CEO Welcome

Welcome to the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois’ website.  This has been a tremendous year for Girl Scouts throughout the country. This has been The Year of The Girl – 2012 - our 100th Anniversary.  Earlier this year we also launched our national ToGetHerThere campaign.  We have been issued a two-fold challenge – remove the barriers that inhibit girls from reaching their full potential, and, in a single generation, enable these girls, as women, to become full partners in leadership positions in every sector of our community.  With YOUR help, we can GetHerThere!

On October 1, 2012, GSSI started our 4th year as a newly integrated council and, in partnership with YOU, we continue to be very successful. I am pleased to share that:

• We have experienced a membership growth for the 2nd consecutive year and have successfully reversed the trend in declining membership.
• We have maintained girl membership at 13% of market share and maintained our girl and adult retention rate above the national average. We were ranked 17 out of 112 GS councils in the country.
• We provided over 300 programs and opportunities to girls throughout our council jurisdiction and increased member participation to over 17,000 girls.
• We have maintained our commitment to provide financial assistance so all girls, regardless of income, have the opportunity to participate in Girl Scouts.
• We have expanded our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs.  Our Robotics program expanded from one Robotics Team in 2009 to 10 teams in 2012, including the first robotics team in the East St. Louis schools.
• We have initiated another new program through a “Challenge and Change” grant from GSUSA/USDA to provide leadership opportunities to 300 teen girls in three of the most underserved, rural communities in our service area. 
• We will continue to expand the new programs initiated last year -  the Girl Scout Apprentice Program, Cookie Business College and Girl Scouting in Detention Centers.
• We continue to spread Girl Scouting in underserved areas, including East St. Louis and public housing complexes where we served over 1300 girls.
• We had some exciting events to celebrate our 100th Year Anniversary, including the Century Celebration attended by 2500 girls and volunteers, and hope that each and every one of you was involved in the numerous local events and celebrations.
• We have initiated quarterly Delegate Meetings – we want to foster closer communication with our membership, to hear about your triumphs and challenges and how we can serve you better.
• We continue to maintain a healthy, balanced budget. We are good stewards of the funds you entrusted to us.
• We have revived our Juliette Gordon Low Society and hope that you will become a Founding Member during this historic 100th Anniversary year.

As we reach the end of Girl Scouting’s 100th Anniversary year, we look back at our many accomplishments but we also look forward to the next 100!  Our focus will continue to be on our girls and our dedicated volunteers. Our goal is to ensure that every girl throughout southern Illinois will have the opportunity to benefit from the Girl Scout Leadership Experience so that she can make a difference in her family, her community, her country and the world. We want to provide an outstanding leadership experience to our members – we want to give our girls what they need in ways they want - and working together with our volunteers, friends and partners, we will continue to build on our successes.

With your continued support, GSSI will continue to provide a premier Girl Scout Leadership Experience for our 14,000 girls and almost 5000 adult volunteers.

Thank you for your support!

Villie M. Appoo

Chief Executive Officer

The Girl Scout Mission:

The Girl Scout Promise:

The Girl Scout Law: