Where to buy girl scout cookies nyc 2018

An estimated 70, people live in the city's homeless shelters; the average stay is 18 months before families transition to permanent housing. During that transition, Troop helps girls enjoy close friendships and plenty of support. Founded in by Giselle Burgess, a single mother of five who lost her home, Troop meets weekly in more than 20 shelters across all five boroughs of New York City. For the girls of Troop , Girl Scouts provides consistency and community that might otherwise be difficult to achieve.

Members of Girl Scout Troop often can be found singing, working toward badges and building bonds of sisterhood — but their connection goes beyond troop meetings. Families enter shelters because rent is unaffordable compared to their income, there is a shortage of affordable housing compared to need, and women are escaping domestic violence. These reasons contrast with traditional stereotypes of people experiencing homelessness.

What do girls in Troop do? Members of Troop attend weekly meetings, held in more than 20 shelters across all five boroughs of New York City, and do what all Girl Scouts do — build their network, be carefree, and gain confidence in new situations. They earn badges on topics like STEM, financial literacy, environmental protection, civic engagement, and community service.

Troop also goes on field trips, visits workplaces, participates in the Girl Scout Cookie Program, and even goes to Girl Scout Camp! How can I help Troop ?

Troop is led by parents paired with community volunteers. The time commitment is very similar to that required of a leader of a traditional troop, approximately three hours per week minimum.

Troop leaders lead meetings, liaise with shelter staff and parents, and take girls on trips. It is an opportunity like no other to make an impact in your community.

Training is required even for volunteers who are already Girl Scout troop leaders , along with completing and passing our background check. After completing these requirements, we will match you with one of our locations, taking your availability and distance into consideration. Of course! You can donate to Troop by visiting girlscoutsnyc.

Supporting Troop financially is one of the best ways to ensure we can continue to welcome new girls to the Troop and give each girl we serve an authentic Girl Scout experience, including a trip to Girl Scout Camp!

We do not have the resources to sort, package, store or deliver items to shelters. Thank you for understanding. We can make exceptions for exceptional materials that fit within our existing program needs. If you think your donation might be in the. If you are interested in making donations directly to shelters, here are some organizations you can contact:. Please note: We cannot give out the addresses of shelters due to confidentiality purposes. Can I offer an experience to Troop ?

Yes, we have a Troop e-newsletter where we list such opportunities for troop leaders to choose from, if and only if they are free-of-charge. To learn more, please contact Heidi Schmidt. If you are not able to offer the experience free-of-charge, you can learn more about how to promote to a broader Girl Scout audience on the External Program Resources page of our website.

What we need most is funding. We also occasionally need spaces to hold events. Troop meets in more than 15 shelters once-a-week afterschool. To respect the confidentiality and privacy of members of Troop , their families, and other residents, visitors are not invited to troop meetings. Your Girl Scout troop is welcome to write letters to members of Troop but we cannot facilitate return connections.

We will screen letters before sending them to girls in Troop Please see below for an example letter. We read about you in the news and wanted to reach out to say we are so excited to learn you are part of our Girl Scout sisterhood. You have sisters and supporters all over the world cheering you on, including us! We hope these SWAPs remind you of us and the courage, confidence, and character we all strive for. Like Rosanny, she said she loved being in the Girl Scouts. Victoria said she had lived in a shelter for a long time.

She joined the Girl Scouts last year, she said. Meridith Maskara, chief executive of Girl Scouts of Greater New York , said the troop enables girls who are forced to move to different homeless shelters to still be part of the same scouting troop.