Spotlight on Community Outreach

Annual report receives Gold Addy Award

GSSJC’s 2002 Annual Report took home a Gold Addy at the 42nd annual Houston Advertising Federation Addy Awards. The Gold Addy is the highest award conferred by the Houston Advertising Federation. Limb Designs, the firm responsible for the design of the Annual Report, took home a total of eight Addys in 2004.

The Addy Awards, sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, are the industry’s largest graphic design competition. Addys honor excellence in advertising and encourage the highest creative standards.
  More than 1,000 corporations have viewed GSSJC’s annual report and the information included in it as a result of this honor.

Everyone has their own ideas about what Girl Scouting means. Many ideas are based on experiences as girls–laughter shared across a campfire, the excitement of delivering your first box of cookies, the huge sense of accomplishment as you receive that particularly hard-to-earn badge. All these experiences are meaningful, but for some girls Girl Scouting is literally a lifeline back to normal society.

One particularly touching program is held in partnership with the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department (HCJPD). Girls in HCJPD’s Serious Offender Unit–girls who have already been in trouble with the law–are placed in a Girl Scout troop that is run by their probation officers. Many of these girls come from broken and abusive homes, and many have had problems with drug abuse or teenage pregnancy.

Together, the girls and their leaders work on activities to give them the skills they need to cope with sexual harassment and dating violence, and increase their self-esteem. They also learn about first aid and CPR, go on field trips, and work on other traditional Girl Scout activities.

When their troop leaders took them to Camp Agnes Arnold for the first time last year, one of the girls commented on a group of younger Girl Scouts sitting in a circle on the floor singing and sharing. “I guess I really did miss out on my childhood,” she said. For these girls and so many more, Girl Scouting is the safety net that catches them when they might otherwise “slip through the cracks.” It gives them a chance to recapture part of the childhood they lost through gangs, drugs, and teen motherhood.

It only costs GSSJC $59 per girl to run the Harris County Juvenile Probation program. That’s a small price to pay for the smiles we put on these girls’ faces. Your donations to community outreach help GSSJC change the lives of our community’s most troubled girls, one life at a time. For that, Girl Scouts thank you!