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A Message To Volunteers Of Girl Scouts-Western Oklahoma, Inc.
As we move through all of our changes to become Girl Scouts – Western Oklahoma, Inc, I respectfully request that you affirm with me that we are a caring, safe and generous community of loving adults, raising 21st Century Leaders. As we build our new Council, and merge all of the ways of work we have been accustomed to experiencing, we might feel the tug and tension of this change. I have had on my wall beside my desk for the last two years this statement from Judith Jordan, a therapist and researcher at the Stone Center for Women at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. “We need to practice compassion, curiosity and courage while we tolerate complexity, conflict and confusion in a spirit of shared humanity, humor and humility.”
There is a lot to do in the coming months, and a number of processes and systems to either combine, create or transform. It will be engaging and exciting, but it will also at times feel challenging to all of us. Already I know that we aren’t moving as fast as everyone would like to get everything in place for our “due date” on March 1. There will be many glitches….and I ask for your patience as we work through everything. I believe that as a community, our most important job is to keep affirming and living that we are caring, safe, generous and loving to each other. I think if we can do that, all of the changes and challenges will flow with ease around us.
In the coming months, we will be sending out periodic emails updating you on everything we know at that moment in time. In a time of major change, it will be easy to fill in communication gaps with rumors, but even easier, to call me, email me or drop by and ask. I will do my best to find you answers if I don’t know the answer at the time. We will be setting up a transition committee of people from Sooner and from Red Lands to help us with issues that appear to be unclear as to whether they are operations (staff) or policy (board) issues. You will be hearing how you will be able to access that committee within the next month. In addition, we are going to need some subcommittees addressing some of the stickier questions and processes. If you would like to serve on a committee, let us know and we will call you when we can get that committee started.
Please be an ambassador for success in the coming months. If you are getting this email, but you know someone who is not, forward it to them and then send their email address to Deborah Gooding (dgooding@gswestok.org). We’ll be sending out the first couple of these through the mail to people for which we don’t have addresses, but that will get really expensive, so we would like as much as possible to communicate with all volunteers through email. If you hear a rumor or find people talking negatively about the council, encourage them to get on the bandwagon and offer constructive ways of addressing the issue. Girl Scouts – Western Oklahoma, Inc. belongs to all of us. And will only be as successful as we collectively make it. Thank you for helping us create and deliver the best leadership model in the country, maybe even the world for girls!
Cathy Stackpole, CEO
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You help today's Girl Scouts become tomorrow's leaders! In Girl Scouts,
girls discover the fun, friendship, and power of girls together. Through a variety of enriching
experiences, girls grow courageous and strong. Whatever the activity, the Girl Scout program
provides a solid foundation upon which girls can build their future.
Every girl we reach, hundreds more need our help. You can make a difference in a girl's life.
Thank you for giving the gift of time.
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