cooking with Girl Scout Cookies!

Recently, the staff at the Toledo Girl Scout Center had a 'bake off' with one requirement - the recipe had to include Girl Scout Cookies.
We're sharing the "top secret" recipe for Girl Scout Cookie Peanut  Butter Truffles from Regional Director Angela Tennaro and a "Thin Mint Cheesecake" recipe from Program Services Specialist Allison Demkowski. (More recipes will be shared in a later blog post). If you have any great recipes using Girl Scout Cookies, please share them in the comments!

Girl Scout Cookie Peanut Butter Truffle
(made with Tagalongs and Do-si-dos)

1/2 pkg. (4 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 box Do-si-dos, finely crushed and divided
1 box Tagalongs, finely crushed
2 pkgs (8 squares EACH) BAKER'S semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Crush Do-si-dos and set aside (using a food processor makes this easy!)
Crush Tagalongs

Mix cream cheese, Tagalongs and all but 1/4 cup of crushed Do-si-dos until well blended. Shape into 1 inch balls. Dip in melted chocolate, place on wax paper covered baking sheet. Sprikle with remaining cookie crumbs. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.
Yields: approximately 36 truffles


Thin Mint Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/2 sleeves Thin Mint cookies
4 tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Grind Thin Mints in food processor until finely ground. Add melted butter and blend well. Press into bottom of springform pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool completely!

Filling:
4 8 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
4 eggs
8 squares BAKER'S semi-sweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
1 sleeve Thin Mints, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 325. Beat cream cheese, sugar and both extracts in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and mix until just blended. Stir in cooled, melted chocolate. Fold in Thin Mint chunks. Pour into cooled crust. Bake 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate several hours before serving.

Chef's note: This recipe can be made in a "regular" pie pan - just be sure to half the filling recipe so it doesn't overflow.

It's almost cookie time!

In a little more than a week, the 2011 Girl Scout Cookie Sale starts for Girl Scouts of Western Ohio.

We are proud to be a part of a pilot program with Little Brownie Bakers called the "Super Six." Our Girl Scouts will be selling six varieties of Girl Scout cookies - Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, Do-si-dos, Trefoils and Lemon Creme Chalets.

The 2011 Girl Scout Cookie Sale starts Friday, January 21!

(Graphic provided by Little Brownie Bakers)

Calling all prospecitve national council delegates!

If you are interested in being considered as a National Council Delegate or Alternate Delegate, please see details below. 
 

Every three years, each Girl Scout council in the country sends elected delegates to the National Council Meeting to assume one of the major rights and most serious responsibilities in Girl Scouting.  

The next National Council Meeting will be held in Houston, Texas, Nov. 10-13, and Girl Scouts of Western Ohio will be eligible to send 28 national council delegates to the meeting. 

In order to be inclusive, Girl Scouts of Western Ohio pays national council delegate expenses. However, individuals selected may choose to pay all or a portion of the cost to attend  Information will be provided at a later date for those individuals interested in attending the national council session as a visitor.

The role of the national council delegate has been studied by the national board of directors and the following criteria are recommended for selection of national council delegates:

1. Ability to think strategically and focus on the future of the Girl Scout Movement
2. Experience in policy-influencing and policy-making positions
3. Demonstrated knowledge about the workings of councils and the Movement
4. Ability to analyze issues from a national, as well as a council, perspective as National Council actions and decisions have national implications
5. Commitment to attending all council and GSUSA training sessions in order to be as informed as possible about the issues and democratic process used at the National Council Session
6. Willingness to support all the decisions of the National Council.

If you are interested in attending this meeting as a national council delegate, are a citizen of the United States, are a registered member of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., and are 14 years of age or older, please send a letter of application to the following address no later than January 7, 2011:

Girl Scouts of Western Ohio

4930 Cornell Road

Cincinnati, OH  45242

Attn:  Board Development Committee

Your letter of application should include the following: name, address, and phone number; present Girl Scout position and current occupation; other positions you have held in Girl Scouting and in the community; any awards or honors you have received within or outside of Girl Scouting; and a statement of 50 words or less on why you would make a good national council delegate for Girl Scouts of Western Ohio.

For more information visit our website here.

31 days until cookies...so, what can a cookie do?

For more than 80 years, Girl Scouts - with the enthusiastic support of their families - have helped ensure the success of local Girl Scout Cookie Sales. From its earliest beginnings to its current popularity, the sale of cookies has helped Girl Scouts have fun, develop valuable life skills, and make the world a better place by helping support Girl Scouting in their communities.

This year, Girl Scout cookies baked by Little Brownie Bakers are available in the Super Six flavors and are selling for $3.50 a box.

The Girl Scout Cookie Sale begins January 21, 2011.

The cookies are coming!

Are you craving some Thin Mints? Wishing you had just one more box of Samoas? Or maybe you asked Santa to bring you a few boxes of Tagalongs?

Rest assured.
The wait is almost over.

The 2011 Girl Scout Cookie Sale starts Friday, January 21 for Girl Scouts of Western Ohio.

And, this year we are excited to announce that Girl Scouts of Western Ohio is participating in a pilot program with Little Brownie Bakers - the Super Six. Our Girl Scouts will be selling six varieties of cookies - Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Do-si-dos and Lemon Chalet Cremes.

Girl Scouts make the Super Six special - and the special ingredients make them irresistible.

Did you know....

• Thin Mints are  made with real peppermint oil, never flavoring?
• The caramel in Samoas is made the old-fashioned way in big copper kettles?
• The peanut butter in Tagalongs comes from the same folks who supply Reese Peanut Butter Cups?
• Do-si-dos are made with rolled baby oats for a special kind of flavor experience?
• Trefoils are the original Girl Scout Cookie?

In a few weeks, our Girl Scouts will begin taking orders! Remember that all proceeds from Girl Scout cookies stay in the community. The proceeds fund vital services such as leadership training, camp operations and a variety of Girl Scout program initiatives.

Keep watching this blog for more news about the 2011 Girl Scout Cookie Sale!

The cookies are coming!
Are you ready?

The question: Why Girl Scouts?

The staff of the Toledo Girl Scout Center recently participated in an activity where they had to answer the question "Why Girl Scouts?" in 140 characters or less.

For those of you wondering "why 140 characters or less?" - it's because a tweet is limited to 140 characters and the "average" text message is 160 characters. It was a challenge - know what you want to say and inspire your readers...but be brief!

The following are some of the 140 character (more or less) responses from the Toledo teams (each "team" was made up of two people from different functions).

Today, Girl Scouts learn leadership skills, develop meaningful friendships and make a difference in their community. What did you do today?


Why not Girl Scouts? The possibilities are endless. Fun, friendship, adventure, service, leadership, travel! It's more than you could ever imagine!


Who wants to have fun? Have new adventures? New experiences? Gain confidence and leadership skills? Girl Scouts is the place for YOU!


Leadership. All girl environment. Friendship. Fun. Educational. Diversity. Values. Excitement. Sisterhood. Why not Girl Scouts? The sky's the limit.


Girl Scouts helps girls learn about themselves, build confidence, self-esteem. Learn the value of giving while developing life-long values.


The Girl Scout experience helps girls build friendships and skills that last a lifetime. Join and be inspired to be your best.

Thanks to the staff of the Toledo Girl Scout Center for answering the question "Why Girl Scouts?"