Issue #94 – November 2019
A Note from the Founder – California Chaos Continues
by Kerry Cordy
I feel like the last year has been nothing but me apologizing for communication delays first due to moving our offices, then multiple devastating wildfires, then my mother’s death, then more fire evacuations and now the new PG&E power outages. Fortunately our offices are located in Redding, CA which gets its power from REU instead of PG&E so we do have power at the office and for the most part our business should not be affected.
Unfortunately I live outside city limits though in Bella Vista which is on PG&E power. I am used to being able to work from home during evenings and weekends to ensure that questions get answered and website problems solved in a quick and efficient manner. Thanks to the new PG&E power shut downs, that will no longer be possible all the time as these outages are estimated to happen a minimum of 10-12 times a year for 2-7 days each and I have no computer access at home during those times. At the time I am writing this, I have been out of power for the last 5 days (with 1-2 more to go before power is restored) and as I only have very sketchy cell service at home, there is limited things I can do via my phone. So yet again, I am in the position of apologizing for any delays in communication. I am usually in the office M-F from roughly 9-5, but any communication outside those hours may now be delayed depending on future outages. I am so sorry for any hassle this may cause my members.
Please make sure that you have joined the Frontier Girls and Quest Clubs Facebook group as this is a great place to ask questions if you cannot reach me directly during off hours. Many of my veteran leaders know as much about the program as I do and can usually help with just about anything except membership issues if I cannot be reached. While I will still have my phone, I live in the country and cell service is intermittent at best so while I will try to stay up to date on emails and Facebook messages on evenings and weekends, there may be delays if I can’t get enough service to check them.
I am so thankful that the Frontier Girls community is such a supportive grassroots group. I could not have gotten through the last couple of years without the help of MULTIPLE leaders and parents across the country pitching in. I love that everyone views Frontier Girls as a family even though we are quite spread out. The support and love you share with myself and each other is an immense blessing. You all live our motto, “If you see a need, take the lead!” to the fullest and you have my undying gratitude.
New Badges Posted!
Endangered Species, 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
Left to right: Kerry Cordy, Suzanne Vicory, Elizabeth Vicory, Megan Lundquist, Hannah Lundquist, Katie Lundquist, Sarah Lundquist
Arizona Fun!
by Kerry Cordy
Every year I give away three continuing education scholarships, one of which is named after Megan Lundquist who was the first girl to earn the WOW! Award at the Eagle level and was the first recipient of the award in 2014. Every year since then Megan has flown to personally present her namesake award to each recipient. The 2019 recipient is a Pioneer from Arizona, Elizabeth Vicory. What makes this particular presentation special is that Beth formed a long distance friendship over the last several years not only with Megan, but with her entire troop. Not only did Megan fly to Arizona, but her mom, Katie Lundquist and leader of Troop #159, and two of her sisters made the trip as well so of of course I had to crash the party and show up as well.
What a joy it was to see all these girls meet in person for the first time and immediately form a bond. We swam and played games, conquered an escape room, made smore’s and toured the state capital. Megan and her sisters even through a surprise early birthday party for Beth, who turns 17 this month, complete with a pile of gifts from their troop.
Annual Badge Sale
Don’t forget our annual badge sale that takes place January 1-31 every year. All badges will be $.99 for the month so plan accordingly. Please remember that the sale mean we get VERY busy and most badges will take about 2 weeks to make and ship out.
All resource materials that used to be on the old website such as crafts, games, songs, meeting plans, etc. are being moved to the Curiosity Untamed site at curiosityuntamed.net. If you are looking for something specific and it is not on the Curiosity Untamed site yet, just email me at kerry@frontiergirls.com and I will send it to you as soon as possible.
Fundraising Success!
Thanks to their Flamingo Flocking Fundraiser, Troop #527 was able to raise enough money to cover their $1100+ worth of uniforms! 39 uniform orders all at once was our largest single uniform order ever. I love that the girls earned the money themselves! Frontier Girls has no national fundraiser. All fundraising is done at the troop level and girls keep 100% of all money earned.
Photo Contest!
Want to earn a free year of membership to Frontier Girls? Submit your favorite photo that you feel represents what Frontier Girls is all about along with a caption for it. For example, the photo on the left is Jamie Cogswell who submitted her photo to our Facebook group with the title, “The power of one! It takes one person to change the lives of many!” Make sure you are either in a recognizable Frontier Girls t-shirt or uniform or our logo is prominently displayed in your photo. We will pick our three favorites and award a free membership for a year to the people who submit them.
Rules:
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- You must be 18 years old or older to enter. Minors must have a parent/guardian enter the contest on their behalf.
- Email photos to kerry@frontiergirls.com with the names of all recognizable people in the photo, your troop number and your caption.
- Entries must be received by November 30.
- Three winners will be chosen by the Frontier Girls LLC staff and announced in the December Newsletter. Each winner will receive a free one year individual membership or a $29 credit toward a family or troop membership.
- For any photo in which a person is recognizable, you must have permission from each person in the picture to submit the photo.
- You authorize the release of any photographs submitted to Frontier Girls LLC based on the following conditions:
- These records become the property of Frontier Girls LLC.
- This release is given without promise or expectation of compensation.
- You, and Your minor child, do release to Frontier Girls LLC any right, title and/or interest of any kind they may have in the photos produced.
- All records may be used for promotional or publicity purposes and may be published in mass media publications, in Frontier Girls, Curiosity Untamed or Quest Clubs newsletters, websites and other Frontier Girls LLC publications, or shown on television, movie, or Internet presentations. You and Your minor child’s last name may be used.
- This release is effective until revoked in writing by You. Such revocation shall only be effective to prevent any expanded future use of the photos.
Troop Rosters
If you are a troop leader, please check your troop roster and make sure all the membership information for your girls is correct. We think we have everyone back up to date after the website switch, but there are still a few memberships that did not transfer over correctly that we are still finding. Please make sure all girls in your troop that are currently participating show as “active”. Active memberships expire one year from the last transaction date listed. Your troop roster can be checked via the Caspio system in the Leader section of the website. If you have not yet used Caspio you will need to sign up for a user name and password as the Caspio system is on a different server than our website and requires its own login credentials. If you find any discrepancies in your troop membership, please email Lisa, our membership coordinator, at lisap@frontiergirlsclubs.com. Thanks for your help!
Christmas Gifts!
Check out these great Frontier Girls gifts in our store for your favorite Frontier Girl or Leader.
Mugs!
Fill with your favorite Christmas candy, a small stuffed animal, or even a bouquet of flowers as a thank you for your leader.
Tote Bags
Perfect for carrying books or supplies to and from meetings or even a quick change of clothes for girls who may have sports practice after a meeting.
T-Shirts
Show your Frontier Girls pride with an official Frontier Girls T-shirt
Changes to Refund Policy
As of October 11, Paypal now follows industry standards and no longer refunds our fees paid on a transaction if we refund all or a portion of it. Therefore beginning October 11, any memberships that are not cancelled in a timely manner and need to be refunded will only be refunded the amount we originally received from Paypal which was the payment minus the fees. For Individual memberships $27.76 will be refunded and for family memberships only $56.02 will be refunded. Please make sure all parents know that they must turn off the auto renew feature via their Paypal account when they leave the program or email us and request that we do so for them to avoid having to process a refund. Canceling the auto renew is as easy as logging into the website and going to the Account page. Then click on Subscriptions and simply stop the subscription. We have looked into using other payment gateways, but at this time Paypal is still the least expensive and they are one of the last payment Gateways to switch to the policy of not refunding fees.