We have:
l sponsored a Bring a Friend to rally, where Girl Scouts
are encouraged to talk about their Girl Scouting adventures
to their friends. After the rally, each girl who brought
a friend receives a thank you incentive from the service
unit
l asked our Girl Scouts to wear their uniforms/vests to
school on rally days to promote Girl Scouting and
as a physical reminder of the event.
l let older girls earn leadership hours by taking the
new recruits to an adjacent room to teach them Girl Scout
songs, crafts, and games, beginning new Girl Scout traditions,
and allowing parents to fill out paperwork and get their
questions answered.
l set out a showcase of G.S. memorabilia-such as a quilt
made from T-shirts of past events, troop scrapbooks, a
swap board, vests with badges and patches, a backboard
of photos of service unit/Council activities, a map
of our Council and the World Centers for parents and girls
to preview.
l had flags on tables with the grade and level clearly
posted to facilitate forming troops.
l shown a brief video of Girl Scout activities which included
stressing the vital role of volunteers, for both
male and female adults, and the wonderful support
through trainings, consultants, service units, and the
Council.
Sharon
Takahasi
Western Horizon Service Unit |
Last year we had a day long rally which was a lot of fun.
We invited girls from neighboring schools to come and get
a taste of Girl Scouts. We had a cooking rotation, songs
and games, craft, and a flag ceremony. It was like a
miniature Twilight/Day camp.
Hilda Besa
Enchanted Forest
The most sucessfull
rally we ever had:
We enlisted an enthusiastic troop leader who happened
to be involved in the PTA
at the school where the rally was held.
She actually had a slide show presentation
and personal stories to encourage parents to join as well.
Penny Abston
Golden Embers |
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I have organized the Baybreeze rally for
8 years. We have made goal almost every year. Here is the formula
that seems to work best for us:
* Schedule the date the week after the first flyer handout day
(Clear Creek School District only allows flyers to be sent home
with students once every nine weeks.)
* Have the rally signs near the schools the week before rally.
*Have your rally on Sunday afternoon between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
There is more attendance on Sunday than on weekday
evenings.
* An open house style of program works better for us than a
group presentation. With the open house, parents can come in,
register and leave. It also allows more one-on-one time with
parents who ask questions.
*Have a fun craft or activity for the girls to do while the
parents are filling out paper work. Give these new girls a fun,
first experience with Girl Scouts. Make sure you have plenty
of older Girl Scouts to meet new girls and do the activity with
them. (Great service hours for the older girls.)
* Give a little gift (pencil or trinket) to the girls when they
register. (There is a reason that McDonalds puts a toy in the
Happy Meal!) Also make sure to have enough to give the girls
working a “Thank You” gift.
* Have plenty of adult volunteers. We usually have an area where
volunteers are at tables with all the forms. Offer parents plenty
of room to sit and fill out the paperwork. Have telephone
books and plenty of ink pens available!
* We then have a checkout table, where the paperwork is
checked to made sure it is filled out correctly. Fees are taken.
* Have different Girl Scout displays set up, such as camping,
SWAPs, Girl Scout Dolls, troop activities, old uniforms (mothers
love this one...“this was the kind of uniform I wore.”)
* Have light refreshments available.
* Some years we have had tables set up at parent information
nights at the various schools. Our new girl recruitment numbers
are about the same with or without these mini events.
Cindy Forsyth
Baybreeze Service Unit |
At this year’s rally, Windchimes Service
Unit made the decision not to try to recruit mothers as
troop leaders. Instead we told everyone that we had a troop
for every girl and the mothers are to come to the troop
meetings. One week after the rallies we had every girl
and mother come to one school with a very large room and
tables and divided the girls into grade levels. We told them
about Girl Scouting and taught both the girls and mothers the
Girl Scout Promise and Law and chose some for a flag ceremony.
After seeing how a flag ceremony was conducted, each grade
level was given a card with instructions and each performed
the flag ceremony several times. For the next 8 weeks
we met like this and did crafts, songs, games, try-its
and badge work. During these weeks we identified the strong
take charge mothers and recruited new leaders and trained them.
On Daisy’s Birthday (Oct. 31) we had a large investiture
ceremony with candles and a birthday party where everyone
brought a gift of a craft supply for their new troop.
This was the last large group meeting and now the troops formed
are well functioning on their own. We had Cadettes and Seniors
helping with the large group to show the mothers how easy it
is to run a troop. These girls earned much needed leadership
hours. This was a great success and I would recommend this approach
to every service unit. The trick here is to be prepared
with a schedule for 8-10 weeks and have back up plans.
I further recommend not running the group meetings longer
than 8-10 weeks so the new leaders do not depend on you for
everything. That first step is still scary. You also need many
dedicated leaders to help and encourage the mothers.
Rosie Haffemann
Windchimes Service Unit
Our rallies are so
successful because we have the Girl Scout flyers
put in
EVERY folder in each of our elementary schools a week
before the rally. Even the boys get one. You never know,
he may have a sister that goes to another school and maybe
she’d like to join as well. Also, it gives the mom
a chance to become an adult volunteer or leader even
if she lives in
an “all boy house.” The day of the rally we
have Girl Scout leaders stand outside and put a “I
want to be a Girl Scout” sticker on each girl’s
shirt as she leaves to go home.
April Zannone
Sunshine Meadows MRC |
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