[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 31 (Wednesday, March 12, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page E451]]



                   TRIBUTE TO GIRL SCOUTS OF THE USA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PATSY T. MINK

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 12, 1997

  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join in celebration 
of the 85th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of the USA. The Girl Scouts 
of the USA, since its inception in 1912, has stood for the highest 
principles of honesty, fairness, and service to others.
  Juliette Gordon Low registered the first group of 18 Girl Scouts on 
March 12, 1912, in Savannah, GA--conceiving the idea from England's Sir 
Robert Baden-Powell, who in 1911 had founded an organization called the 
Boy Scouts.
  The birth of the Girl Scouts of the USA in the early part of this 
century introduced unprecedented opportunities for girls to expand 
their lives. While girls and women in those years were unable to break 
into traditionally male activities, sports, fields of academics and 
jobs, the Girl Scouts of the USA handbook in 1913 included instructions 
on how to fly an airplane.
  The Girl Scouts sisterhood gained enormous popularity in the years to 
follow, leading to its incorporation in Washington, DC, on June 10, 
1915, its first nationally organized cookie sale in 1936, and its 
chartering by the U.S. Congress on March 16, 1950.
  In the decades since then, the Girl Scouts of the USA has grown to 
nearly 3\1/2\ million members--2.6 million Daisy, Brownie, Junior, 
Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts, and 827,000 adult volunteer leaders, 
consultants, board members, and staff specialists. First Lady Hillary 
Rodham Clinton serves as its National Honorary President. A total of 
174 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies sold last year for $435 
million, to support activities of 331 local councils established 
nationwide. The Girl Scouts of the USA has enjoyed tremendous success.
  We must continue to support and acknowledge the value of an 
organization that teaches a young girl through its basic law to do her 
best, to be honest, to be fair, to help where she is needed, to be 
cheerful, to be friendly and considerate, to be a sister to every Girl 
Scout, to respect authority, to use resources wisely, to protect and 
improve the world around her, and to show respect for herself and 
others through her words and actions.
  These responsibilities in Girl Scout Law and words in the Girl Scout 
Promise to ``serve God and my country'' have prevailed throughout the 
85 years of its organization, despite new challenges marked by evolving 
times. In cities such as Milwaukee, Honolulu, and here in Washington 
DC. Girl Scout troops are having an incredible impact on the lives of 
girls. Today's Girl Scouts are taught duty and obligation to others and 
themselves, and are offered opportunities to do so through a broad 
range of activities. Girl Scouts each week are participating in 
positive activities to discover the worlds of science, the arts, the 
outdoors, and people--as well as to find their ability to excel in 
these worlds.
  The Girl Scouts of the USA will continue to mean for millions of our 
girls a source of friendship, a positive creed by which to live, and 
endless opportunities at self-discovery. Happy 85th birthday, Girl 
Scouts of the USA. I wish you many more to come.

                          ____________________