GIRL SCOUTS.ORG:Girl Scouts Leadership Breakfast Launches 2013 Girl Scouts of the USA

Washington, DC, March 1, 2013

Centennial Silver Dollar, Celebrates Accomplishments

California's ABC 7 reports that a Bay Area Girl Scout made a special trip to the nation's capital, not to sell Thin Mints, but to pitch silver dollars. Pleasanton Girl Scout Sricharana and Marina Park, CEO of Girl Scouts of Northern California, participated in a leadership breakfast Thursday to highlight the Girl Scout Gold Award - the highest achievement girls can receive in Girl Scouting.

The two were also there for the unveiling of the new U.S. Mint Girl Scouts of the USA Centennial Silver Dollar, which represents the first time the Girl Scouts have had an official coin.

Along with Sricharana, Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Anna Maria Chávez and sixteen other Girl Scouts Gold Award recipients from around the country joined Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios, Congressman Jack Kingston, Girl Scout Troop Capitol Hill Co-chair Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and more than 100 other leaders on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 28 to celebrate women’s leadership and the second century of Girl Scouting.

The leadership breakfast brought together outstanding women and men from the public and private sectors and will include members of Girl Scouts Honorary Troop Capitol Hill, made up of all the female Members of Congress. A key feature of the event will be recognizing Girl Scout Gold Award recipients and five of the 2013 Young Women of Distinction – girls that have earned the Gold Award and were selected by an external committee with representatives from leading nonprofit organizations, Girl Scout partners and funders. Both recognitions require significant planning and project management within their communities, and are awarded at the Girl Scout Senior and Girl Scout Ambassador levels.

Girl Scouts of the USA completes its centennial year on March 12, 2013, and the breakfast also will serve as a launch celebration of the 2013 Girl Scouts of the USA Centennial Silver Dollar. Beginning on February 28 at noon ET, the coin will be available through the United States Mint and in select Girl Scout council shops nationwide. For information on the coin, visit www.girlscouts.org/coin or www.usmint.gov, or dial 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).