© 2025 Girl Scouts of Central Illinois, All Rights Reserved
More birthday wishes from our friends at Home2 Suites in Champaign, which just opened at the start of February and hosted Girl Scout cookie booths throughout the program. Cheers to another 104. And have a great Girl Scout night.
We are so fortunate for all of your gifts as well as birthday wishes. Our friends at Pandamonium Doughnuts in Champaign-Urbana made us a delicious delectable, while Brownie Troop 3251 of Mt. Zion Grade School epitomized our mission. They made up goodie bags for the local food pantry, because "everyone deserves a birthday celebration." Character. World. Better.
What a whirl! In just seven days three generations of Laharts and nearly 30 donors helped raise over $3300 for 104 years of Girl Scouting. And there's still 13 hours to go. Wow. Our heart is reeling with gratitude for all of your generosity, including Gold Awardee, U of I senior, GS volunteer and Miss Springfield 2016 Amelia Mugavero.
As Cam says in the Laharts' video, through camp, service projects, having fun, Girl Scouts simply become "all-around great citizens." This was founder Juliette Gordon Low's vision that still resonates 104 years later. As part of Girl Scout birthday week, yesterday was service to community and today is health and safety, as collectively demonstrated by Troop 2207. Last fall they picked up cigarette butts in a community park and then presented to the park district board the dangers these discards pose to humans, animals and the earth. Girl Scouts honor the generations before them and pass the legacy to the next. Thanks to your gifts, legacies live on.
There are so many reasons to celebrate the 104th birthday of Girl Scouts, which is why we celebrate all week long. Longtime volunteer and historian Amy Robison and her daughter Vivian of Champaign celebrated Girl Scout Sunday in church yesterday wearing their own uniforms and displaying a 1920s uniform. And today marks Service to Family Monday, when Girl Scouts give back to their family and home, like the Robisons and the Laharts certainly do. And certainly like the anonymous donor, whose generous gift gives their Girl Scout family yet another reason to celebrate.
Juliette, affectionately known as “Daisy” by her family and close friends, gathered 18 girls in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, to share what she had learned abroad about a new outdoor and educational program for youth, and with this, the Girl Scout Movement was born.
The sale of cookies as a way to finance troop activities began as early as 1917, five years after Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouts in the U.S., when the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project. Thin Mints® are the top seller of this largest financial literacy program in the world.
That small gathering of girls Juliette Gordon Low hosted over a century ago has grown into a global movement in which all girls can see themselves reflected—and that today includes nearly 3 million scouts in 92 countries and over 59 million alumnae, united to make the world a better place.
Even in a technology-driven world, Girl Scouts stay connected to nature and the great outdoors, especially at camp. For a day, an overnight, an entire week. Swimming, horseback riding, archery, canoeing and campfire songs are just a few of the activities and traditions that build self-confidence, enhance teamwork, and increase awareness of the environment.
It began over 104 years ago with one woman who believed in the power of every girl. Today the Girl Scout mission marches on in building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts is the preeminent organization for girls, developing tomorrow's leaders today.