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Nothing sweeter than Girl Scouts

Late February and early March may be a gloomy time of the year in most parts of the country, but if there is one thing that brightens all of our lives it is the beginning of Girl Scout cookie season. Half of the year I suffer from a mild depression when my freezer no longer contains thin mints and don’t get me started on how much I love tagalongs.  This year, there is something really special about all of this, its the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scout cookie and their sales. Who knew a cookie could make such a difference in all of our lives?

The other day with my cookie order on my mind,  I had a great conversation with a friend, who told me I needed to meet one of his dear friends, an amazing woman named Frances Hesselbein. My friend, author Mike Stallard, began describing this incredible woman who transformed the Girl Scouts and so many more lives.  I knew I needed to know more about this amazing woman and how she has used her life to inspire so many others…

Frances, the mother of one son, went from Girl Scout troop leader to CEO of the Girl Scouts and was accredited with turning the organization around. She grew the organization to over 2,25 million girls and had a volunteer workforce of 780,000 during her time. In 1998 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work with the Girl Scouts.

In November, 2011 she told Forbes Magazine, “When I left the Girl Scouts in 1990, it was the largest organization for girls and women in the world. Six weeks later I found myself CEO of the Drucker Foundation, with no money, no staff and just a powerful vision. Peter encouraged us to focus on the type of change that will determine whether or not we are, all of us, a part of the future.”

Today the Girl Scouts is the world’s most successful organization dedicated to creating girl leaders with 3.2 million active members and over 59 million alumni! Truly nothing sweeter than using your life to make others better. Frances will be 102 in November.

 

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Love

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day loved by some and despised by others. Regardless of where you sit on the Valentine’s spectrum it is a day to think about those you love, and what could be so bad about that?

I know, I know, Hallmark has commercialized the holiday but Valentine’s Day is nothing new, it has been celebrated since about 270 AD. The history goes that Pope Gelasius was not a huge fan of the pagan fertility celebration and decided to re-invent the day, so to speak, by honoring St. Valentine’s death instead…not so romantic…

The first Valentine’s cards or letters began in the 1400s. In Great Britain Valentine’s Day began to be celebrated around the 17th century and Americans began exchanging hand-made valentines, as early as the early 1700s.

According to the Greeting Card Association, it is estimated that 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards will be sent this year and according to Forbes, Americans will spend 18 billion dollars on Valentines purchases today.

So, whether you are a fan of the holiday or not. Acknowledging those we love on this day, is something human beings have been doing for centuries. We could all use a little more love in our world…regardless of your feelings about the holiday.

As Thoreau said, “There is no remedy for love but to love more.”

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Copyright © 2017 Charity Matters. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this in your newsreader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright. We would be grateful if you contact us.

 

 

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