American Heritage Girls Troop Recruiting
From left to right: Abby Skrobola, Mary Parrish, Flo Brighton, Clare Parrish. Photo courtesy of Marie Skrobola.
American Heritage Girls Troop MI1871 will be holding an informational meeting for families with girls in kindergarten through 12th grade interested in joining the troop. The meeting will be held on Saturday, July 26 at 1:00 PM at the St. Mary Parish Center, 110 E. Madison Street, Manchester, MI.
American Heritage Girls is a Christ-centered scouting program for girls ages 5 - 18 that seeks to develop the whole child – physically, mentally, and spiritually. Girls earn badges doing age-appropriate activities in diverse areas of interest including Outdoor Skills, Family Living, and Science and Technology. Additional activities include camping, community service, patriotic salutes, and father-daughter events.
This will be the 2nd year for the Manchester troop. Marie Skrobola, one of the organizers, explained that at the close of their year in May, the troop had 10 girls, all of which will be returning for this upcoming program year. Last year’s troop was primarily children from St. Mary parish. It was their first year and they kept their outreach small but they did have 2 other families from outside the parish who joined after hearing about it via word of mouth. This year they are doing a much larger outreach in Manchester and the surrounding area. Skrobola stated “We believe the American Heritage Girls program has a lot to offer young girls and their families and we’re excited to have more girls from the area come and check us out.”
Starting in September, the troop will meet the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm at the St. Mary Parish Center. Skrobola stated that the girls have a lot of fun at the troop meetings. They get to visit and work on badges together. Girls of all ages meet together on the same night. They start with a flag ceremony and opening prayer, then break off into their units, which are subdivided by age. They end each meeting by having everyone come together for a closing flag ceremony and prayer.
In addition to troop meetings the troop has special activities which last year included a lock-in/slumber party at the Parish Center, participating in the annual LifeChain, a pro-life prayer and protest event, and serving as color guard at the Toy House in Jackson. While the organizers are still putting the calendar together for this year, Skrobola stated that they will be serving as color guard at the Toy House again and are looking at joining sister AHG groups from around the state and participating in a Camporee this Fall at Faholo in Grass Lake. She also said that they are excited about any new ideas that joining families may suggest.
The girls will have an opportunity to meet other troops from from all over the United States next summer. AHG will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2015 and holding a national convention at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana. AHG only holds these conventions every 5 years. All troop leaders, girls, and their families are invited and Troop MI1871 plans on attending.
AHG highlights the importance of service to the community through several projects including participating in the annual Make a Difference Day, a National Day of Service celebrating its founding. Usually it’s held on the third Saturday in September. Every troop is encouraged to choose a service project to work on that day that serves their charter organization, churches, charities or communities. Last year, for their first Day of Service, Troop MI1871 did a fall clean-up at its charter organization. AHG troops from all over share what they did that day via social media and their website. Skrobola said “It’s always great to see the variety of ways troops choose to commemorate that day: volunteering in food pantries, raising money or providing care kits for the homeless, carrying groceries for customers at a local grocery store. It’s good for the girls to see how big a difference their small contributions can make, and to share the opportunity with their sister troops from all over the country.”
It is service that Skrobola feels is most notable about Manchester’s troop. She said, “In just our first year, the girls performed over 250 hours of service! Each girl has an opportunity to earn service stars to wear (representing their total number of hours of service) on their uniforms. When we held our closing award banquet in May, it was great to have the opportunity to award the stars to each of the girls, and see their pride in their accomplishments.”
Skrolbola feels that while so much competes for children’s time these days -- school, music lessons, sports, etc. -- American Heritage Girls is worth making time for. “I believe American Heritage Girls offers girls opportunities that are unique. Girls are encouraged to mentor one another and learn leadership skills. They are encouraged find opportunities to serve others and learn that putting others first is a priority. Girls learn valuable skills through their badgework. And we have the fun of planning camping and other outdoor activities. Plus we’re able to provide a wholesome and nurturing environment that allows the girls to make lifelong friendships.”
“Another very important thing I like is that it shows girls how to integrate their faith into their everyday lives. This was a big reason my family choose to be involved in AHG. AHG wants parents to know that we’re there to assist them in sharing Christ with their daughters and helping them to grow in their relationship with God. We want to show girls how they can grow up to be women of integrity.”
Skrolbola stressed that girls don’t need to be Catholic to join. “We’re open to girls of all faiths or no faith - as long as they are willing to live up to the standards of the AHG oath and creed. American Heritage Girls isn’t just a girls’ organization – it’s a ministry. I’m so proud to be a part of it and to share it with families in Manchester!”
For more information about this meeting or Troop MI11871, contact Marie Skrobola (mffox@umich.edu) or Amy Parrish (kaparrish87@frontier.com). For more information about American Heritage Girls, visit their website. http://ahgonline.org.
From left: Abby Skrobola, Flo Brighton, Mary Parrish, Allison Ross, Mary Clare Skrobola, Clare Parrish. Photo courtesy of Marie Skrobola.
From left: Flo Brighton, Mary Clare Skrobola, Mary Parrish, Clare Parrish, Abby Skrobola. Photo courtesy of Marie Skrobola.
National Day of Service project last fall. Photo Courtesy of Marie Skrobola.
Mary Clare Skrobola, the troop's youngest member last year. Photo courtesy of Marie Skrobola.
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