May 2004
"To Serve God" Brochure is being revised
The "To Serve God" brochure is a color brochure that pictures the
religious awards for all faiths and lists the contact information for each
organization. Many councils use these brochures in troop packets and at
training events. P.R.A.Y. has updated the brochure with pictures of new pins
and awards and made several address corrections. These brochures are available
at no charge from P.R.A.Y.
A special thanks to the National Jewish Girl Scout Committee and the
Buddhist National Committee on Scouting for their financial
contributions to the printing of this brochure.
Target Councils
P.R.A.Y. hosted two separate training events for 16 "target
councils" in April 2004. A team of three people (one from Program,
someone from Membership, and one in a supervisory position) attended from each
of the following councils:
Arizona Cactus-Pine Council – Phoenix, AZ
Bayou– Lafayette, LA
Catawba Valley Area, Inc. – Hickory, NC
Citrus – Orlando, FL
Concharty– Columbus, GA
Cumberland Valley – Nashville, TN
Genesee Valley – West Henrietta, NY
Greater Minneapolis – Minneapolis, MN
Mile-Hi – Denver, CO
Morris Area – Randolph, NJ
Nation's Capital – Washington, DC
Northeast Georgia – Gainesville, GA
San Antonio Area – San Antonio, TX
San Diego-Imperial – San Diego, CA
San Francisco Bay Area – Oakland, CA
Western Massachusetts – Leeds, MA
Carol Eker and Mark and Deb Hazlewood from P.R.A.Y. along with Barbara
Boise and Hillary Hazan from GSUSA were presenters at the workshops.
The workshop focused on collaborations between the religious community and
Girl Scout councils: the rationale and benefits to girls, religious
institutions, and local councils; how the religious awards programs strengthen
these partnerships; and existing resources available to local councils.
At the beginning of the workshop, the target councils made presentations on
what they are currently doing to promote collaborations with the religious
community. This sharing and networking time was invaluable to participants.
This was the second year that this training was offered by P.R.A.Y. Last
year, the target councils made presentations on their "next steps"
or action plans. San Jacinto was developing a "Faith-based
Initiatives" program. River Trails presented its "Faith-Based
Girls" program to the membership/program/training staff and also to its
board. Wilderness Road made presentations to its Management Team staff and
hopes to include an initiative for working with faith communities in its
Strategic Plan. Wilderness Road also hopes to develop a new volunteer position
to help promote girls earning religious awards. Other councils have invited
P.R.A.Y. to give presentations and workshops to staff and volunteers.
P.R.A.Y. is excited to be working with these "target councils"
and hopes to reach more councils by working through state-wide training events
in the future.
New Format for God and Country Counselor Manuals
The Counselor Manuals for the first three levels of the God and Country
series have a new format which incorporates the Student Workbook into the
Counselor Manual. Although the content of the Counselor Manuals remained the
same, the layout was changed to include small thumbnail sketches of the
Student Workbook and additional handouts that were previously only available
on the Internet.
New Adult Application Forms
The adult recognitions are given to adults for outstanding service to young
people through service to the church and a national youth agency.
The following nomination forms have been revised:
God and Service Protestant Award
Lutheran Lamb Award
Lutheran Servant of Youth Award
St. George Episcopal Award
Nominators are required to fill out the application form, document the
minimum of five years of service, and secure the signatures of the nominee’s
pastor and the executive director of the local council. Copies of the new
application forms are available at: