Guest Blog: Volunteer Appreciation
It’s volunteer appreciation month! This month we’re celebrating the troop leaders, cookie parents, camp volunteers and more who make Girl Scout experiences possible for girls across north Florida. What better way to illustrate your impact than hearing it from the girls themselves?
Throughout the month, you’ll see videos on our social media channels of girls thanking volunteers. Today’s guest bloggers, Stella and Ellie, want to show their appreciation to volunteers who made an impact on their lives.
Cookie Champion by Stella B.
Have you ever bought Girl Scout Cookies? If so, did you think about where the girls store all their cookies or how they manage the money? To do this, we need our Volunteers!
A fabulous example of a volunteer is one of the leaders of Troop 2099, Jessica Carbee. Jessica began volunteering for Girl Scouts because she loves outdoor adventures including camping, kayaking, and hiking and has been a volunteer for five years. Jessica’s daughter is an only child and she wanted her to be able to make new friends. For Jessica, sharing her passion for the outdoors made Girl Scouts an easy choice.
In addition to being a Troop Leader, Jessica also holds the most important job in cookie sales: managing and storing the cookie inventory. She selflessly stored hundreds of cases of cookies for her troop in her home. At the beginning of 2023, she stored 7,480 boxes of cookies, which is about 623 cases! As you can imagine, this takes up a lot of space. It’s easy for her home to feel more like a Cookie Castle than a house, but that doesn’t stop Jessica!
Not only does she store the cookie inventory, but Jessica also handles all the money from our cookie business. Throughout cookie season, our troop is constantly visiting her home to pick up cookies and drop off money. According to Jessica, “In our earlier years, Troop 2099 would sell over 9,000 to 10,000 boxes.” Amazing!
Thanks to Jessica’s guidance, I was able to improve my business management skills and crush my cookie goal. Because of her, our troop will be able to complete our service project.
Jessica Carbee is really a hero in many ways and she is dedicated to our troop! Thank you, Jessica!
Homesickness Heroes by Ellie W.
This past summer, I went to my first sleep away camp at Camp Kateri. I went by myself without any friends, I didn’t know anyone, and I was really struggling with homesickness. For the first couple of nights, I was able to handle it by myself, but as more time passed, I got more and more homesick. Luckily, my amazing camp counselors, Cheese, Wolf, and Red supported me and helped me make it through the week.
When it got really difficult, Cheese spoke to me one-on-one and helped me calm down by playing tic-tac-toe with me. I think because it was something so familiar (in the midst of something unfamiliar) it made me feel better.
On Thursday, I was sure that I couldn't make it another day. But Wolf encouraged me, saying I was so close and had come so far, and she knew I could do it. Throughout the day, Red made sure we were always busy, meaning I didn't have time to think about how homesick I was. Red also made sure that we did activities I loved, like hiking and swimming, so if I left, I would be missing out on something I enjoyed doing.
I’m so thankful for my camp counselors! They helped me overcome my homesickness and have a great week at camp Kateri!
Want to give a shout-out to an amazing volunteer? Send it in, and it could be featured on our social media or blog!
Know a volunteer who’s gone above and beyond? Nominate them for a Volunteer Recognition! Act fast, the deadline is May 1.
