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In the year 1912, Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low started The Girl Scouts of America. After visiting with her friends Sir Robert Baden-Powell and his sister, Agnes, in England, she became very interested in the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides movement they had started. She started her own Girl Guides troop in Scotland, then came home to Savannah, Georgia, eager to start a troop in the United States of America.
Low's conviction that girls could do anything they wanted to do wasn't popular in her day. They didn't think girls needed to learn knot tying and first aid. But in impoverished Scotland, Low's Guide Girls learned to spin wool and sell it for money and thereby avoid working in the filthy and dangerous factories for endless hours a day. In the US during World War I, Girl Scouts sold war bonds, planted Victory Gardens and helped out at the Red Cross.
Girl Scouts today enjoy many of the same activities Low's young charges enjoyed in the early part of the last century. Among those are basketball, camping, cooking, knot tying, hiking, and yes- cookie sales!
One of the first fund raising efforts for the Girl Scouts was a cookie sale! Now a grand American Tradition, the Girl Scout Cookie sales are looked forward to each year by the millions of fans of those delicious Samoans and other delicious Girl Scout Cookies!
Daisy Low's own interests were wide ranging. She designed her own clothes and did china painting- which required painting multiple layers of paint on porcelain dishware, then firing it in a kiln between each layer. She also pursued wood carving, sculpting, and enjoyed drama and theater. She had an intense love of animals. Because of her varied interests people thought she was flighty and didn't hold out much hope for the longevity of The Girl Scouts.
Daisy married William Low at the age of twenty six, but the marriage was unhappy since her husband didn't want her to have any interests but taking care of him! He died before they could divorce.
Her own vast array of interests gave Low great enthusiasm for this wonderful program she had started, and it's potential to enhance the lives of girls. Daisy Low spent her last few years of life organizing the structure of the Girl Scouts even as she was secretly suffering from cancer that would ultimately end her life. Because of this structuring the organization was able to keep going, and grow stronger after her death. By the time she passed away in 1927 there were 167,925 Girl Scouts.
There are now about 2.7 million Girl Scouts world wide and is the largest female volunteer organization in the world. Their ages range from 5 to 17 years. Today's Girl Scouts are encouraged to consider careers in science and math, as well as teaching and home making. They learn about goal setting and team work as they develop great self-esteem!
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