Girl Scouts Look for Boost in Volunteers, Membership

Hundreds of Girl Scouts in University Park and the surrounding area are celebrating the centennial anniversary for the organization, even as recruiters are working hard to reverse a slip in membership and volunteer numbers over recent years.

Currently, 149 registered adults support the local troop that includes University Park. Last year, that number was 166, and the year before that it was 196, according to Maggie Boyden, Girl Scout’s field director for northern Prince George’s County.

“It’s very hard to find the parent willing to make that commitment,” Boyden said.

The drop is consistent with a national trend. Girl Scouts experienced a decade-long fall in the number of volunteers that lasted until 2011, said David Robertson, implementation consultant for the Girl Scouts. Both he and Boyden said the economy is at least one factor challenging volunteer recruitment.

The impact is showing up in the membership data, too. As families struggle, more parents are going out and finding jobs, Boyden said. In turn, fewer parents introduce their kids to the scouts, she said.

Three hundred eleven girls make up the local troop; that number was about 450 as recently as five years ago, Boyden estimates. (She noted that geographical boundaries for the troop have shifted, and so that might also reshuffle the number of scouts per troop.)

Former long-term Girl Scout leader Lisa Ealley noticed the increasing struggle to recruit new adults to lead the troops.

“I think it’s the time element … I think the concept is you have to be a Wonder Woman to lead a troop, and that’s not true,” she said.

Ealley would know; she led the troop from the time her daughter was 6 years old until she reached high school. She also served as a service unit manager during that time, attending monthly meetings to keep up on Girl Scout initiatives and direction.

Troop leaders dedicate about two to three hours a week for the troops that hold weekly meetings, Boyden said. But not all volunteers fall into that role. Some are assistant leaders, and some help with other scout responsibilities, like selling cookies.

It’s flexibility like this that helped the Girl Scouts experience a one percent increase nationwide in adult volunteers from 2010 to 2011, the first increase in 10 years, Robertson said. He credits the Girl Scouts' new approach to volunteer recruitment, called Pathways. The focus is on providing adults with a variety of volunteer options of varying time commitments.

The demands on troop leaders are adjustable as well, said Ealley, who has maintained her connection to the troops, even after her daughter moved on from Girl Scouts. Ealley trains troop leaders, and she teaches them what it means to be a part of the organization.

The time demand for a troop leader can be reduced with the assistance of reliable co-leaders, and instruction books that lay out the program, Ealley said. Online training and networking with current leaders for ideas can also help, she added.

Though the volunteer numbers haven’t increased recently for the University Park-area troop, Boyden is seeing an upward swing in membership. The 311 scouts is an improvement from the previous year, when 298 girls were in the troop.

This year, troops and volunteers are preparing for upcoming anniversary celebrations. The actual 100th birthday of the Girl Scouts was March 12, but the major event will take place on Saturday, June 9, when 200,000 Girl Scouts gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for a sing along.

To prepare, area troops will gather in Hyattsville on March 31 for Let’s Get Ready to Rock the Mall, where they’ll learn more about the traditions and songs of the scouts.

Local scouts will also share in another local anniversary celebration next month—that of the City of Greenbelt, which marks its 75th anniversary. Find more information .

Interested in becoming a volunteer for Girl Scouts? Contact Boyden at mboyden@gscnc.org or 301-861-5866.