By: Cindy Sortisio, Volunteer and Donor

Did you know that Girl Scouts have the ability to change the world?

I joined Junior Girl Scouts in 1974, thanks to my best friend, Kelly, and her wonderful troop leader, Mrs. Simone, who always made room for one more girl. That attitude was lucky for me, because I was about the 40th girl in the troop!

From that first meeting, I was hooked. Every week, there was something exciting and fun: cake decorating with real pastry bags, weaving on a cardboard loom, camping, learning how to build a campfire, selling cookies (75 cents per box, as I recall). The opportunities and adventures got bigger with each passing year: a bus trip to Toronto, Canada, advanced primitive camping skills at summer camp, a three week journey called Wyoming Trek to National Center West.

As an adult, I could not wait to extend a hand to girls and show them the wonderful world of Girl Scouting. While a student at the University of Virginia, I started a Campus Girl Scouts group and led a Junior troop. After graduating, I moved on to graduate work at UNC-Chapel Hill, and the first call I made was to the local Girl Scout office to find a troop. (My classmates used to joke that graduate school was just another one of my extracurricular activities.) Now, in addition to leading a troop, I enjoy opportunities to mentor and teach new volunteers, organize events, and serve on various committees.

I invest a tremendous amount of time in Girl Scouting, because it is so much fun for me and because it has a tremendous impact on girls. There is no better place for young women to explore their world and themselves, to forge deep connections with each other and with caring adults, and to develop their abilities to lead.

I also invest financially in Girl Scouting. It is not enough to me to simply invest my time and energy. Contributing dollars is a concrete demonstration of the value I place on the organization’s mission. It is so important that those of us who care enough to volunteer and/or enroll our girls in the program are willing to donate to this organization we value so much. I am a big believer that we get what we pay for and we get out of things what we put into them.

We simply must invest in our girls. We must invest in our girls so that they can continue to make progress in taking their full place in the world, in STEM fields, in government, in higher education, in Fortune 500 companies, in leadership positions of all kinds. Girls do not become leaders until they see themselves as capable of leading. And girls do not see themselves as capable of leading until they have real experiences in which they take risks, learn new things, and discover that they can. When they learn to prepare a meal at a homeless shelter, organize a food drive for hurricane relief efforts, snowboard, program a robot, or lead camp songs for younger Girl Scouts, they are developing a sense of possibility and capability that will carry them far into the future. When we invest in Girl Scouts, we are investing in our own futures and the futures of our communities.

Join Cindy and the hundreds of others who invest in girls through financial contributions to our Girl Scout programing. Visit www.investingirlsNC.org to make your gift today. Thank you.