Happy Girl Scout Day! 9 fun facts about Girl Scouts

Girl Scout Day is always celebrated on the anniversary of their founding, which took place on March 12, 1912. It was on that date that founder Juliette Gordon Low started the first Girl Scout group in Savannah, Georgia with 18 girls.

In honor of the occasion, here are nine fun facts about Girl Scouts.

Facts about the Girl Scouts:

59 million American women enjoyed Girl Scouting during their childhood.
The Girls Scouts became a national organization, and was was chartered by the U.S. Congress on March 16, 1950.
Today, there are millions of girls involved with Girl Scouts – 2 million girl members and 800,000 adult members working primarily as volunteers.
Girls across the world participate in troops and groups in more than 92 countries through USA Girl Scouts Overseas.
The Girl Scout sign is three fingers held up (not the thumb of pinky), and the three fingers represent the three parts of the Promise. (I can never, ever remember if it is 3 fingers or 2, so hopefully this info will stick in my mind. And for the record, in a few of the pictures on the Girl Scouts website they show girls holding up 2 fingers. I wonder if they were rebels or just unsure like me.)
Juliette Gordon Lowe’s nickname was “Daisy,” hence why the youngest members are called Daisies.
The highest Award in Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Gold Award.
You can visit Juliette Gordon Low’s birthplace in Savannah, Georgia, which is open to guests who can see it as it was in 1886. It is not unusual to see entire troops in uniform visiting.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Girl Scouts in different parts of the country baked their own simple sugar cookies and sold them to raise money, and the national Girl Scout Cookie sale took place in 1936.
Today, Girl Scouts sell nearly200 million packages of Girl Scout Cookies.