It’s the most wonderful time of the year- Giving Season! Whether they’re getting gifts for loved ones to celebrate a winter holiday, volunteering their time and talents to help a local charity, or making a donation to a cause they care about, many people are focused on bringing joy to others and enjoying the warm glow that comes with giving back. No one exemplifies this giving spirit better than Girl Scout Troop #2169 from Brunswick County, who have made philanthropy part of their troop DNA year-round. Even better, co-leader Kelli Tittle, backed by the incredibly supportive troop parents, reinforces these habits with crucial Girl Scout pillars like Entrepreneurship and Life Skills that ensure her Girl Scouts will sustain their generosity throughout their lives.

Giving back was ingrained in Kelli from a young age, so she brought that principle with her when she became a co-leader for Troop #2169 in 2020. As a new leader, she looked to the council patch programs for guidance on what to do with her troop of “very active” Girl Scouts. She immediately latched onto two: Girl Scouts Give and Commitment to Caring.

To get started with Girl Scouts Give, Kelli invited Marsha, their local Girl Scouts Give Champion and an enthusiastic advocate, to talk to Troop #2169 about the program and get them excited to participate. The girls instantly fell in love with Marsha and her passion and embraced her as their unofficial “Girl Scout Grandma.” If Marsha thought they should participate in Girl Scouts Give, they were all in.

Kelli talked to her troop about what it means to give and how they could save or earn money to donate, such as collecting loose change. “One of my Scouts took that seriously, and she checks every vending machine she goes by,” laughed Kelli. The troop decided to create piggy banks to collect their donations in and added a dash of fun by splitting into teams for some friendly competition. Along the way, they checked their progress and discussed what the money could provide another Girl Scout, like an activity fee or a uniform. Kelli ensured they never lost sight of why they were collecting funds and what their gift would mean for those they wanted to help.

Troop #2169 brought their Girl Scout entrepreneurial skills into play, hosting a bake sale and yard sale with items they collected from neighbors. They donated some money from their cookie sales and even raised roughly $200 by making and selling Christmas ornaments from whatever objects they had on hand. Kelli shared with amusement that the decorations were not great works of art and marveled at how the community stepped up to support the troop’s efforts.

Kelli also reinforced these initiatives with some impressive life skills lessons. The troop talks about the 50/30/20 budgeting principle every year and uses it to guide their spending and giving decisions, discussing what they want to earn and what they want to give from cookie sales for their philanthropic causes.

The troop’s experience with the Commitment to Caring patch was the first step for Girl Scout Troop #2169 in what would become an ever-growing investment of time, talent, and treasure in their broader community. Girl Scout Grandma Marsha was their guide once again, this time connecting them to a local senior center, where the troop sent cards to Meals on Wheels recipients. From there, their philanthropic activities expanded to include assisted living (cards, table decorations, and chalk drawings to brighten up the area outside the facility), PORCH, adopting a local family, beach cleanups, and more. Once again, Kelli reinforced these charitable activities with valuable life skills, such as making a budget and a shopping list to purchase food to donate to PORCH.

Time and again, Kelli gratefully credited the community with rallying around her troop, but the community also noticed how much Troop #2169 was doing for them. “As we’ve been seen in the community, people are coming to us to see if the girls can come and be there. They helped out with honoring the veterans in July- Southport invited us to come and do that. One of the Parks and Recreation departments invited them to come and help. So that part has been kind of neat, and people are seeing us now in the community and they’re coming to us, as opposed to before, I was constantly, ‘Hey, do you need anything? What can we help with?’”

Over time, Kelli has watched the Girl Scouts of Troop #2169 get more involved with their philanthropic efforts. They’ve become more aware of potential needs in the community and have started coming up with new ideas for ways to give back. She has also watched them grow in themselves: “My own daughter is giving more of her time without troop involvement. They are all breaking out a little bit more and talking with people, even the ones that are a bit shy.”

Girl Scout Troop #2169 embodies what it means to give back in every sense of the phrase. For Kelli, it came down to one guiding principle: “I wanted to show them it didn’t matter your age; there’s something that you can do that can help in your community, and your community is only as good as you make it.” Luckily for the residents of Brunswick County, it’s a lesson these Girl Scouts will carry with them and realize for the rest of their lives.

To learn more about Girl Scouts Give and how your troop or individually registered Girl Scout can get involved, visit give.nccoastalpines.org/GirlScoutsGive.