Girl Scout Week—Celebrating an American Institution

March 3, 2005

By Marion F. Swan, staff writer

With celebrations starting on Sunday, March 6 and running through Saturday, March 12, Girl Scouts across the country will be celebrating the organization's 93rd birthday.

Ranging from large community events to small troop gatherings, girls across the country will be showing their appreciation to Juliette Gordon Low, who followed her own dreams 93 years ago and established an organization where girls from every walk of life have the opportunity to make their dreams come true.

Dreams Come True in Austin

The Lone Star Girl Scout Council will be participating in a very unique Girl Scout Week celebration. On Saturday, March 12, Troop 1500, a film highlighting the council's Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program, will have its world premier at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival (http://2005.sxsw.com).

Developed and produced by Ellen Spiro and Karen Bernstein of Mobilus Media www.mobilusmedia.com), Troop 1500 (www.troop1500.com) offers incredible insight into the lives of incarcerated mothers and their daughters. In keeping with the Girl Scout tradition of making every activity and event a learning experience, the members of troop 1500 not only share star status with their mothers, they are also the film's video and reporting staff. As the girls operate video cameras and interview their mothers, audience members may feel they are witnessing the birth of the next Diane Sawyer or Oprah Winfrey.

Financed by ITVS (Independent Television Service) and aided by tremendous cooperation from the Lone Star Girl Scout Council and Hilltop Prison in Gatesville, Texas, Troop 1500 lets those most affected tell their story in their own words. Women in prison and their daughters cease being "just statistics" and become real people with real problems but with real hopes for the future.

The Beginning

"Come right over! I've got something for the girls of Savannah, all America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight." Spoken by Juliette Gordon Low, those 24 words signaled the beginning of Girl Scouts of the USA. Spurred on by her belief that girls could do anything, she also instilled a belief in service. Troop 1500 embodies both of those beliefs.

In the intervening years, 50 million women have benefited from the Girl Scout experience. In spite of all the changes that have occurred in our world, including mothers and daughters separated by incarceration, the mission of Girl Scouting remains the same. We look forward to helping girls to achieve their dreams and become everything they can be.

Starting with just 18 members, Girl Scouts has grown to more than 3 million members with representation from every American zip code, including urban areas, rural areas, border towns, juvenile detentions centers and, now, prisons with incarcerated mothers. The impact of Girl Scouts of the USA truly makes it the world's premier organization for girls.