Talkin' Tennessee with Yvonnca
Talkin' Tennessee with Yvonnca
Building Future Leaders: The Girl Scout Way Ft Lynne Fugate
What does it really mean to build tomorrow's women leaders? In this illuminating conversation with Lynn Fugit from the Girl Scouts of Southern Appalachians, we uncover the profound impact this historic organization has on young girls and the communities they serve.
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Speaker 3:Welcome back to Talking Tennessee with Yvonne Ca. I am your host and I'm here with a dear friend that y'all are going to love. Her name is Lynn Fugit, from the Girl Scouts of the Southern Appalachians. Welcome to Talking Tennessee, thank you so much.
Speaker 4:I'm looking so forward to chatting with you today.
Speaker 3:Most definitely. Well, the first question is probably one of the most important ones who is Lynn?
Speaker 4:Lynn is somebody who tries really hard to do the right thing care about her community, care about people. Who enjoys relationships very much. A relationship person. I like being around people and I like staying busy. Some people say that's too much, but I really like that, but that's what makes you happy. But yeah, I enjoy being active involved in the community. Truly, bloom where you're planted.
Speaker 3:Bloom, where you're planted. I agree with you Viewers. Let me say this I have not known her along, and when I say my friend because I can tell you this, we've been together for a few minutes in this room before we came on here. But I can totally see a friendship in you because your spirit is so bright. When you walked in the room, before you said anything, you greeted me with a smile and you just went into just being nice, being kind and welcoming to your place. What is it?
Speaker 3:The Girl Scouts. I was a Girl Scout when I was a young girl and the Girl Scouts did a lot for me. Lynn, I grew up in Harriman, tennessee, small town, 7,000 people, not a big city, but Girl Scouts was big in Rome County city, but Girl Scouts was big in Rome County and it was one way for the community to come together. We brought bread together and a lot of older women two younger women really poured into me when I was a Girl Scout and so coming back, it's like what you said off camera, it's like a surreal experience for me because y'all poured so much into me. So I want to say thank you.
Speaker 4:Certainly it's funny On behalf of anybody that's ever been a Girl Scout. I think we all feel that way. I think you learn a lot that you didn't know. You were learning when you were young and on this side, when you get a little age on you, maybe you really figure out some of those silly activities or making a sit-upon or a bunsen burner going hiking, just being with people.
Speaker 4:It teaches you a lot that you didn't know it was teaching you at the time, and so I do. I meet a lot of women say it really is a full circle moment because back when they come in contact again with Girl Scouts it reminds them of all the wonderful things that happened to them. I mean, I have first Girl Scout stories.
Speaker 3:Yes, and you know, the biggest thing that I would say about this organization I'm talking about from experience is it didn't matter how much money you had, it didn't matter where you came from, the color of your skin, it didn't matter about anything. It was just if you were a young girl that wanted to join an organization and be fed and when I say being fed, I'm not talking about food, I'm talking about to your soul, because at that time, when you first become a Girl Scout, you don't know who you are.
Speaker 3:And it helps you to find out who you are at a young age and you will change and transform. But you learn the simple things of being a young girl and so when I would sit down, when we'd come to our meets and everything and we'd do the crafts, that was like everything to me. You know, I will say a lot of people know the Girl Scouts for different reasons. One of the greatest reasons is the cookies. But Girl Scouts is more than a cookie and I want to show on my podcast what Girl Scouts really do. Do you agree with me on that? Oh, how?
Speaker 4:long do we have? I mean, I absolutely agree and I'm glad you mentioned that, because a lot of people think all we are is cookies, camp and crafts.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:Well, cookies camp and crafts can teach you a lot of things. Can the cookie program, though? I think people really need to understand it is a fundraiser.
Speaker 3:It really is. It is a fundraiser, it is a fundraiser it really is.
Speaker 4:It is a fundraiser. Girl Scout Council's about 75% to 80% of their operating budget comes from the sale of cookies. It's not just a nice product, right, women had to sell things because they did not have their own money. Speak on it. Men had jobs. Men owned companies. Men donated the money. Speak on it. Men had jobs. Men owned companies, men donated the money.
Speaker 4:So when Girl Scouts started, the only way a girl or a woman had money for dues or to do anything was she asked her daddy or her husband. That's true, and so Juliet Gordon Lowe was truly a trailblazer when she started this thing in 1912, before women ever even had the right to vote. 1912. 1912. And now you've got me wound up and I can talk about this for a while, because it is such if you understand the history, you understand why the organization is the way it is and how much it has changed and evolved with the times and what girls have learned. Back then they learned a lot of domestic things and in the war they were doing war work, learning first aid and all these kind of things. But back to the fundraising piece. It really Juliette Gordon-Lowe decided that she wanted girls to know how to raise money for themselves, so that they didn't always have to ask. Well, women didn't have very many jobs, so what girls do? They sold things to raise money.
Speaker 4:So in the 1940s a troop in Oklahoma was the first troop that baked cookies in their ovens and they started selling cookies to fund the Girl Scouts. And then, as that has gone along, it became more professional. There are more Girl Scout councils. There are 111 of us across the United States and one in Girl Scouts overseas for all our military bases. And girls learn how to make a plan, how to set some goals. You know they can earn rewards. And then they learn how to talk to people.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:You'll see girls come out of their shell. I joke and then we can talk about something else if you want to. But I'm a finance major. I was a banker forever and then this is my back nine of my career. I say I get to use all that financial knowledge to run an organization that is great for girls and our community. But that was your journey.
Speaker 4:But that was my journey. But what I thought so funny is, if you go to a cookie booth, I challenge you this year. Next time you go to a cookie booth, okay, look for a career path. And who's at that cookie booth? The girl that steps out in front and is talking to you and asking you if you want to buy cookies. She's probably going to be in sales or marketing. She likes people. She's out doing that. The girl that will take your money might be a financial person. She wants to make sure we got paid for that. Keep all my money in place, make sure we know what we're doing. Then there's the girl who's making sure that the booth is stocked and she'll be in the back looking in the wagon to see if you need more s'mores or are you running low on Thin Mints. And then she might send her staff the parent to the car to get some more. But I just watch. I just look at those booths and say I never thought about it that way.
Speaker 4:These girls are running a little business. They are, and they don't even know it. And that's the best way you learn it's fun, and they don't even know it. And that's the best way you learn it's fun.
Speaker 3:And you don't even know you're learning. I truly agree and I think that I think every young girl needs to learn independence, that they need to know how to take care of themselves. And when you're in Girl Scouts, there are different exercises and things that you do that your, your troop, is going to depend on you for a certain thing right, and so I think that part is what sets you apart. You know, like what you were breaking down at the booth, you know so many young girls will go in finance, they will go into putting things together.
Speaker 3:And I will say this one thing that sticks out to me when I was a Girl Scout was community. We went out in the community. Yes, we helped build up our community and we made a difference. There were so many stories that you would hear while you're sitting at the booth that you would hear someone walk up and say I was a Girl Scout, right, and they would tell their experience as a Girl Scout and they would talk about oh, when I have a child, I want, if I have a daughter, I want my daughter to be a Girl Scout. It's just building your community. You know, with a sweet treat it is.
Speaker 3:You know, if you think about it, it's a sweet treat and we all like to eat, you know. But I think that it's building up confidence in women to say you know what, you can take care of yourself and this is how you do it, and let's teach these young girls at a young age you can make it.
Speaker 4:Yes, and to try something. Try something, that's true, because the other thing I found is you know, I tell people you can be a Girl Scout and not love camping out overnight. That's me. But I've done it. I tried it, I didn't hate it, I liked it, I learned a lot about myself. But that's the other thing. If you're in a group with other girls and you learn, I say this is where we teach children today that compromise is not a dirty word.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:Sometimes our grownups forget that, but it's not a dirty word. That's really how progress gets made, you have to compromise, and so somebody wants to do this and somebody wants to do that, and somebody else has an idea to do another badge they want to work on. Well, you try whatever so-and-so wants to work on. You learn something about it, and then maybe you all come together and say this is the one thing we really all want to do, and then that's great too, but you just but you learn that at a young age.
Speaker 4:But you learn that at a young age, and that is the beginning of teaching civics, and they don't even really know it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but you know, the biggest thing is there are so many boardrooms we go in, there are so many conference rooms we go in and there's a table there and there's chairs there. That's a girl scout. That's a Girl Scout If you think about it. So many women go in the boardrooms, have the positions that they bring people together to make decisions, build things and create things to strive in your community. And you learn that at a young age as a Girl Scout.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I'm sorry, I just clearly. I like what I do, because there's so much I want to tell you, because I think too, one of the things that the so the fundraiser is also a fundraiser for the troops, but a lot of times what they do is they use their money to do community service projects.
Speaker 3:And see, I don't think people stop to think about that no, no.
Speaker 4:It's not talked about much. I don't think communities have any idea really how much is done in their community by Girl Scout troops.
Speaker 3:Yes, I agree.
Speaker 4:You'll see a buddy bench somewhere, or food that gets taken to the animal shelters or creek cleanups or things like that.
Speaker 3:litter pickups so viewers are you hearing what she's saying? She's telling you things that Girl Scouts do out in the community, that they don't raise their hand and say, look at me, look at me, look at me, but they help build up their community. So it's not about just the cookies. The cookies are great, we all love them and we all should buy them, and I highly recommend them because they got really good flavors. But Girl Scouts do way more than that. They strengthen women at a very vital time in their life. My next question is what inspired you to come to Girl Scouts? You were in finance. What made you want to do this?
Speaker 4:Scouts. You were in finance. What made you want to do this? Well, as I told some young women that I spoke to at the Haslam School a long time ago, if you really want a great career, always take the phone call, because you never know what opportunities on the other side. So I'm minding my own business at my desk and I get a phone call from a headhunter that says Girl Scouts are looking for a CEO. Would you talk to us? And I said sure, because I was a Girl Scout Right and thought it's a great organization. Let's see. And you know, learned about it. And again I said you know I've always wanted to do something, that I want to be good at what I do, do the right thing.
Speaker 4:Give back and bloom where you're, but I want to be good at what I do, do the right thing and bloom where you're planted, give back. Well, girl Scouts taught me how to be a good citizen, and being a good citizen is saying yes and finding opportunities where you think you can make a difference. And as we interviewed more, I thought you know, I was a Girl Scout. I have worked in what have been formerly traditionally male fields. I grew up my sister and I were the only girls on our block with 12 little boys. I raised two sons and I thought this is a time for me to actually get to do something that will benefit girls, because somebody did it for you when I was a Girl Scout.
Speaker 4:And I also say and I think people really need to think about this you know, I'm not the person in our council that's running summer camp. I'm not the person in our council that's running summer camp. I'm not the person in our council that's running the troop meetings. But the gifts and talents I have I'm using to make sure that the foundation is there so that the people who have the gifts I don't have can then pour into the girls.
Speaker 3:And you know what. That's a good point, because I'm a believer that we're on earth for a reason and I'm of the belief there's two types of people there's givers and there's takers. There's givers and there's takers and you got to figure out which one you are and I hope you lean to going. If you are a taker, you become a giver and you get up every day and you come in and, yes, it's your job, but at the same time you're giving back to your community and you're saying, okay, I was a Girl Scout, you know, I know what it's like firsthand, and let me help build up young women so that our world is even better year after year. You know that to me is saying, hey, I'm making a difference.
Speaker 3:And I want to make a difference.
Speaker 4:Well, yes, it's just the right thing to do it is.
Speaker 4:Because somebody's got to take my place. We really I served on the Board of Education too, and my mother was a teacher, grandmother, all these people, and so I understand how important it is for people to pour into young people, because we always say teachers are building the future. Yes, you know, they are the future. Well, it's more than their responsibility it is. And so, again, that's where I talk about my gifts and talents. I could be a PTA president, I could be on the Board of Education. I could not teach in the classroom.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:So all that to say, I look around at who runs things. We look around like who's running this, who's running that? A company, the Sunday school class, any kind of community organization. It takes people to make it happen. It does. And I look around and think, okay, who's going to replace those of us that do that? Well, we have to start teaching young people that you do and you've got to come out of your comfort zone and you have to say raise your hand.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's good, raise your hand. You've got to come out of your comfort zone and you have to say you know, raise your hand.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's good, raise your hand. That is a good one. And I'm going to tell you why it's good, because I believe that I say this on my Facebook Lives all the time get off the couch and do something. And the reason why I say that is you can't take, take, take. And then say, okay, this world is horrible. It starts with you, has to start with you of what am I doing to try to make the world a better place? And if you never, if you just take and I'm not saying we all take care of our family and we all want to do all these different things, but the true sacrifice is when you go out in the community and you go help a stranger that you don't know. Of course you're going to want to help your kids, of course you're going to want to help your spouse, but I think the real big thing that God is looking for us to do is are you going to help the people in your community? Are you going to listen to someone that needs to be heard? You know, are you going to tell this young girl, okay, that thinks that she's not pretty? Are you going to help this little girl find the beauty in her.
Speaker 3:That's what Girl Scouts to me really helped me. I wanted to share a story. That's what Girl Scouts to me really helped me. I wanted to share a story when I was in the Girl Scouts, I was in gymnastics and I fell off the beam just before I was coming to Girl Scouts because my mother had me in everything and I fell off and I injured my hand. So that meant Ivanka had to sit out and I'll never forget going to our meet and all the young girls is there or whatever, and I was just really, really just bummed, sad. I felt like I had let my team down. I felt like I let my parents down. I felt like I was just really the messed up kid for falling off this bed.
Speaker 3:The young people in our meet and the parents that volunteered spoke life in me literally day in, day out. But that first day when I really needed someone to say to me it's going to be okay, it's going to be okay Saying that to somebody and really getting them to believe that that is a big thing in young girls. It's going to be okay, because a lot of times when things happen to young girls they think it's going to be. You know it's going to destroy everything in their life, you know. But we have to teach young girls that it's going to be okay.
Speaker 3:And you know what If you have to sit out for two weeks, or I can't remember how long I had to sit out, but the whole thing was that everybody that was there was telling me I was going to be okay and that I would get past it. And so that's what, girl Scouts, what sticks out in my mind. I'll never forget that day, and so, to every person that was in that room, thank you for telling me it's going to be okay, because there's been many times in my adult life that something happened oh yeah, a tragedy, a death or something that somebody didn't tell me was going to be okay. But I remember when I heard it was going to be okay as a Girl Scout, and so that's an experience for me. Can you share a story that, when you were a Girl Scout, it may not have been an it's going to be okay moment, but a moment that you'd say you know it really showed me that I was supposed to be in that room instead of being wherever.
Speaker 4:Don't, I'm a little older than you.
Speaker 2:That's further back for me to think.
Speaker 4:So I'm not sure that I can think around, that is. What we know is that girls are living in even more difficult times than you and I did. I agree, and very judgmental times and what they need are people who say it'll be okay, and I've got you and you did well and good for trying. And a hug, and sometimes a kick in the pants if you need it. Accountability, and quit telling yourself to feel sorry for yourself.
Speaker 3:I agree.
Speaker 4:But I think that's what belonging is about, and that's what Girl Scouts is about. All young people need a sense of belonging.
Speaker 4:They will find it in good things or in bad things, that is true, and so we are the good thing that they can find belonging in, and I do think, talking about how you felt with the Girl Scouts, that made me feel that way. I also know that from one of the last things they had us watch as a pre-read before we went to our Girl Scout national meeting was a podcast. No, it was a Netflix documentary called Join or Die, join or Die, join or Die, and it's about the story, the research that Robert Putnam did. You've probably heard about him. He wrote a book 20 years ago called Bowling Alone how more and more people are taking up activities but they're doing it alone, and that when our country was the strongest and community was the strongest and people had more confidence in the way things were going, they were in community with one another yes so, uh you, you're beginning to see membership and organizations drop and as that drops the sense of connectedness to other people, drops the getting in my little space and I only talk to people that look like me or think
Speaker 3:like me or that speak on it and so um.
Speaker 4:That's why we use the word a lot belonging because and everybody wants to feel like they belong. It's not where you are included, it's where you belong and uh and that breaks what you said you experience racial religious income. You know it.
Speaker 4:It's real easy to like somebody that you do something with and, oh, they may go to a different church or they may not go to church, or they may do it, but you like them, they're a good person and you can talk to them about things and it stretches you and it stretches them and it is better for community.
Speaker 3:It really is, and you've got to have some leadership. What does Girl Scouts leadership mean in today's world? Your opinion?
Speaker 4:Well, I think as an organization, we are a leader in understanding girls and we are designed our whole program is designed around the developmental progress of a girl. So I've talked about you know all the different things Like you can learn STEM, outdoor life skills, and one of the life skill things that's really near and dear to me is basically our citizenship or our democracy badges. Well, development developmentally. You can earn that in every age group because you learn a little bit about it as a daisy and then as a brownie yeah so you're learning more and more and more about these same tracks as you get older.
Speaker 4:So I think there's leadership and understanding girl development, okay. And then there is leadership in speaking about what girls need, but what the girl is getting is learning how to lead based on who she is, because you can lead in lots of different ways.
Speaker 3:You don't always have to be in the front of the room you don't, and so, leading from the chair, you're in and I think a lot of times people think I think a lot of young girls think they have to be pushed out there. There is a lot of things that on the back end of it you, you bring together any event, there's going to be people on the back end, the front end, the middle end. Every and every one of those people are important because it's for the greater good and everybody coming together to make that event or whatever it is successful. But if you think that, oh, if I'm not on the front, I'm on the back, I'm less than. That's the one thing that Girl Scouts does not teach you. Girl Scouts teaches you that everybody's important, yes, everybody's position is important.
Speaker 4:Yes, you know we don't necessarily talk a lot about football at Girl Scouts, but we do live in East Tennessee, so we all know about football.
Speaker 4:But you know it's like every position on any sport. Every position is valuable or it wouldn't be there, it wouldn't be. And so that's the same way that you learn in a company, in your family, in your church or your synagogue or your mosque, any place that you, your house of worship, any organization you belong to, everybody's got a role. I joke around here that I strike fear in the heart when I walk in somebody's office and say I've been thinking and they're like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:They're like oh Lord, here she goes, here she comes. What is she going to come up with now? But they all joke.
Speaker 4:It's like that is my job. It is, that is my job. Other people's job here is to say, lynn, that sounds great, but we've got to make this happen and this happen and this happen, and I'm not sure that we can do that the timeline you want, but it's not. Oh, what are you talking about? It's let's figure this out. Will this work? And you can't not tell yourself, well, they're the negative Nelly telling me no, no, they're trying to make sure I don't go running out into I-40.
Speaker 3:Are y'all hearing what she's saying? Because I think a lot of times nowadays, if you don't agree with someone, people take it as personal, they take it as a hit. You know that type thing. But sometimes you need someone to tell you you may have the best idea, okay, but it may not be the time, you know, and timing is everything. And what she's saying is is that, okay, she may have an idea, but she's going to go to her staff and say, hey, here's the idea, and she knows her staff is the ones is going to help her, look at the logistics of it all to see if it can be pulled off. But if you never allow yourself to be told, okay, no, this may not be the time, or whatever, that's not saying no, it's just saying time is everything.
Speaker 4:And it's also, as a leader, my opportunity sometimes to tell people, yeah, we can. Yes, yeah, you can stretch yourself, you can do it.
Speaker 3:You can do it and you have to hold people accountable on not saying we can't do it because you're wanting to, because they're scared. Because they're scared, and some people will call it lazy or somebody will call it whatever words you want to use, but it could be anything, you know. But don't ask somebody else's dream because you're scared of something, and I think that Girl Scouts teaches us that Give and take, give and take, it's a give and take thing.
Speaker 4:So tell me this how do you help young girls become a leader in these days? Well, I think just that the methodology of the troop meeting, learning to find your voice, saying what you want to do, and I love the story that I heard of one troop that they were seniors. And by the time those girls became seniors in high school they were an amalgamation of girls that started all over this county in different brownie troops. They liked Girl Scouts and, as girls, started falling away to do different things.
Speaker 4:So the way they led was by the time they were all working on their gold award, which is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn. They helped listen to each other while they worked on their project. They encouraged the girl who was doing her own, and then they supported whatever her interests were, and then they supported whatever her interests were Okay, and so I think that tells me we've taught girls that you lead also by cheering one another on yes and not comparing. And it doesn't even have to be what you like.
Speaker 4:But, if you care about the person and you lead the other way. We teach them to lead is sometimes it's your responsibility to plan the activity and if something you forgot to get something, well, that's a life lesson. You learned the other thing in the planning of these service projects. They do the bronze award, the silver award and the gold award. So bronze awards are done by troops when they're in fourth and fifth grade and they pick a community issue that they want to work on and they plan how they're going to do it and they'll do a project. So it's a lot of learn by doing leadership, by figuring out what you want to do, how you have to do it. A gold award you find a community mentor to help you work on your project and you have to plan it, raise the funds to implement it and then execute it, and it has to be something that is sustainable.
Speaker 3:Okay, and so just putting that together is leadership? It is, and you can take those teachings throughout your life, because being a leader, there's different types of leaders. There's a young leader to becoming an adult and leading in a different way, even in age 40s, to 50s to 60s and going on. I think that a lot of people don't realize that you learn how to lead even better and perfect how being a leader the older you get, do you agree?
Speaker 4:Well, yes, practice about everything makes you better. So the more you practice, that I also think we teach g irls to lead by learning to fail.
Speaker 3:Speak on it.
Speaker 4:Well, again, I told you, like I learned, that there are some things that I don't really like, but I was challenged to try them.
Speaker 3:Okay, and you've got to have people that will challenge, yes, and I think a lot of times people will want success, but there's a lot of challenge in success. Before you get there, you will be challenged it depends on what you call fail.
Speaker 4:I mean, fail is just, you know, did you fail or did you just mess up and now you try a different way? So I love to talk about this. Looking at girls at summer camp with our rock climbing tower Okay, rock climbing tower and if you are ever out there, when a troop is out there and they're learning to do this, there'll be girls that are ready to go running at the top. And then there'll be girls like me that waited and watched. I don't think I can do that. I don't want to do that. I'm scared to do that. I'll look stupid. I can't get up there. I might be too heavy. I don't know if I can do that. Speak on it and they just say, yeah, you can, yeah, you can. And the absolute mayhem that breaks out when the last girl who thought she couldn't do it does it. Girls are happier for her than they are for themselves.
Speaker 3:Do you hear that I was about to say? I bet you? They're all cheering her on. And let me just say this as a woman, you know we have our insecurities and you've got to surround yourself with people that are going to hold you accountable but at the same time they're going to love on you and they're going to speak life in you in ways that, even when you feel defeated because they're speaking life in you, it makes you want to get up and do even better things. Do you agree with?
Speaker 4:that, yes, and I think the other thing that we're teaching girls about leadership through that example I've just gave you is that success is not a finite. There's not a finite amount other people can succeed to so you can cheer each other on. I mean, there used to be this scarcity mindset If I made it to the boardroom, I was going to be the only woman that made it to the boardroom, or if I became the first vice president of whatever.
Speaker 4:Well, there'd only be one female at the executive table, and I better make sure I hang on to that. I think what we're teaching girls by cheering one another on is that there's room at the top for everybody.
Speaker 3:It really is. And I heard someone say and I speak on this quite often as an example I heard someone say to me one day I want to own the table. And to me that was jarring to me and I'm going to tell you why. Because I'm like then if you're saying you want to own the table, then that means you don't want anybody else's opinion, you want it to all be your way. And to me that's ego driven, to say that why not have a table full of really strong people that is working together to succeed together, to me, that's better.
Speaker 3:You know, for everybody to succeed, why do you need to own the table? You know, because you're going to be by yourself eventually.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, one of the things that you hear from great business leaders or great leaders is surround themselves with really great leaders too.
Speaker 3:And like-minded.
Speaker 4:And just people that challenge you and encourage you to make you better. But I think that's really important for girls to understand that you can lead in different ways.
Speaker 3:Everybody's got their own style, I agree um, and sometimes you need to adjust, even in relationships and friendships. You know it doesn't mean someone is a bad friend or anything like that, but sometimes you outgrow each other and you could. You can still cheer that person on, even if it's from afar, and I think that you learn a lot about yourself.
Speaker 3:Yes, you learn a lot about yourself and you learn that you can like different things. I can. I'm in my fifties and I know, with a shadow of a doubt, the woman I was in my forties. I'm a better woman in my 50s, not saying that I was a bad woman in my 40s, but I just learned a lot, you know and did. Did I fail at things? Probably yeah, but it was okay, because everything is not made for you, valka, and I had to try it to see if it was for me.
Speaker 4:See, that was a Girl Scout coming out in you.
Speaker 3:You see what I'm saying Try it and move on. You got to try it. And if I can say anything to young girls out here and women out here, older women, you got to try things to be able to know what you can do. And let's talk about the cookies oh what the cookies. Please tell my viewers what all the cookie drive does well, it pays for everything.
Speaker 4:Do y'all hear that? I mean, um, again, about 75 percent of a 75 to 80% in some councils even more. All the money that funds the camp properties, the offices, the professional staff, the activities that girls get to do, all those things come from the cookie. You know, yes, there's private philanthropy. We need more than that and we need more people to donate to Girl Scouts as a philanthropy. A lot of people think, oh, the cookies pay for it all.
Speaker 4:No 75%, and we would prefer not to depend that much on the cookie, but less than 2% of all philanthropic dollars in the United States are spent on girl organizations. Really Less than 2% Of all philanthropic dollars.
Speaker 3:Are y'all?
Speaker 4:hearing that. So not an excuse, it's just we need to have more people understand that Girl Scouts is a philanthropy, not just a retail cookie market.
Speaker 3:Are y'all hearing?
Speaker 4:that we are a 501c3 nonprofit and, like all nonprofits, it takes funds to run.
Speaker 2:It does.
Speaker 4:And so girls, like I said just, traditionally raised the money by selling a product, and they're learning how to do business, yes, and it is business Good business One of the things I love about you know.
Speaker 4:back in the day, you know, you just walked around door to door. That was the only way to sell them Right. And then they came up with order cards and you started using the network of your friends and family or going to church and taking an order card and that kind of thing. Well, now our girls are learning omni-channel marketing. You know that buzzword. Everybody says that they sell digitally.
Speaker 3:I did not know that buzzword everybody says so, they sell digitally and they have. I did not.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, and then they have retail operations with a booth and they?
Speaker 3:um. So when you see the girl scout cookies at the walmart's and all the different stores that out there just know to support Girl Scouts, buy at least three, four boxes at a time, or whatever you can afford, but just know it's going to a great cause. You were about to say something.
Speaker 4:I was about to say and if you don't eat cookies or you don't like cookies, or the Ozempic effect makes you think you don't need a cookie, we still want a cookie. What I will say is one of the things that we do is we ask folks to make a donation and the cookies that we own that you didn't want to take home with you, we give to Friends of the Troop and they mail those cookies all across the world to our service, men and women deployed and did y'all know that places?
Speaker 4:we also to put a smile on on troops faces oh yes, and and make them feel a sense of home oh, yes, I'll interrupt this announcement to tell you about a story. Go ahead. So I was. We were having a meeting one day and somebody the head of marketing came and said there's a gentleman out here working on our computers and he'd like to speak to you. And I thought, oh, he's going to tell me I need a whole new system or something, and you're like, oh, I don't need that today.
Speaker 4:I don't know if I want to talk to him. And I walked out and he said ma'am, you don't know me, but I want you to know that I was deployed to Afghanistan and when Girl Scout cookies came, it made us feel like home had come. Well, he got teary, I got teary. I could be teary right now if I don't watch it, watch myself. And he just said I don't think you know how much that meant to me and the men I served with. We couldn't tell the people that actually sent it to us, but I just wanted you to know, because I bet y'all do it too.
Speaker 3:So for that gentleman, first let me say thank you for stopping and sharing your story, using your voice to say what it did for you. But let me say this too many people don't stop long enough to really think about you know, okay, well, I see the young girls at whatever store and they're selling cookies, that type thing. You never stop and think about the troops. You never stop to think, okay, you know well, I don't want cookies right now because I'm trying to lose weight or whatever. You may be thinking or whatever, but you can give a donation and that donation can go very far. You know, and I think that more people need to understand that it is an organization and that organization has to run and they're doing great things. They're building up young women for our future that is going to be in the boardrooms, is going to be in the conference rooms and is going to make decisions that could affect your life.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, and especially with today's isolation and mental health challenges and what the young people call FOMO fear of missing out that they see on social media all the time. And am I living my best life? My life doesn't look like what some influencer is putting on Correct. Then there's real life.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:And Girl Scouts helps them do real life and see real life and see real life. And the other thing that I think it does for people is parents and caregivers are very concerned about the amount of screen time. Well, one of the pillars of our program is, like I said, outdoor, stem, entrepreneurship and life skills. Those are the four pillars and life skills those are the four pillars. So the outdoor piece is very big. A lot of people just don't go outside much anymore. They're in a room on a computer doing something.
Speaker 4:And a lot of young people are having health issues because of that.
Speaker 3:Yes, because they're not being mobile, they're not being active, they're not moving around Because, know your generation, my generation, we were outside, well there was nothing to do. Yes, exactly, we get out and have a good time and don't let the light be home for the street light. Yes, and that was the thing.
Speaker 3:And riding bikes oh, oh yes, that type thing and being in your community, being at the parks and all that kind of stuff, and young people of today, they have no interest to that. And I know that this is a touchy subject, but I'm about to say it. Covid did a doozy yes, it did On these type organizations and I want to use my platform to say, hey, how can we get back involved? How can we? And it's not just buying cookies.
Speaker 3:Girl Scouts need volunteers, they need people to stand up and say you know what, what help do you need If that means taking out the trash, if that means whatever? And then they need people to donate in a great, consistent way, Not donate just once a year to make yourself feel better. How about let's donate in a consistent way? And how can we get people to get back outside? You know, as the young people say, I'm outside. Well, most of the time when they're talking about I'm outside, it's not in the community, it's more of partying, that type of thing. How has COVID affected and how can people get involved?
Speaker 4:Well, there are all kinds of ways and pretty much, if there's something you like to do, there's probably a badge for it. And you could help a troop learn that activity, but I will say that we need adult mentors who are willing to help volunteer. They need adult mentors and lead troops.
Speaker 4:You know, because, as I was telling you before we started, we don't ever have a problem finding girls who want to be Girl Scouts. The thing that stops a girl from being a Girl Scout is a place to belong in a troop. Okay, now we're working on other ways that you can experience it, because that isn't for everyone. But I also think we have to change our idea of the fact that a troop means you meet every week, and if I can't come every week, I can't be a Girl Scout. Well, troops don't have to meet every week. Troops meet once. Some meet once a month, some meet twice a week. Twice a month, some of them find out they like doing certain kind of activities and that's the kind of activities they do. But there is a place for people, but the caring adult is required, yes, and you can't pay enough people to do it, right?
Speaker 4:I mean it's so you need volunteers, yeah it's not like a soccer team, where you pay a coach and you can drop them off for practice. Same thing for volleyball, or you can drop them off with a piano teacher or you pick your thing. This is a participatory sort of experience. And so now and you don't have to be the leader but a group of parents, a group of caregivers, a group of people that aren't even related to the girls they're willing to lead a troop for church groups, sororities, just people who like to do things, can really help make a difference in a young person's life.
Speaker 3:And young people need mentors. They need someone to speak life in them and tell them that they're going to make it, and that's the thing that COVID really took away from all of us is connection.
Speaker 4:It really did. That's why I think it took connection away.
Speaker 3:Go ahead. What was you going to say?
Speaker 4:I was going to say that's why that Netflix thing about join or die. Yes, I mean especially after COVID, everybody went inside and it's been hard to come back out and re-engage in that.
Speaker 3:Come out in a beneficial way, that you're getting something fed into you that is going to make you better, and I think the Girl Scouts. That's what you're trying to do. You're trying to make people find who they are, believe who they are and then improve on how they want their life to be.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and what I will say is I think we pour into the adults that participate a lot too, in a way that they don't expect. They're hungry for connection too.
Speaker 3:They are.
Speaker 4:And then if they meet other caregivers and families that they become friends with because they share this concern for young girls. That's a bonding experience and the leaders themselves learn new things when they try to teach badges, and so everybody's learning and that's role modeling and leading as an adult for showing a young person that I don't know how to do this, but we're going to figure it out together, so I think an adult who volunteers with us can get just as much out of it.
Speaker 3:Well, let me say this, One of the biggest things when I was preparing for this, I was like Girl Scouts brings families together. It brought my family together. Do you agree with that? Oh yeah, okay yeah, and I said I need to challenge people and tell people you know, bring your, your child, to Girl Scouts Sacrifice. I do understand that you've got life and everything is, you know, hectic and all that, but you can bring your family together and you can prevent a lot of things, because I am a firm believer and my parents believed if you keep your kids busy, the chances of them getting in trouble lessen. Do you agree with?
Speaker 4:that, yes, I mean, that's what people say all the time, and the one thing I will say about Girl Scouts that I think to your point about parents and being involved with family. If you want to spend time with your child and you want to do things that you can participate with them in like you can't play on the same team they play on.
Speaker 4:It's great they can be on a team. They can also be a Girl Scout. Right, you can't play the piano beside them? Well, you can if you're in a faith community. That a young person grows up with Girl Scouts probably stays with a person longer than about anything else.
Speaker 4:So if you start when you're five and you can go till you're 18, that's a long time, and so the other thing, and those values are going to stick with you. Well, the relationships, these families that have bonded forever. The other thing I will say I like to use the word and Let Girl Scouts be your, and Okay, not your, or you don't have to do either, or you can be a ballerina and a Girl Scout. You can be a five-star recruit and be a Girl Scout. You can be a theater kid and a Girl Scout, and they will walk alongside of you. One of the things we tell our troop leaders is and I truly believe this, because my boys were Boy Scouts they're Eagle Scouts, and so one of the things I heard a leader there say is if your son wants to be a part of this, okay, as often as he can come, he is welcome. So don't feel like if you miss a meeting they can't come back.
Speaker 3:And that's what is so great about being a Girl Scout, because y'all always welcome people in, absolutely. And as we get to the very end of this interview, let me just say this how can we get to the very end of this interview? Let me just say this how can people get involved? Is there a system or process? Do they call? Do they get on your site? What do they do?
Speaker 4:Well, they can call, we're in the phone book, we're on the internet, we're honey, we're all the ways, but it's really Girl Scout. So the Southern Appalachia. And if you are a computer, if you've got a computer or a smartphone or whatever, if you type in Girl Scouts, knoxville in your search bar, you will find us.
Speaker 3:Girl Scouts.
Speaker 4:Knoxville. Yeah, well, I mean you can, just if you put it. It's really, our website is a mouthful. It's girlscoutcsaorg. Say it one more time. Girl Scout CSA Council of Southern Appalachia. So it's girlscoutcsaorg and you can find us.
Speaker 3:Well, I know that there are different things that's going to come in the future, and I'm going to end it like this I wish you would answer this question. Just tell us Just at least tell us what is new. Is there any going to be new cookies? What's going to be new to?
Speaker 4:Girl Scouts. So there's always something new at girl scouts. But the thing that I think you might be most interested in, based on the fact that these cookies I brought you- earlier.
Speaker 3:We've talked about when. I can't wait because we?
Speaker 4:because if you were a girl scout, you enjoyed selling them definitely but there will be a new cookie this coming cookie season. Do y'all hear. So it is embargoed. We don't know. They will announce it. Okay, but it comes up. The national announcement will be September the 9th.
Speaker 3:So September 9th, the big announcement, what's going to be the new Girl Scout cookie? Yes, and we're excited and we're going to get involved. I want my family to get involved and we are going to come volunteer.
Speaker 4:Thank you. I will say this I can't tell you what it is, but I've tasted it and you'll like it.
Speaker 3:Her approval. Yes, you know the cookie's going to be good.
Speaker 4:Yes, thank you so much for allowing us to come in. Thank you so much for letting me talk about Girl Scouts and something that's near and dear. I love Girl Scouts.
Speaker 3:I love Girl Scouts and I know that you're building up great women. That is going to soar in our community and if you ever need, if you ever need us to come out, do anything, we will do it. Thank you, and this door is always open. If there's ever a time that you need a platform to talk about Girl Scouts, the door is always open to you. Thank you.
Speaker 4:Look what Girl Scouts did for you.
Speaker 3:It's been my pleasure, my pleasure too. Tune in Friday at four. Bye guys.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Talkin' Tennessee with Yvonca. Watch out for our weekly episodes from the First Family of Real Estate and check us out on the web wwwyavoncasalesrealestatecom. See our videos on Yvonca's YouTube channel or find us on Facebook under Yvonca Landis and Twitter at Yvonca Landis, and don't forget to tell a friend about us. Until next time. Yvonca signing off.