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National Girl Scout Leader’s Day

National Girl Scout Leader's Day on April 22 honors the 750,000 adult volunteers who make the Girl Scouts of the USA possible — the troop leaders, cookie moms, camp counselors, and service unit managers who show up for 1.5 million American girls every single week. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, Girl Scouts has shaped more American women than nearly any other institution. The leaders are the reason.

APR22

Thursday, April 22Every year on April 22

days to go

Vibe: Gratitude & Grit
Also on Apr 22: International Mother Earth Day · Earth Day · Jelly Bean Day
Hashtag: #NationalGirlScoutLeader8217sDay

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Ways to celebrate

Girl Scout leaders notice real thanks:

✉️ Send a personal thank-you. A real card to the leader who shaped your daughter, your wife, or you. Name what they did. Mean it.
🌸 Send flowers or cookies. Yes, send Girl Scout cookies back to a Girl Scout leader. It's the Scoutiest move possible.
🏅 Nominate them for an award. Every council has leader-recognition awards (Outstanding Volunteer, Years of Service, Thanks Badge). Nominate yours.
💰 Donate to their troop. Most troops always need camp scholarships, supplies, or activity funds. $50 directly to a troop = more impact than $50 to council.
🤝 Volunteer yourself. The #1 way to honor a leader: become one. Shortage of leaders is the #1 reason troops fold.

Make it your kind of celebration

Family
Ask your daughter to write her leader a thank-you note IN HER OWN HAND. That note will be taped inside a leader's closet for 20 years.
Kids
Scouts can make the cards themselves. An 8-year-old's thank-you card is the world's single most effective volunteer-recognition tool.
Couples
If your wife is a leader — notice. Acknowledge the hours. Run interference on the kids so she can prep for the meeting. This is the real gift.
Office
If an employee is a Girl Scout leader, acknowledge it publicly. Many companies now support volunteer-leader PTO.
School
Schools host Girl Scout meetings after class for free in many communities — recognize this partnership and the leaders who make it work.
Community
Public 'Thank a Leader' breakfast at the local service unit meeting. Pastries, coffee, certificates. Costs $150; means everything.
Just me
If you were a Girl Scout, find the leader who mattered most. Message her on Facebook. She's still out there. She'll cry.

Plan ahead

National Girl Scout Leader’s Day is observed on April 22 every year. Here is where it lands for the next ten years, handy for planners, marketers and party people.

2026Wed, Apr 22this year

2027Thu, Apr 22

2028Sat, Apr 22

2029Sun, Apr 22

2030Mon, Apr 22

2031Tue, Apr 22

2032Thu, Apr 22

2033Fri, Apr 22

2034Sat, Apr 22

2035Sun, Apr 22

2036Tue, Apr 22

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Fast facts

Juliette Gordon Low

~750,000

The story

Juliette Gordon Low was 51, widowed, increasingly deaf, and newly inspired when she founded the Girl Scouts. She had met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts, in England in 1911. His sister Agnes had launched the Girl Guides. Juliette wanted the same for American girls. She returned home to Savannah, Georgia, and on March 12, 1912, held the first meeting: 18 girls in her carriage house.

Read the full story

The movement grew fast. By 1920 there were 70,000 American Girl Scouts. Cookies first became a fundraiser in 1917 (homemade, sold by a troop in Oklahoma). By 1936, licensed commercial Girl Scout cookies were a national phenomenon. By 1957, the uniform was iconic. Today, GSUSA has 1.5 million girl members and 750,000 adult volunteer leaders.

Girl Scouts has always been about adult volunteer leaders. The entire system depends on unpaid adults running troops. A troop of 12 girls requires 2-3 leaders. Each leader commits 5-10 hours a week during the school year, plus camp, plus cookie season, plus badge workshops, plus service projects, plus the 400 crafts. Totalled, a Girl Scout leader typically gives 250-400 hours a year. For free. For a decade or more.

National Girl Scout Leader's Day recognizes this labor each April 22, near the end of the school year, when leaders are prepping for final ceremonies and summer camp. It's a brief, pointed moment of recognition. The only real thank-you, though, is a specific one: a name, a memory, a gesture. Leaders remember every one they ever got.

Four roles every leader takes on simultaneously, every year:

Six Girl Scouts who shaped America, and their leader's fingerprints are on them:

Did you know?

Juliette Gordon Low was deaf.

She lost most of her hearing from a grain of rice thrown at her wedding (it lodged in her ear and caused an infection). Plus pre-existing hearing loss from treatments as a girl. Led the organization for 15 years largely by lip-reading.

Girl Scout Cookies started in 1917.

The first Girl Scout cookies were homemade by a troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, 5 years after the organization was founded. The commercial versions (Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs) didn't exist until 1936.

Thin Mints have been #1 since 1957.

Out of the ~200 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies sold per year, 25%+ are Thin Mints. Samoas (Caramel deLites) are #2. Americans eat about 70 Thin Mints per second during cookie season.

Girl Scouts are older than women's right to vote.

Founded in 1912; women got the vote in 1920. For 8 years, Girl Scouts was teaching American girls leadership in a country where their mothers couldn't legally participate in democracy.