Welcome to Sunny Trails!
New leaders often come to the service unit meeting for the first time and feel a little overwhelmed by all the Girl Scout “talk” and events and they wonder who to turn to to ask questions. Here’s the answer, a little overview of some of the words you’ll hear a lot at our meetings and a “cheat sheet” so you know who to turn to for answers!
What is a…?
Service Unit – A group of troops, of all age levels, in a specific area. Our Service unit, called “Sunny Trails” is bounded by route 805 to the west, route 54 to the north, Otay Lake in the east and Main Street to the south. We meet once a month on the third Thursday at 7pm at the Elk’s Club in Chula Vista and offer leaders important information, appreciation, support, community service opportunities and a fun event each month for troops in our area. Our service unit number is 668
Cluster – A group of older girl troops aged 6th grade and up. Sunny Trails troops belong to the “Rainbow Cluster”. They have meetings on the third Monday of the month at 6:30pm at the Health and Human Services Building in Chula Vista for girls and leaders where they work on older girl badges, called IPs or interest projects, have field trips and camping trips.
Encampment – A camping trip planned by leaders and girls and attended by a group of troops. We schedule at least one service unit encampment each year for troops in our service unit. The cluster offers encampments for older girls that include troops from other nearby service units.
S.W.A.P.S– Acronym for “Special Whatamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere”. They are charm-sized, inexpensive, handmade keepsakes traded at meetings and encampments with new friends.
Badges – have different names at different levels. Daisies work on earning Petals, Brownies earn Try-Its, Juniors earn Badges, Cadettes, Seniors and Ambassadors earn IPs or Interest Projects. They go on the front of the uniform. Learn more about earning each of them in the leader handbooks.
Patches – are earned for attending a fun event and they go on the back of the uniform, on a jacket or in a scrapbook or keepsake box.
Financials – The end of year paperwork that needs to be turned in by June 15th including the Detailed Cash Record form and the Troop/Group Financial Report and Troop Inventory form. Now available online in an interactive excel sheet.
Bridging – When a troop moves from one level to another level, like Daisies to Brownies or Brownies to Juniors. Traditionally it’s done at the end of the year in a special ceremony that involves crossing a bridge.
Dunk-Bag – a mesh cloth bag with a drawstring used to wash, sterilize and hang dry eating utensils and dishes on a campout.
Site Sale – The name for a Girl Scout cookie sale outside a grocery or department store.
TCM – Troop Cookie Manager or Cookie Mom. Organizes the cookie sale for your troop.
Who can help me with…?
Joining Girl Scouts – Dolly Purificacion helps to place new girls and gives orientation to new leaders in our service unit. Call her if you are looking for girls to add to your troop, she keeps a waiting list of girls who would like to join girl scouts in our area. She also works closely with TOCs to find out what troops have openings in each school.
Dolly Purificacion 271-9435 membership@gssunnytrails.com
Registering – Jessica Carreon will take registrations, $12/person fee for Girl Scouts and a Dues Summary form to register your troop or to add a girl to your troop.
registrar@gssunnytrails.com
Finances – Beth Ann Coleman can help you open a troop account or to get troop financials done at the end of the year. She’s the person to go to if you need to be reimbursed by the service unit (fill out a check request form available on the website) or need to turn in a money-earning request to get approved by the service unit team.
Beth Ann Coleman – 656-4210 treasurer@gssunnytrails.com
Selling Cookies or Nuts – Traci Emerick will be running our fall nut sale and our spring cookie sale. Traci Emerick 271-8727 productsales@gssunnytrails.com
Camping, Horseback Riding and Swimming –Debbie Lechner is our Activity Consultant. Every time you want to take your troop camping, horseback riding, swimming (or any other activity that requests it in Safetywise) you fill out an Activity Approval Form and submit it to her. She helps to check that the facility has proper liability insurance and that you have proper training or supervision for the girls.
Debbie Lechner 421-3582 1133 Del Rio Court, Chula Vista, CA 91910 activityapproval@gssunnytrails.com
News/Emails – Beth Parry compiles our enews from council and emails it out regularly. She also passes along emails from service unit team members about interesting events and troop information. Make sure she has your current email address.
Beth Parry -271-0537 communication@gssunnytrails.com
Website – Debbie Lechner is webmaster for the www.gssunnytrails.com website. There you will find copies of our latest news, information about events and encampments as well as tons of great resources! To get something added to the website contact Debbie at website@gssunnytrails.com
Thanks and Appreciation – Thanking you, our wonderful volunteers, and the leaders who serve on our Service Unit Team and who plan events for the service unit, is the job of our recognitions Chairman: Michelle Echevarria. We are a volunteer run organization and we couldn’t do it without help from EVERYONE! If you know someone who deserves special thanks please let Michelle know. Michelle Echevarria recognitions@gssunnytrails.com
Cluster Information – Robin Lemon is our Cluster Liaison. She reports on the events being offered to older girls and welcomes troops 6th grade and up to join the cluster meetings and other fun activities. cluster@gssunnytrails.com, 293-8391
Service Unit Managers – Consuelo Murillo managerSrAmb@gssunnytrails.com represents the Seniors and Ambassadors, Claudia Silva managerJrCad@gssunnytrails.com represents the Juniors and Cadettes, and Angie Lutz managerDBr@gssunnytrails.com represents the Daisies and Brownies. We run the service unit meetings and are happy to help with troop problems and to answer questions about just about anything. Email is the best way of reaching us. You should get an answer within 24 hours. If one of us doesn’t know the answer one of the others will!
We meet with our level groups for Q & A after the service unit meetings.
Council Volunteer Support – Mia Watson-Good is a member of the paid council staff. She helps our service unit as a consultant and advisor with any kind of problem with which our team or individual troops need help. She is our liaison to the council and gives us the inside scoop on council plans, events and changes.
Mia Watson-Good 1231 Upas St San Diego, CA 92103, 610-0786, VSC@gssunnytrails.com
Council Membership Support – Ana Luisa Ponce is also a member of the paid council staff. She helps our service unit as a consultant and advisor with round-ups, orientation and membership. Ana Luisa Ponce – 610-0715 MDC@gssunnytrails.com
Questions about Girl Scouts – The first person to talk to is the TOC at your school. Find their name on the “contact us” page of our website. Anyone on the Service Unit Team is happy to answer questions, we’re also listed on the website by committee. Our Service Unit managers are happy to help you figure out who would know the answer to questions on the team. Contact the manager at your GS level. Council Volunteer Support Mia Watson-Good and the resource center at council 619 298-8391 are the other place to go for answers. We’re all here to help you!
Girl Scouts San Diego-Imperial Council
1231 Upas Street, San Diego, CA 92103 619 298-8391
Website Resources
www.gssunnytrails.com – This is the place for the latest info on Sunny Trails events, meetings and encampment plans. It’s updated regularly. Look here for names and contact info for the whole service unit team and for links to council. There are also lots of resources here from local field trips to interesting service projects.
www.sdgirlscouts.org – This is the council website. Look here for all the forms that are in the resource room: permission slips, detailed cash report, check request, activity approvals, the new San Diego gold and silver award booklets, uniforms and much more. This is the place to see what training or events are being offered at council and to sign up online. Take virtual tours of the Girl Scout camps and find links to info about the new Journeys, cookies, destinations and many more sites to share with your troop.