Girl Scouts is #ForEVERYGirl
I’m sharing this IndieGOGO campaign from Girl Scouts of Western Washington. I’m not sharing it because Girl Scouts of Western Washington hasn’t met their goal to raise back the $100,000 donation a narrow-minded person asked for returned after learning that Girl Scouts is #ForEVERYGirl and supports transgender girls.
Quite the opposite – I’m so proud of what they have raised instead – $337,892! That allows more than 1600 girls from low-income families to participate in Girl Scouts. This touches me very personally, even though this is a council I’ve never had any interaction with before this campaign
I was one of those girls that needed this kind of help. I had to have “camperships” to go to Girl Scout camp nearly every year, and I’m sure there were years that I couldn’t have gone had my aunt not worked for the council & pulled strings to fit me into whatever session had a cancellation. There were years that my leader paid the $8 registration fee so I could stay in the troop. When I was having problems with my step-mom and grounded, I was still thankfully allowed to go to my weekly Girl Scout meetings. I was taught skills I’d never have learned at home or school.
I had the same leader from my first Brownie meeting in 1st grade to my last Senior meeting in 12th grade. I wish I’d done better to keep in touch with her when I went to college because she’ll never know how immensely grateful I am for her to have given me one of the few normal, positive, stable things in my life growing up (though I’m sure she had an inkling).
I have a… different… relationship with my mom than most women. But I have to say that one of the best things she ever did for me was get me involved with Girl Scouts, even though she hadn’t had a great experience in Scouts herself. She let me try.
And I found a place where I could be myself. It didn’t matter if I wore 2nd hand clothes, or had a weird haircut, or couldn’t bring snack sometimes. I never had to worry about fitting in. Or being popular. I just had to be friendly, and open, and thoughtful, and strive to serve others who needed more than I did, and be the best person I could be. Girl Scouts was always a safe place where no one judged anyone and we accepted everyone for who they were, no matter where they came from, what challenges they faced, what special needs they had, or what went on in their lives outside of our time together.
Girl Scouts HAS to be #ForEVERYGirl. Every girl needs some of that kind of positivity. Some don’t always get it from family or school or friends. They need it from somewhere. And I’m so happy to have contributed to this campaign to help hopefully change the lives of 1,689 girls for the better and return the favor that Girl Scouts did for me to them.