Friday, September 05, 2008

OMG~ An Apology

Today I got a voicemail on my cell from a mom friend yelling "Sabrina....go check your mailbox and call me back!!!" Of course I ran out there to see what the hoop la was about and about crapped my pants. It was an envelope from the Judicial Court system in town and it was labeled "To the parents of Alex....." I opened it up and enclosed was a written apology from Jami, who was the old Brownie Leader before I stepped up to take over.


I can't believe it. First I didn't believe the GS Council would follow through and prosecute. She embezzled $1000 of the girls' troop money. That was dues, cookie sale money and nut sale money. $1000 for little 7 and 8 year olds goes a LONG way let me tell ya so this was huge. The girls, they don't even know it happened. In July of 2007 I called the council saying Jami was putting me off when I was questioning her about the troop and if we were going to be doing activities during the summer. They told me that she quit as a leader and told them that our troop didn't exist anymore. Huge shock to me. I told them that the girls still want to be in a troop and if possible I would lead it. Well that's when they told me the whole story of what was going on. Apparently our Girl Scout Cookies were never paid for that we sold. She took all of it and then some. When they started questioning her about where the money was for the cookies and where our troop fund was since there was only $2 in THAT account (which was about May 2007) she put them off as long as she could but finally just called in and said she quit in June. The council felt badly for us about the whole thing and gave us $800 to start back up because they believed that was a fair amount and I agreed. Heck I'd taken whatever!



I trained quickly in August of last year and got ahold of all our member's mothers whom I'm all pretty good friends with so we could start meetings again. Would you believe Jami's actions made us lose half of our girls?? The previous year had went so bad with Jami and her empty promises no one wanted to put their girls' back in. You could say I was crushed. Sadly I even begged some of the mom's. These girls had been together as Daisy's now Brownies plus I knew some of the mom's/girls since preschool. It was just really not cool because the trust had been broken. We had a sign up last year and did get 5 new girls so we went ahead and chugged through the year. Hard to believe I have been a leader now for a year!! The first meeting we had last September I saw Jami drive by and pointed her out to a few of the mom's. I'm not sure why she drove by but she did. It was almost like she had to SEE that we went ahead and started the troop back up.



I have worked my butt off to make sure the parents know I am in it for the girls. I want them to love Girl Scouts. I keep parents informed all the time (they probably get sick of my emails!) I let them know our budget, get the girls together at other times than just meetings, etc. It is all worth it though seeing Alex having a fun time every week with all her friends plus they are all learning life long skills. We've done several community service projects, parades, fun get togethers at the mall and skating rink. It's THEIR money and I am making sure they put it to good use. ;)



In a way I really feel bad for Jami. I think this was probably a felony on her record being a thousand dollars but I'm no court official. I think honestly she probably needed the money and thought maybe she'd just pay it back but just couldn't in time before it was discovered. Since our kids are at the same school, I'm going to run into her and when I have, I have always smiled or said hi. I never wanted to make the situation worse for her than it already was. Carole, my co-leader however has not been so kind. lol She's made a point to others about how peeved she is about Jami's actions since they were pretty good friends before all this. As we start this year with 17 girls and possibly more since I sent out another recruitment flier to the 2nd and 3rd grade girls today (lol) I think of how much history these little girls have together. That history is going to keep growing year after year. They are their own little clique as bad as that might sound. lol I'm the cool mom who organizes all the fun they have and I love all the hugs I get at each meeting. It really makes me feel good about what I'm trying to do!



Here's a few of my favorite pictures of my girls this year!

Valentine's Day Boxes

Christmas Parade~ I made them all wear red and bought them all elf hats. lol
Smores!Summer parade

Being silly at the nursing home, waiting to serve the old folks some cookies (hence the gloves)

2 comments:

Sara K. Parker said...

I cannot BELIEVE that woman stole all the girl scout money. Wow. That is really low. I admire your attitude about it. I think it is so awesome how you have built the troop back up. I LOVE the cute pics. Oh, and I can't believe you will have Gabriella so soon!!! Where has the time gone?

sara

Norberto Kurrle said...

Oh.my.gosh. I am so sad that she DID that. It's a good thing the girls never found out. I am glad she wrote and apologized. What an amazing thing you did for the troop...you saved them!

I was a girl scout and loved it. Here in South America we only have Boy Scouts, but girls can be members. haha

Oh, and Timmy has his bunny. I will have to post about it!