At Girls Inc., girls would frequently knock on the door to ask the program director questions. Or they would slide open her small window to tell her they had forgotten her name before closing the window so hard it’s miraculous the glass didn’t shatter.
Girls Inc., is a partner organization to the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana PEARLs program, which helps young girls from low-income communities have the financial opportunity to join the Girl Scouts.
As Pam Grohman, the membership extension specialist for the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, walked into the main sitting room at Girl Scout Service Center in Bloomington, she laid a flag on the table that was signed by all of the girls in her troop.
Amongst several cats, a unicorn, a tree, two hearts and a stick figure, “Girl Scouts Troop 7547 Girls Inc.” was inscribed on the flag.
One girl wrote ”#AwesomeGirlScoutsNarwal!” The phrase bore no signature but was positioned just above a hand-drawn narwhal.
Groham has worked with the Girl Scouts for 12 years and has recently been working closely with the PEARLs program, which is currently in its fifth year.
Her pride for the girls’ work on the flag was accompanied by her excitement for the program as a whole.
“It’s about giving them something that you knew they wouldn’t be able to have, seeing their faces light up, seeing something click, seeing the fact that they’re doing something they never would have been able to do before,” Grohman said.
PEARLs troops are led by staff members of the Girl Scouts, rather than the typically volunteer-run system, in order to assist families with the economic and time strain that comes with volunteering to lead a troop, Grohman said.
Since coming to Bloomington in November, Grohman has enrolled about 60 girls into the PEARLs program and has worked with around 110 in some way, she said.
Grohman was a Girl Scout when she was young, and her daughter became a girl scout as well, which was, incidentally, the way Grohman started volunteering with the scouts. This involvement eventually led to her being a full-time staff member.
PEARLs is funded by a grant, which provides the money required for the girls to participate in the various activities. From the $15 registration fee to the uniform and field trips, the grants exempt the girls from payment.
“When we’re together, we’re a sister of Girl Scouts,” Grohman said. “We’ve learned through our promise and our law to respect one another and to respect ourselves. Trying to develop those skills is important, and I feel that we were able to make a start in that.”
Bloomington’s chapter of Girls Inc., encourages girls ages 5 to 18 to explore interests without the pressure of boys, Bloomington Program Director Linda Hershman said.
“I’ve seen an impact in our girls in that age group with their ability to communicate with others and adults,” Hershman said. “I feel like before they had started the PEARLs program, and specifically the BFF portion of it, they didn’t know how to express their feelings, and Pam has really helped them.”
The BFF program, or ‘be a friend first,’ teaches girls how to be friends and maintain relationships with an anti-bullying focus, Grohman said.
Hershman did not want to work with kids, she said, in fact that’s the last thing she wanted to do for her internship after graduating from IU’s School of Social Work last May.
However, she grew to love it quickly because of the mission of Girls Inc.: inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold, she said.
When there was an official opening, Hershman decided to stay.
“My favorite part is seeing the way both the staff, girls and volunteers interact while they’re here,” Hershman said. “I think as much as we’re here for the girls, we’re all here for each other.”
Outside of Girls Inc., on west Eighth Street, some girls were jumping rope while others played games with volunteers.
Questions were firing constantly throughout the room toward all of the volunteers, accompanied by shouts of jubilation and laughter coming through the open door from the sunny day.
Two girls in the PEARLs program, Ellie Livingston and Naimah Saahir, both eight, said they enjoy being in the program because it is fun. They gave examples of some of the activities they have done, from making flowers for the Girl Scout pledge, making necklaces and playing games.
Grohman started her experiences for the Girl Scouts in Kokomo, Indiana, she said. She started a troop with three girls, which grew to 65 over eight years, but her progress here has been very quick.
“I am thrilled with the progress I’ve been able to make here in such a short time,” she said.
This is where Grohman wants to be, she said. Unless she works her way out of a job by helping every girl in the region get into scouts, she plans to stay.
And if there are girls here that need help, she said, there are girls in other places that need help too.
“Sometimes girls in low-income, when they’re in their own households, they become the adult,” Grohman said. “It’s a challenge, then, to work with them, and to let them experience being able to be a kid and then develop the skills to become the adult they need to be, rather than the adult they’ve been forced into being.”
She currently provides programming for seven groups of girls. In the summer, the number of girls she provides programming for could easily double as she works with more age groups, she said.
Grohman also works with partner organizations to get girls involved, but during the summer, she said she will focus more on finding girls who aren’t part of Girls Inc., or The Boys and Girls Club.
“This is my passion, working with the girls and seeing them blossom, seeing them grow,” Grohman said. “I just can’t see myself doing anything else.”
