It’s not just cookies!
Okay it’s a lot about cookies, but it’s NOT JUST COOKIES. Let’s goooo!
It’s NOT TOO LATE to register for World Thinking Day. This Saturday, Jan 11 at Camp Hidden Hammock from 9:30am – 1:30pm
Girls can earn the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts Thinking Day and Girl Scouts Global Action badges at this event for all levels.
Cost for girls will be $7.50 and adults $5
It’s not too late to register! Check the Camp Hidden Hammock website for registration information!
Registration closes on Wednesday, so get those registrations in ASAP!
Hooooo boy. Buckle up, here’s all the cookie sale information that’s fit to print.
Cookie Booth Lottery – Jan 20
Gemini’s cookie booth lottery – for service unit secured booths – will be on January 20. If you have not sent Gioella the email address that you intend to use with OnlineDraft to participate in the cookie lottery, please do so today. Use the link below to register for the booth lottery.
If this is your first year, or if you have not participated in the booth lottery before, you will need to register for an account at onlinedraft.com. Please ensure the email address that you have registered with OnlineDraft is the same email address that you send using the form above.
Cookie Delivery Day – Jan 25
Saturday, January 25 is cookie day! The cookie delivery will take place at Renaissance Charter School at Tradition on Saturday, January 25.
As always, we are at the mercy of the delivery company as to exactly when we can begin loading people’s vehicles, but we plan to get things moving by 8:30am.
Please IGNORE YOUR ASSIGNED DELIVERY TIME in eBudde and come to RCST as early as you can coordinate your drivers. We have a pretty well-oiled system here in Gemini and once things get moving we go pretty quickly: much more quickly than eBudde gives us credit for.
With luck, some skilled and speedy volunteers, and with the help and support of all of YOU we normally get done by 11:30ish.
Here are a few helpful tips to get the most out of cookie delivery day:
- Please bring your patience if you come right at 8:30. As stated, we are at the mercy of the delivery company’s schedule, and they occasionally run a little late on arrival. Once they offload, we have to count their delivery and agree that it is correct before we can start loading people’s cars so it sometimes takes a little bit to get going. But once we get going….. we go!
- When you arrive to RCST you will be directed into their car loop, and we will form two lines of cars so that we can load two groups at the same time.
- Please don’t enter the pickup queue until all of your drivers have arrived. We can’t fill partial orders so ensure you have enough folks to bring your cookies home and wait until they have all arrived before entering the line. We’ll have a small waiting area available at the head of the car loop if you need it.
- Please make sure your pick up vehicles are as empty as possible. The estimates for the number of cases that can fit in various sized vehicles are based on a single driver with no passengers, car seats, or extra “stuff” in the vehicle. If you can leave the little ones and the car seats at home, that helps. If not, consider recruiting another driver to help.
- Someone from the delivery team will count your cookies, and you will need to count them as well. Once everyone agrees that the correct number of cases have been counted out, then (and only then) will we start loading.
- Don’t forget to pick up your yard signs at the end of the line, once all your cookies have been loaded. We are strictly limited to TWO signs per troop this year, unless you bought extra.
Volunteers Needed
We will need volunteers to help with the cookie drop on Saturday, Jan 25. Adults and girls both can help, as long as you can lift boxes and count! The more help we have, the faster we can get people through so please talk to your troop and your parents about volunteering. Community Service hours and Service to Girl Scouting hours will be eagerly signed off in exchange for help. Please email Joe at [email protected] if you are willing and able to help on Saturday.
We also will need volunteers to help Barbara load the cookie cupboard stock into her house. There are a LOT of cookies that get dropped in her lap, and it’s usually during the work week on the week after the service unit mega drop. If you are able to help, please hold space for Barbara in the days after Jan 25, so that we can help get those cookies out of the sun! We will know the exact date of the cupboard delivery when we get closer, so please stay tuned to this email list and/or the Facebook group for that announcement.
Cookie Booths
We still need help securing cookie booths! Take a look at the service unit cookie booth spreadsheet and see if there’s a local business that we have not yet visited that you could talk to on our behalf. Details, booth permission forms, and related cookie sale information is all available on the service unit website.
Booth sales run Jan 30 – Mar 2
Whew! That wasn’t so bad, was it? And now for something completely different!
MORE NON-COOKIE RELATED BUSINESS!
GSSEF’s Adult Recognition nomination season is upon us! If you know someone in your troop or service unit who you feel deserves a shout out for the great and wonderful work that they do in the service of Girl Scouts, this is your opportunity to arrange for that shout out!
GSSEF offers a number of adult awards to honor volunteers both new and experienced. To read about the awards, the nomination criteria, and to nominate someone for an adult award, see the adult recognition page on GSSEF’s website.
If you need help with writing an endorsement letter, or need someone to write an additional letter to honor a volunteer, please reach out to one of the service unit team. We’d be happy to help!
GSSEF is offering a Troop Camp Training course this quarter. This is a great opportunity for those of you who don’t have a camp trained leader yet to get that training in before Ingathering!
The day course is on February 15 and the overnight course is March 1-2.
Register through myGS on the GSSEF website.
On March 1st, from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, the Junior Gardener Badge activity will take place at the Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens.
This event is open to all Junior Girl Scouts interested in participating. Only $3 per girl accompanying adult free.
Contact Melanie Caramma at [email protected] to register
Law Day 2025
The triumphant return of Law Day is close at hand!
Girl Scouts from Daisy to Ambassador spend a morning with actual judges and attorneys and get to experience first-hand our judicial system in action. This is a prestige event for GSSEF and Gemini Service Unit that you will not want to miss!
Save the date of April 26 for Law Day 2025!
And if your Junior or older Girl Scouts would like to get in on the action of planning and executing Law Day, planning committee meetings will take place at the PSL Moose Lodge from 6pm – 7:30pm on the following dates:
Tuesday, Jan 21
Tuesday, Feb 18
Tuesday, Mar 18
Tuesday, April 15
Register NOW for Ingathering 2025
We’ve extended our deadline to register for this year’s Escape to Ahbalufa to January 30!
Don’t sleep on this awesome service unit camporee experience!
It’s going to be in-tents!
This year’s Ingathering is called “Escape At Ahbalufa” and as you might have guessed it will take place at Camp Ahbalufa in Fort Piece on March 14 – 16, 2025.
The theme of this year’s Ingathering is mysteries, puzzle solving, and detective work, and we will be earning badges related to that theme for each level over the weekend.
Each campsite will be asked to contribute to the fun by designing an “escape room” style puzzle scenario or other mystery to solve within their campsite, to be experienced by the other troops / campsites who will all rotate through the various sites.
This is an excellent opportunity for new troops and younger troops to get a taste of the camping experience a little closer to home, while more experienced and older troops get to show of their creativity and enjoy the company of each other.
For everyone, it’s a fantastic time to make new friends and meet the old, as this is the one time every year that all our troops can come together!
FAQs, schedule, registration form and more are available at:
It’s a busy time of year! Thanks for being a part of it! Here are a few things to keep an eye out for on the horizon.
Shannon Wilson’s troop is planning a Journey in a Day event, possibly in April, to help support their troop.
If you find yourself doing any public-facing events, please let our community manager Jessica Gonzalez know. She can supply you with materials and swag you can hand out to folks!
That’s it for now! Have a great January and please reach out if you need anything!