For more than 25 years, Angela Deemer has served as a troop leader with Girl Scouts. Her roles have included service unit manager for eight years and MagNut manager for her local troops. Currently, she leads three troops in Clearfield County.
Initially, she joined Girl Scouts because she wanted to bond with her daughters. “I had started whenever my daughters were little. I’m not a sporty kind of person. It was an extracurricular activity that I could do with them. And I have always believed in all of the Girl Scout values, and I wanted [my daughters] to experience them,” she says.
Angela spent quality time with her daughters through their Girl Scout troop’s experiences. When her two daughters were Cadettes, they made two trips to Washington, D.C., where they visited monuments, the Pentagon, and the White House. Angela says about her Girl Scouts, “They really understood a lot. There was a lot for them at the museums and fun things for them to see, but I think they did fully understand a lot of the monuments and the memorials and why they were there.”
It’s a very rewarding volunteer job to do. It’s rewarding to make a difference in a girl’s life.
—Angela Deemer
Angela’s advice for new volunteers is to work with the resources they have available in their county. For her county, she says, “We are in a rural community, so we don’t have all of the things they have in the big cities. The resources—whenever it tells you to do things for a badge—we don’t have those resources. I always say to them, as long as you do it with the badge in mind and with what we have available, that’s what matters. Do it in the spirit of the badge.”
As a service unit manager in a rural area, Angela organizes many of the Girl Scout events for the unit’s 10 troops. Together, their troops have yearly events, from lock-ins at the YMCA to Thanksgiving day meals to fishing fun days for Girl Scout families. She says, “We’ve tried to do anything the girls would have fun with.”
She recommends, “Have fun. Don’t stress over earning so many badges or doing everything the exact correct way.” Volunteers should “see what the girls like to do and do those things and just have fun,” she says.
After her more than 25 years with Girl Scouts, Angela says, “It’s a very rewarding volunteer job to do. It’s rewarding to make a difference in a girl’s life. I’ve even had a couple of [Girl Scouts] that I have their daughters now. It’s just nice to know that they look back at things with fond memories…just knowing you made a difference in somebody’s life.” Angela plans to continue making a difference in the lives of the next generation of Girl Scouts.
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