Volunteer Spotlight: Elaine Gooden

This is Elaine Gooden, leader of Troop 76974.

Elaine and her two co-leaders have a troop of 13 girls out of Algonac, MI. We asked Elaine to discuss her Girl Scout journey and how her troop is adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what she had to say:

My Girl Scout experience in Michigan got started with Michigan Waterways and when my youngest daughter wanted to be a Brownie Girl Scout. The troop that she was assigned to needed a leader, so jumped aboard and became a troop mom! I was her leader through high school, and watched her become a Gold Award recipient. In fact, both of my daughters were in my troop as it grew and both got their Gold Awards. I had one of the first Rainbow Troops in Algonac back then. I stayed active on a few committees for a few years after their graduation and then health issues sidelined me for awhile.

My love and enjoyment of working with the girls and hoping to give them a great experience and new opportunities in life is what brought me back a year ago. Sadly because of COVID-19, our troop was not able to be together to celebrate our one year together, and the many things we’ve done in that year. However when the “all clear” comes, we will celebrate it. In the meantime we are making the adjustments to do virtual meetings. With the permission of my parents I dropped off packets of supplies for projects that we’d been working on. We will continue to work on them only virtually. Our troop Facebook page has been a great place for the families to stay connected and post pictures of the girls and their activities.

I was a Girl Scout as a young girl, so it’s has been in my blood for a long time. Even before moving to Michigan years ago, those memories have stayed with me even today, and I’m able to keep them alive by bringing those experiences to my troop. I feel honored and blessed. Working with the girls just comes natural to me, as it has always been a dream.

Thank you, Elaine!