Hays Post

In honor of National S’more Day, the Hays Girl Scout office is sponsoring a free family friendly event from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at 2707 Vine St., Suite 8 behind Cerv’s in Hays.

The whole family is invited along with any girl interested in learning more about Scouts to the event, which will include hot dogs, s’mores, T-shirt tie dying, robots and a bounce house.

S’mores, the delicious marshmallow, chocolatey, graham-cracker treat, is rooted in Girl Scout history. The recipe for a s’more dates back to a 1925 Girl Scout Leader magazine and a 1927 Girl Scouts of the USA handbook, “Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts,” which featured a “Some More” recipe.

Through Girl Scouts, girls unleash the inner G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, and Leader).

Natalie EIlis, girl experience specialist in Hays, said Girl Scouts is a girl-lead leadership program for modern girls.

Girl Scouts USA recently released a new set of badges after a survey of girls in the program. Some of these include badges on cyber security, space science and primitive camping. Badges for juniors and seniors in high school urge girls to explore college options.

See related story: New Girl Scout badges now available in key 21st century issues

Girl Scouts is open to youth kindergarten through 12th-grade. If a girl is unable to afford dues or membership fees, assistance is available.

“We don’t want that to be a hinderance,” EIlis said. “We don’t want girls to miss out on opportunities because of that.”

The service unit for Ellis County, also covers Ness, Gove and Trego counties. The Girl Scouts of the Kansas Heartland covers 80 counties in Kansas. Local staff can help a girl or volunteer connect with any troop in that region.

For more information, go to kansasgirlscouts.org, call 888-686-MINT (6468), or email [email protected].