2011 Award Recipients

Angela Widdis	Cathie Bledsoe	Chris Powell	Cindy Cook
Martha Weiss	Michelle Williams	Sarah Brunner	Sue Anderson

2011 Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana
Annual Meeting Award Recipients

Appreciation Pin

• Angela Widdis- Angela serves as service unit manager to two areas (Service Units 636 and 637 in Berrien County, Southwest Michigan), was part of the property realignment committee, is a council trainer, a product program chair, has hosted events, mentored 3 girls on earning their Silver Award and also leads a Girl Scout Junior. 
• Michelle Williams- Michelle has served as recruiter, coach coordinator and service unit manager of SU 631 in Laporte County for 9 years. Over that time her service unit has grown by 64% and every grade in every school has a troop available to girls. 
• Sarah Brunner- Sarah has served as coach coordinator, recruiter, day camp volunteer, long time troop leader of multiple troops and assists service unit 619 in Huntington County with providing plenty of events for girls of all ages.  Several girls in her troops have had learning disabilities, Down’s syndrome, and emotional issues.  Each girl is treated with respect, fairness and inclusion and each girl is expected to treat others with the same respect, fairness and inclusion. 
• Denise Blatnik(not pictured)- Denise serves as a troop leader, Service Unit Manager, and Event Program Coordinator.  She brings fun to her Service Unit by being the “Queen Mum.”  One leader shared “we never know if we will be having high tea or cutting shapes out and gluing them on headbands so we can be trees, the only thing we always know is that it will be fun and we will learn something and stay excited about helping our girls become better adults.”
• Monica Hollman(not pictured)- as Troop leader, Organizer, and registrar for Service Unit 617, Monica doubled the amount of girls registered at one school.  She also created a database to keep track of her Service Unit’s registration numbers so they can be easily referenced for Service Unit Standards of Brilliance. 
• Colleen Amorini(not pictured) - Colleen volunteers as a troop leader, council facilitator, and Service Unit Recruiter.  “Sparkles” as she is called believes in the power of girl and works hard to help the girls of her own troop find their power.  She also organized recruitment for her service unit and welcomed over thirty new troop leaders to their area.
• Michelle Roose(not pictured) - Michelle serves as troop leader for two troops and a school organizer; she organized a Teddy Bear Tea Party and spent the day planning and preparing for the event, doubling her school’s girl scouts in the process.  Even when faced with serious illness, Michelle made a trip to her local cookie cupboard to make sure her troop would have cookies to sell. 

 
Honor Pin

• Cindy Cook- Co-leader of a Senior/Ambassador troop, service unit registrar, communications specialist, last minute product program chair, lock-in event cook, and all around “behind the scenes” person are all positions Cindy Cook has held within service unit 619 of Huntington County.
• Chris Powell - Chris Powell serves Girl Scouts as a service unit manager, communications coordinator, cookie cupboard helper and event helper for service unit 617 (DeKalb County).  She has taken on leaderless troops to keep them going and then worked successfully to recruit new volunteers to take over the leadership mentoring them until they are comfortable to guide the troop on their own. 
• Deanna Stuckey(not pictured) - Deanna Stuckey has served a troop leader for 9 years, school organizer, recruiter, registrar, event coordinator and helper, cookie kick-off organizer with service unit 621 (Adams County)and also a council trainer. She has added community interest and involvement in the Cookie Kick-off by adding a cookie eating and trivia contest and inviting Adam’s county city mayors and other local “celebrities”.
• Lynette Akin (not pictured) - As a volunteer holding many roles, Lynette does extensive research to find information to present to her fellow leaders.  She is also very interested in Councils’ Own awards and developed the Summit City Try-It, Badge, and Interest Project Patch.
• Kathy Detweiler(not pictured) - Kathy serves as the Event Program Coordinator and a Troop Leader.  She assists her Service Unit plan events so that each girl is provided with programming that includes Discover, Connect, and Take action.  Also, as a promoter of camping opportunities, she encourages girls and leaders to get outside and enjoy nature.

 
Thanks Badge

• Sue Anderson - Sue holds a multitude of positions within our council such as; Service Unit Manager, Cookie Cupboard Host, Camp Director, Troop Leader, Event Planner, and more.  As if the sheer number of positions that she holds is not a reflection of the dedication that she has to our council, she goes above and beyond in each position to provide the finest level of service.
• Martha Weiss- Martha Weiss is not only a role model with her girls but for other leaders in the Girl Scout community as well.  She has been a mentor to several troop leaders who have talked about leaving girl scouts when their troop gets older and wants to quit.  As one leader shared, “when I decided leading a troop was no longer feasible for me,  it was Martha that encouraged me to find a way stay active, she told me “the fun really starts when they become older girls and you see them taking  ownership of the girl scout beliefs and making them part of who they are.”
• Cathie Bledsoe -“She doesn’t say no.” Cathie has a passion for Girl Scouting and wants the service unit, the leaders and the girls to be successful, so she helps out in any way that is needed.”  From coordinating a council-wide mega training event to organizing a STEM event for girls, Cathie’s passion has made GSNI-M a special place for girls and adults.

Thanks Badge II

• Dina Mansour-Cole(not pictured) - Since Dina received her Thanks Badge several years ago she has continued to lead her service unit from recruitment to retention to fun leader meetings to mentoring both girls and adults.  Dina is also active on the council level as a learning facilitator, a consultant for program materials as well as serving on the Gold Award committee.

 2011 Other Award Recipients