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Thursday, April 13, 2023

Community Service Awards in Girl Scouts

Chances are your Girl Scout troop is doing community service.  Here is a rundown of the awards you can give your girls for their hours of service.

Girls can receive patches through the council called "Inchworm of Service."

Here's the link with information and instructions how to receive the patch.  The requirements are as follows:

To be eligible to wear the Inchworm patch, a girl must earn inches as follows: 

• Girl Scout Daisy 10 inches (hours) Blue Inchworm 
• Girl Scout Brownie 15 inches (hours) Brown Inchworm 
• Girl Scout Junior 20 inches (hours) Green Inchworm 
• Girl Scout Cadette 25 inches (hours) Yellow Inchworm 
• Girl Scout Senior 30 inches (hours) Yellow Inchworm 
• Girl Scout Ambassador 35 inches (hours) Yellow Inchworm

For an inchworm patch, the rules state that girls may only count service done with the troop and that girls can earn multiple patches.  Although these are earned awards and therefore should appear on the front of the vest, I personally prefer to place them on the back of the vest.

However, once girls move up to Cadettes, hours should be applied to service bars and torch awards.  Ensuring your girls receive the awards they earn is an excellent way to help them document their service for future college applications and resumes.  There are two kinds of service bars.  The first applies to service to the general community and the second is awarded for service within Girl Scouts.  


Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Girl Scouts have the opportunity to earn a community service bar at each level.
 
Cadettes=red
Seniors=orange
Ambassadors=yellow

This award is earned by completing 20 hours of service for a community organization while putting the Girl Scout Law into action.



Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Girl Scouts also have the opportunity to earn a Girl Scout service bar at each level.  These awards look just like the regular service bars, except they are green with a notch on the corner to indicate the level at which the award was earned.  

These bars require 20 hours of service to the Girl Scout community.

Service bars are worn on the front of the vest on the left-hand side underneath the wings and any earned cookie pins or torches.  Here is a link to a placement diagram.



Speaking of torch awards, these are also earned by 
Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador Girl Scouts.  These awards indicate service in a leadership capacity.  To earn these awards, girls must first complete a journey at their level and then serve "one term" in a leadership position either within our outside of Girl Scouts.  This level also can be earned at each level:

Cadette= Silver Torch 
Senior= Silver and Gold Torch
Ambassador= Gold Torch

As noted, torches are worn beneath the wings on the vest and above the service bars.

Finally, for girls who put in long hours, the neighborhood coordinates ordering Presidential Service Awards twice a year. Bronze, silver, and gold awards are available at various age levels based on the number of community service completed. 

Instructions for submitting hours for this award are here.  Please note that the neighborhood verifies hours for Girl Scout members only.