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Girl EXPO and Volunteer Conference: A New Chapter in Girl Scouting

Girls and Volunteers - join us for a unique and exciting adventure as we host our 2021 Girl Expo and Volunteer Conference: A New Chapter in Girl Scouting. 

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What is Girl EXPO and Volunteer Conference?
With the help of our volunteer steering committee, the Program Engagement and Volunteer Resources team members, we proudly offer more exciting programming to engage our girls and troops in all pillars of Girl Scouting! Registration is only $10 and will include a kit for all three of the programs: Picasso’s Patio Party, Blooming Friendships and STEM Bristle Bot. Inside each kit will be a Girl EXPO participation patch and a free surprise gift for the first 50 girl registrants! Plus, each girl will receive a ‘bingo card’ to help them complete additional fun Girl Scout themed activities on her own or with her troop. Those who participate in the bingo card activities will be eligible for prizes!

These kits will be delivered through upcoming drive-thru opportunities! Check the schedule below for your Service Unit's date, time and location.

Kit Drive-Thru Pick Up Schedule

For SU 7, 12, 39, 63, 78, 511, 521, 522, 531, 544:
Monday, March 22 from 4:30 p.m.- 6 p.m.
Effingham Performance Center
1325 Outer Belt W
Effingham, IL 62401 

For SU 57, 60, 101, 102, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 201, 202, 207, 209, 210, 211:
Wednesday, March 24 from 4:30 p.m.- 6 p.m.
GSofSI Corporate Service Center
4 Ginger Creek Parkway
Glen Carbon, IL 62034

For SU 27, 33, 42, 45, 66, 72, 85, 90:
Friday, March 26 from 4:30 p.m.- 6 p.m.
Oasis Theater
3000 W Deyoung St
Marion, IL 62959

For SU 9, 15, 21, 30, 51, 54, 87:

Monday, March 29 from 4:30 p.m.- 6 p.m.
Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church
1307 South 9th Street
Mt. Vernon, IL 62864


We also wanted to include something special for our adult members! We will be offering a series of virtual training sessions to help our volunteers with personal and professional growth with the help of successful subject matter experts from our council territory!

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Calendar of Events

April 7 - Life Skills: Picasso's Patio Party

Life Skills: Picasso’s Patio Party!

Date: Wednesday, April 7 at 6 p.m.

Description: Get your patio party ready with THREE exciting projects!  Learn how to manipulate marker ink with rubbing alcohol to make unique artwork on both table placemats and drink coasters. These will be sure to impress your guest and probably Pablo Piscasso himself! Plus, learn how to decorate your tabletop with a small bouquet of tissue paper flowers or choose to gift this to your Girl Scout leader to show them how much you appreciate them!

  • Project 1: Sharpie-dyed Drink Coaster
  • Project 2: Sharpie-dyed Placemat
  • Project 3: Tissue Paper Flower

Register through the DoubleKnot calendar by March 8, 2021. Zoom link will be sent through confirmation letter.

April 8 - Outdoors: Blooming Friendships

Outdoors: Blooming Friendships

Date: Thursday, April 8 at 6 p.m.

Description: What could be better than making something special for our friends and mother nature?  Use your crafting and knot tying skills to learn how to make your very own friendship bracelet with embroidery floss. Then, get your hands dirty to make seed bombs and learn how these can help beautify your yard or garden and help create a habitat for pollinators.

  • Project 1: Friendship Bracelets
  • Project 2: Seed Bombs

Register through the DoubleKnot calendar by March 8, 2021. Zoom link will be sent through confirmation letter.

April 10 - Community Service Project

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois Community Service Project

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Operation: You're Not Alone

The Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois Operation: You’re Not Alone Community Service project plans to donate paper bag care packages to care facilities across Southern Illinois! The goal is to brighten up these resident’s day and show them that they are not alone while also providing them necessities, entertainment, and little gifts.

Girl Scout Troops will be passing out the paper bags to their local neighborhoods on April 10. Community Members will have two weeks to gather items on the list provided. Troops will pick up the bags on April 24 and distribute the care packages within the following two weeks.

Learn more on our Community Service page!

April 12 - STEM: Make Your Own Walking Robot!

STEM: Make Your Own Walking Robot!

Date: Monday, April 12, 2021 at 6 p.m.

Description: Make your very own walking robot! With this kit, you will be able to use common items to build and test a bristle bot. You will learn simple electrical circuits that bring your robot to life, using vibrational motion to propel them. This wiggling, wobbling creation is a great introduction to robot design.

Register through the DoubleKnot calendar by March 8, 2021. Zoom link will be sent through confirmation letter.

April 19-23 Virtual Volunteer Conference

Virtual Volunteer Conference

We invite volunteers with all service levels and years of experience to take advantage of the series of training opportunities provided this week to enhance their skills, leadership, personal  growth and professional development.

Events: All conferences will begin at 6:30pm. Zoom links will be provided in confirmation letter.

Monday, April 19: SWIC Culinary Department-Chef Casey Parker-Sweet Eats

From the Culinary Department from Southwestern Illinois College, Chef Casey Parker will share at least one nutritional recipe and the steps on how to prepare a fun and delicious snack with your girls. Pull out your aprons and roll up your sleeves as this presentation is bound to offer volunteers new ideas to help unleash the cooking aspirations in your girls!

As a previous restaurateur, Chef Casey Parker has had a longtime passion and love for all things food and hospitality. Chef Casey received her dual Associates in Applied Science degrees in Culinary Arts and Baking &Pastry from Southwestern Illinois College and has recently joined the instructional teaching team. Chef Casey, a former Girl Scout herself, is a proud mother and grandmother and is excited to share her cooking passion with our volunteers.

Tuesday, April 20: Amanda Guinn - Look for the Helpers

Participants will learn coping mechanisms to help deal with the pandemic, while also learning how to help others including children and young adults using service and volunteerism.

Amanda Guinn is a school counselor and certified career development specialist at Belleville District #201. She holds a Master’s degree in Counseling. She has spent 15 years in the field of volunteerism having served as an AmeriCorps member, and eventually director of the Belleville AmeriCorps program. She recently completed two terms on the Governor appointed commission on volunteerism and community service in Illinois. She was awarded the Illinois AmeriCorps Alum state leadership award. Her passion is connecting others to their purpose. She serves as an Elder at First United Presbyterian Church in Belleville as a member of the Mission committee. She is a wife and has been married to John for 23 years and has 3 children.

Wednesday, April 21: GSofSI Girl and Adult Members - Going for Gold

Join us for an exclusive presentation and conversation designed to talk all about helping our girls and volunteers understand, progress towards and achieve the higher awards: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Hear from a previous Gold Award recipient, an active and supportive award counselor and a member from the Girl Award Committee, to learn all the necessary steps to introduce and coach your girls to reach this outstanding achievement.

Registration Deadline for all Sessions: Monday, April 12, 2021

Register through the DoubleKnot calendar and the Zoom link will be provided through the confirmation letter.

April 24 - Community Service Project Continued

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois Community Service Project

OperationYNA_web

Operation: You're Not Alone

The Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois Operation: You’re Not Alone Community Service project plans to donate paper bag care packages to care facilities across Southern Illinois! The goal is to brighten up these resident’s day and show them that they are not alone while also providing them necessities, entertainment, and little gifts.

Girl Scout Troops will be passing out the paper bags to their local neighborhoods on April 10. Community Members will have two weeks to gather items on the list provided. Troops will pick up the bags on April 24 and distribute the care packages within the following two weeks.

Learn more on our Community Service page!

Girl Marketplace

Girl Marketplace

Troops, it is your chance to let your business skills shine! Work together on a special project, craft or service that you would like to sell to earn money for your troop! Then, register to join the Girl Showcase on Friday, April 30th at 6:30pm to deliver your product or service ‘commercial’ to our Girl Scout audience during the virtual event live or show a pre-recorded video. Let’s put your creativity and entrepreneur skills to work! Registration deadline for Girl Showcase is Monday, April 26, 2021.

Leaders, once the girls have determined how they would like to participate in Girl Marketplace, please submit this form no later than Tuesday, March 30, 2021. Be sure to indicate this request is for Girl Marketplace.

GSofSI advises the troops to consider creating a ‘troop logo’ in place of any official Girl Scout logos, images, or text with Girl Scout copyrights or trademarks. Click here for more info.

April 30 - Girl Showcase

Girl Showcase

Date: Friday, April 30 from 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Description: Gather up your Girl Scout and family to join us for a virtual power hour where we will share the fun highlights from our girls, their activities and Girl Scout involvement throughout the council, Girl Marketplace, as well as listening to our guest speaker, a two-time published author from our home state, Danielle Atherton-Rutledge and her Illustrator, Courtney Heinemann-Kamm. All registered Girl Scout attendees present during the showcase will also be entered into a drawing to win special Girl Scout prizes.

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Danielle Atherton-Rutledge (Author)
Danielle is a married, midwest mom of three children, Allison, Nolan, and Mia. Since becoming a mother, she has realized that story time is the perfect time to encourage more playing, praying and silly sayings. Reading with her children has given her family many opportunities to slow down, connect, and count their blessings and it has inspired her to write her own playful and poignant poems. She has high hopes to encourage clever conversations, connection, and compassionate behavior in her typically very bouncy ditties and rhymes. Read along as she marries the old with the new and helps parents to reinforce manners and morals with a playful, peaceful, purposeful tone.

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Courtney Heinzmann-Kamm (Illustrator)
 Courtney studied art and graphic design at Eastern Illinois University. Courtney married her high school sweetheart, Kyle and together they have 3 energetic children: Miles, Nolan, Eloise and a beagle named Abe. Previously working for an outdoor magazine in editorial layout, she left the corporate world for freelance and the opportunity to be home with her children. Courtney’s favorite mediums are watercolor and charcoal and has enjoyed bringing the fine art world into the functional art world. Her grandmother taught her laughing at yourself is a more enjoyable way to live life; life has taught her to have faith.

How can you help make this showcase special?
Encourage your girls to register and participate in defined Girl EXPO programs and the Girl Marketplace opportunity. Do they have a special talent, play an instrument or have a passion they would like to share with their Girl Scout community? Leaders, make a virtual ‘brag board’ to highlight all the great things about your troop, volunteer team or even entire service unit! Send in pictures and videos through this Wufoo form of what makes Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois special and how we are all working to make the world a better place!

Important Deadlines:


Important Deadlines:

  • Monday, March 8, 2021: Last day to register for Girl EXPO through the DoubleKnot calendar.
  • Tuesday, March 30, 2021: Deadline for Girl Marketplace form submissions.
  • Monday, April 12, 2021: Deadline to register for Volunteer Conference Events.
  • Wednesday, April 14, 2021: Wufoo submissions for photos and videos to be highlighted in the Girl Showcase are due.
  • Monday, April 26, 2021: Last day to register for Girl Showcase through the DoubleKnot calendar. 

Questions? Contact customercare@gsofsi.org or call (800) 345-6858. We are here to help! 

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