South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
HEROES & HELPERS
Girl Scouts reunite and recruit
More stories of the good work being done in South Florida amid the pandemic.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida to hang up their sashes and go their separate ways for quarantine, their attempts to stay connected virtually were almost as impressive as their cookie-selling skills.
“We were successful at thinking outside the box, and quickly got on the bandwagon of the whole Zoom thing,” said troop leader Lisa Quinn. “We did cooking classes together, games, art classes.”
But when the time came to start organizing the September regional recruiting event, Quinn said she felt that the girls were “all Zoomed out.”
This year, the September event would also serve as a bridging ceremony, which honors girls who are moving up to the next Girl
Scout level. Quinn, who is also the Sunny River Service Unit manager in Fort Lauderdale, was tasked with organizing the multitroop ceremony after the troop-specific bridging ceremonies were canceled due to COVID-19. To Quinn, it was more important than ever that this event serve to connect the girls in a meaningful way.
“I really thought it was time to have an in-person meeting, where small groups could gather, preferably outdoors,” she said.
She envisioned an event with giveaways, a presentation of important accolades and a friendship circle, a long-standing Girl Scout tradition, all carried out with safety as a priority.
Quinn used the Nextdoor app to post her request for an event space, which soon caught the eye of Annette Ross, a former Girl Scout and the building chair of the Fort Lauderdale Woman’s Club.
“When I saw Lisa’s plea for outdoor space, I heard the spirit of my childhood troop leader, Mrs. Holst, speak to me,” said Ross, with a chuckle. “She told me to get right on this because the Fort Lauderdale Woman’s Club has their beautiful gardens to share.”
Persuaded by her former troop leader’s spirit, and true to the “once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout” adage, Ross happily offered up the club’s building and grounds.
According to Ross, the club, whose former president Ivy Stranahan was instrumental in securing women’s voting rights in
Florida, was responsible for starting the Girl Scouts in Fort Lauderdale.
“Evelyn Wayne, the president of the FLWC from 1947 to ’49, and Virginia Young, [would-be] mayor of Fort Lauderdale, started the first Girl Scout troop in here in the 1950s,” she said. “The troop met here at the club.”
The club has many other facets to its rich history, including starting the city’s volunteer fire department, developing its public library system and advocating for both Native American and African American rights.
It is no coincidence that a girls' organization whose “Girl Scout Law” encourages courageousness, strength and responsibility would be historically tied to a woman’s organization whose members have embodied these essential change-making traits since its 1911 founding.
“The girls of the Girl Scouts are our future — and hopefully future FLWC members as well,” Ross said.
The Sept. 26 event took place at the club building at 20 S. Andrews Ave. that was utilized along with the adjacent Stranahan Park and botanical gardens.
At the event, older scouts interviewed younger ones about which Girl Scout values, as laid out in the
Girl Scout Law, had been most helpful during the COVID-19 lockdown. Some of the interviewees stated that a sense of responsibility inspired them to care for younger siblings and cousins while the pandemic required them to stay home. Others mentioned that their sense of responsibility encouraged them to wear a mask and socially distance when they left the house. Several said that being kind and courteous while at home was how they helped out their families during the months of the pandemic.
“The weather was perfect,” Quinn said of the event. “It was almost like the Earth was smiling at us, giving us validation for all that we do.”
For information about joining the Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida, text the word JOIN to 59618, visit gssef.org, send an email to customercare@gssef.org or call 561-427-0177.
Visit fortlauderdale womansclub.com for information about the Fort Lauderdale Woman’s Club.