Win a Week at Camp!

Does your Girl Scout dream of going to CAMP this summer? Girl Scout camp is the perfect place for self-discovery, laughter, fun and personal growth. Our multiple day and resident camps offer a wide variety of programming and camping options perfect for every girl at every level! Sound exciting? We are even giving GSCTX Facebook fans and Twitter followers the opportunity to WIN a week at resident and day camp.

Here's how to enter our camp contest:

Resident Camp Giveaway (valued at $335)

Are you on Pinterest? Develop a board dedicated to Girl Scout camp pinning original ideas or ones you found from other councils, Girl Scout fans, etc. The board theme is completely up to you but should have something to do with camp! Examples include Camp Cooking Recipes, How to Prepare for Camp or a Camp Checklist. Those entering should submit the link to their board on our Facebook wall by noon on Friday, May 24, 2013 with at least 7 pins. Be creative! The winner will be selected by the marketing department and notified the following Tuesday, May 28.

Day Camp Giveaway (valued at $160)

Are you on Twitter? (If not, it's easy to create an account!) Share in 140 characters or less with us your favorite camp memory (or your Girl Scouts' favorite memory) or reason to attend camp this summer! Start tweet with 'I / My daughter attend(s) @GSCTXcouncil #camp because...(add reason or memory here).' Tweet starting now through next Wednesday, May 23, 2013. Winner will be selected at random and notified Thursday, May 24, 2013. You may tweet multiple times with different reasons/memories to increase your chances of winning.

One person will be selected for resident camp and one for day camp. Values are set and winner of each camp may use winnings for any open day or resident camp. Should value of camp you wish to attend exceed value, winner is responsible for paying difference. If the winner is already signed up for camp, they may ask for reimbursement of value. For any questions or clarifications, please email council. 

Serving as a Role Model to Girl Scouts

On April 13, University of Texas student, Harry S. Truman scholar and Girl Scout volunteer Jordan Metoyer addressed the audience at the Honors Day ceremony on campus. She spoke of her volunteer experience mentoring a group of girls whom she grew to befriend and someone they soon saw a role model. And that's exactly what Jordan and countless other volunteers are to our girls - role models. You show girls what they can aspire to be - a strong and successful woman built of courage, confidence and character. Read Jordan's speech below.

"I am honored to be before you today and give the warmest congratulations to every Distinguished College Scholar and College Scholar in this room. You have worked diligently, made difficult sacrifices, and juggled rigorous academics with jobs, research, extra-curricular activities, or a daunting combination of all three. I applaud each and every one of you for your dedication towards academic excellence.

Today, I would like to offer my personal experience with a dedication of another kind; dedication to community service and benefiting others.

Before my first day as a Girl Scouts troop volunteer in East Austin's Booker T. Washington public housing project, my supervisor gave me cautionary tales of the girls’ violence and misbehavior. Part of me began to worry, but then I remembered that my friends in my hometown of Inglewood and I were often given the same "at-risk" label growing up. On my first day, I met Shaye, the oldest of five siblings and aspiring pediatrician. When I told Shaye where I was from and where I attended school, she looked bewildered, not believing that anyone who shared her background could be successful in college. Shaye and the other Girl Scouts looked at the University of Texas's tower as a symbol of the unobtainable, and viewed many of its students as privileged, particularly those who volunteered once and never returned. The thought that my troop did not believe in their potential disappointed me, and filled me with purpose. In hearing their self-doubt, I committed not only to volunteering, but also to building personal relationships with the girls. Every time I returned, the girls’ trust grew, and soon I was no longer an outsider, but someone whom Shaye called a friend and role model.

We know, all too intimately, that what starts here changes the world. In addition to this powerful phrase, I am captured and by the words that rest near the university tower steps – the core purpose of the university. It reads, “To transform lives for the betterment of society.”

In order to complete this task, we must have dedication to our dreams, no matter how unachievable or temporal they may seem. I challenge you all today to find and dedicate yourself to a cause that not only leaves you richer for the experience but the world better for your efforts.

I have complete assurance that this group before me has transformed and will continue to transform lives for the betterment of the world."

Thank you,
Jordan Metoyer

West, TX Update

Fellow Girl Scouts, At this time, we know that leaders in West are safe and that, to our knowledge, so are our girl members. We have been in touch with the Service Unit Director and right now they are holding tight until they can assess what is needed.

We have been getting a lot of questions about how we can help the community of West as they deal with the fallout from last week’s tragedy. The outpouring of support has been incredible but right now we are getting the message that the community is overwhelmed with donations. Presently they are still grieving, planning funerals and trying to get into their homes. We know that many funds have been set up to collect cash and gift card donations but until we vet the organizations collecting the donations we will not put out this information. Unfortunately, scams abound in these situations. After talking with the area SUDs and the Mayor’s office, we are going to wait and see what the community needs in the coming weeks and then plan our response. We are looking at some type of project around gift cards and if we finalize that we will let everyone know.

If you are in the Waco area, there is a need for volunteers to sift through donations at the Disaster Warehouse. If someone is interested in helping they can call Captain Debbie Alderson on her cell at 254-733-2680. The warehouse is located at 101 Apron Dr., Waco 76705, which is on the TSTC Campus.

I will keep everyone appraised of any new developments. In the meantime, prayers are very welcome and needed.

Feel free to share this information with your volunteers as we know they are concerned and anxious to help, like the true Girl Scouts they are.

-Carol Keierleber, GSCTX Interim CEO

Austin Workplace for Women Spotlight - Amelia Bullock Realtors

Amelia Bullock Realtors

For more than 40 years, Amelia Bullock Realtors has been a leader in the Austin residential market, building a reputation as a respected company with stellar agents, expertise in corporate relocation, and a strong commitment to the Central Texas community. Based on the premise that purchasing a home should be a win/win for everyone, the company owes its success to two extraordinary women—co-owners Amanda Bullock and Barbara Wallace, who support a nurturing culture that values family, cooperation rather than competition, and empowers an overwhelmingly female staff with the training and resources to be the best in the business. Both genteel southern women with an abundance of charm and determination, they have complimentary skill sets: Amanda has a background in fashion design and is adept at advertising and promotion, while Barbara holds in a degree in business education and excels in the financial areas and heads up the firm’s thriving relocation services. Amelia Bullock Realtors currently has over 90 agents who work from two locations; one in Northwest Hills and another in West Lake. The company is dedicated to providing service with quality, value and integrity and to maintaining an environment where courtesy, civility and service are paramount to all else.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website. 

Austin Women of Distinction Spotlight - Melinda Garvey

Melinda Garvey

As publisher of Austin Woman Magazine (AWM), Melinda Garvey has revolutionized the way women communicate in Austin. Seeing a need for a woman’s magazine she and lifelong friend Samantha Stevens took a chance. A decade later with distribution at over 1500 locations, AWM has become the go-to magazine for women in Central Texas. In 2011 she and her husband and co-publisher Christopher Garvey launched ATX Man, also a major success. The Garveys not only support hundreds of organizations through the magazines and associated events, but has chaired the first Go Red Campaign, co-chaired a campaign to help families of premature babies, and is a past president of Wonders & Worries. Reared in Indianapolis, she is a graduate of DePauw University and worked in DC for over ten years—first in advertising and then for a community newspaper. She was inspired to start AWM because she realized that “people love to read about people.” A modest woman ever ready to credit her staff, she is a self-confessed TV junkie and is passionate about good food and wine. She and Christopher, who has overseen the marketing and events for the magazines since 2010, have a five year old son, Beckum, and enjoy spending time with on the water with Melinda’s parents in Horseshoe Bay.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website. 

Austin Women of Distinction Spotlight - Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr

Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr

Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr is a fourth-generation firefighter and the first woman to serve as Chief of the Austin Fire Department. An active young girl and sports enthusiast, she received a degree in physical education and was teaching high school in Fort Lauderdale when a friend suggested that she apply for cadet training at the local fire department. It was a turning point in her life, and the start of a stellar career. She earned an associate’s degree in Fire Science Technology and two certifications from Harvard, rising through the ranks to become an officer and then second in command at the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department. In 2004, she became the first female Fire Chief in Little Rock, winning accolades for her innovation leadership. Five years later, she would beat out a group of national candidates to head the Austin Fire Department, where she has won high marks for her innovation, ability to build consensus and community outreach. Chief Kerr is the past chair of the Human Relations Committee of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, Director of the National Society of Executive Fire Officers, and actively involved in community organizations including the local chapter of the American Red Cross and the Austin Area Urban League.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website. 

Austin Women of Distinction Spotlight - MP Mueller

MP Mueller

Mary Pat “MP” Mueller is an astute business woman and entrepreneur well known in the Central Texas community for her colorful and occasionally outrageous sense of style and her willingness to share her talents and expertise with a broad range of community non-profits including the Austin Breast Cancer Research Center, I Live Here I Give Here, New Milestones Foundation, People’s Community Clinic, the Humane Society and the Alamo. Starting out as a one-person operation working from her bedroom, she went on to found Door Number #3, an award winning marketing and public relations agency with a staff of 12 and annual billings of $5,000,000. Additionally, MP authors a highly entertaining blog on marketing for the New York Times, is a nationally known guest speaker on marketing topics, and is particularly proud of her membership on the Board of Foster Angels, which helps Texas children in the foster care system. MP has two young adult children, Lawrence and Helen, and is busy planning an October wedding with George Gau, a business professor at UT Austin. She credits Girl Scouts with teaching her girls can do anything; how to set goals and reach them, and how to create the perfect sit upon.

For more information on this year's Women of Distinction events, please visit our website.