Girl Scouts Heart of the South

When registering your troop this fall, you may have noticed that Girl Scouts of the USA has moved to 5 digit troop numbers. Therefore, Girl Scouts Heart of the South is moving to 5 digit numbers as well. I know that any change can be a challenge, and many of us cherish our troop numbers long after we’ve grown out of them. I assure you that we are managing this change to be as painless as possible for you. Beginning immediately, all troops will transition to new 5 digit numbers. (And yes, the badge sash will hold 5 numerals!)

Currently, we have many troops in the council with duplicate numbers. Deciding who would need to give up their number would be a sad task for anyone, so the good news is that all troops will keep their current numbers. To eliminate duplicates we will simply add additional numbers to the beginning of every troop. We are going to do this geographically, based on council regions

So alphabetically:

• Memphis DMA troops will all begin with #1 – Crittenden County, Arkansas; Fayette, Lauderdale, Shelby and Tipton Counties in Tennessee; and DeSoto, Marshall, Panola, Tate and Tunica Counties in Mississippi
• NE MS troops will begin with a #2 - Alcorn, Benton, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Itawamba, Lee, Lowndes, Monroe, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union, Webster and Winston Counties in Mississippi
• NW MS troops will all begin with #3 – Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Coahoma, Grenada, Holmes, Lafayette, Leflore, Montgomery, Quitman, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Washington and Yalobusha Counties in Mississippi
• W TN troops will all begin with # 4 – Benton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Madison, McNairy, Obion and Weakley Counties in Tennessee

Between the first number of the five digits and the current troop number will be 0’s. Therefore, Troop #16 in Memphis will become Troop #10016, while Troop #185 in Jackson will become Troop #40185 and Troop #185 in Grenada will become #30185.

We know that you may want to wait until you have fall product sale or cookie proceeds to add numbers to girls’ sashes and vests, and that’s just fine. We are asking you to start using the new numbers on registration forms and event registrations immediately. Please use your new troop number when you register for an adult course, when completing your fall product sale order, or
when adding new girls to your troop. You’ll also want to teach it to your girls, so they can start using it.

A big plus to this system is that when your troop is at events in uniform, you will be able to tell that you’re with new friends from another part of the council, and the council will no longer be trying to manage duplicate troop numbers.

When talking with parents and girls about this change, please share the following:

1. This is a national change, and we are proud members of Girl Scouts of the USA, and this is something troops across the country are doing.
2. We have had duplicate troop numbers for the past 16 months in Girl Scouts Heart of the South, and it’s just not good business practice to continue.
3. We are doing this in a way that enables girls in duplicate troops to keep the numbers they had, rather than making some of our girls change. This way, everyone adds one or more numbers, but no one gives up their old, well-loved number entirely.

Change can be hard, but it is increasingly a way of life, and will be an even greater part of our girls’ lives. Every change brings an opportunity for us to model for our girls how to be good change agents. Thank you for your support, and for all you are doing for girls and Girl Scouts

Heart of the South!
Sincerely,
Sharon A. Baade
Interim CEO