Girl Scouts connects girls with adults who guide and inspire
them, but the experience also introduces adults to one another, forging
friendships that last long after their girls graduate.
Elaine Effort and Karla Byrd met when both led Girl Scout
troops. Effort started as a Daisy leader,
then led her daughter April’s Brownie troop.
When Byrd’s daughter Catherine was old enough to join Girl
Scouts, she couldn't wait to get her involved, and to also get involved herself
as the Daisy troop’s leader.
Both troop’s met at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in East
Liberty. Each year as their daughters bridged to the next level of Girl Scouts,
Byrd and Effort would recruit volunteers to lead younger troops.
“For years, there would be a hundred Girl Scouts spread
throughout the church in meeting rooms every Tuesday night,” Effort recalls.
The leaders shared more than meeting space. They held end of
the year events together and share best-practices for leading girls.
“Elaine always has great ideas and a deep knowledge of Girl
Scouting,” says Byrd, but she wasn’t the only one inspired by Effort’s
know-how.
“Whatever Elaine’s girls did, my girls wanted to do,” laughs
Byrd.
Their daughters are now grown, but Effort and Byrd have
remained friends and stay connected to the organization they love. Effort leads
Daisy and Brownie Girl Scouts in Homewood and Byrd is a member GSWPA’s board of
directors.
