June Volunteer of the Month: Rae Bangs
June Volunteer of the Month: Rae Bangs
Sharing her talents with Girl Scouts
June 01, 2025
BRISTOL, VT – Girl Scouts in the Bristol area are benefitting from a wealth of experience brought by Rae Bangs, a Girl Scout troop and service unit leader. She has been named the Volunteer of the Month for June by Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, the council serving all of Vermont and New Hampshire.
Bangs, 50, of Bristol, began her volunteer work with Girl Scouts Troop 51876 in 2023, but is a lifelong Girl Scout who has given her time and talent to troops in Florida and Louisiana before moving here.
“I met my current troop through a post in Front Porch Forum that they were selling cookies, and I said to my daughter, ‘Let's go meet this troop and see if they're local! We can join them,’” she said. “And then I called the council … and we got right into selling cookies last year.”
It wasn’t long before the council encouraged her to do more. She now co-leads the troop and has stepped up to become a volunteer support coordinator – someone who helps leaders in the area with ideas and help.
“While a volunteer for Girl Scouts of Louisiana East, she served as a delegate and on the service unit team,” said DeeDee Rice, a volunteer support specialist with the council. “It did not take Rae long before she stepped into the role of volunteer support coordinator. We are fortunate to have Rae join us and look forward to working with her as she brings her Girl Scout passion to the many volunteers and Girl Scouts in her service unit.
Her co-leader is Ursula Olender, who nominated Bangs for this honor.
“Rae brings unbridled enthusiasm for the Girl Scout movement,” Olender said, “volunteering her time as Troop 51876 co-leader and as SU244's VSC. She recently relocated to Vermont from Louisiana, where she volunteered with a very active troop. She has re-energized our service unit with her commitment and follow-through, including a wonderful Thinking Day event involving our local troops.”
Bangs coordinated the World Thinking Day event for all the troops in her service unit, where each troop chose a country to highlight and share information about.
“The girls did the research, and then we brought everything together, and they loved it!” she said.
Her Girl Scouts participated in the Vergennes Memorial Day Parade and look forward to the Bristol Fourth of July parade. The troop will hold a service unit-wide bridging ceremony this summer or early fall to recognize the Girl Scouts moving up a level. Her troop also recently participated in a STEM workshop at Middlebury College with one of the clubs there and attended a workshop designed around the Automotive badge, offered to all in the service unit.
Bangs is planning a first aid/CPR workshop for leaders in her service unit and camping is in the works – a little different from the warmer weather her southern Girl Scouts experienced. In Louisiana, she took her troop to a gathering of Girl Scouts called The Big Event where they met members of the National Guard and talked to women in positions of service, and another program that had the girls working with horses. She also helped plan two camporees in Louisiana. She wants her troop to have opportunities to do things that will help them gain valuable life experience and give back to the community.
Girl Scout Cookies fueled their activities and enabled some of her Girl Scouts to pay for their summer camp weeks.
“We have a couple girls that are rock stars” in the cookie-selling effort, she said.
Seeing her Girl Scouts grow and develop is what motivates Bangs.
“I’ve worked with Daisies up through Seniors, my last troop,” she said. “I love to see the growth and the independence that they are starting to get as they mature. And it became more girl-led, which is what we're all about. So, I like to see the progression. Right now, we have a lot of younger girls, not as many older girls, and I like to see that they are getting those skills, especially when we're taking new girls camping and doing different things. I just think that’s magical!”
She also appreciates the strong, lifelong friendships she has made through Girl Scouting and noted that it’s a great way for adults to form strong bonds.
When not volunteering for Girl Scouts, Bangs is a special education teacher at Vergennes Union High School with a focus on math.
Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains greatly appreciates the work Rae Bangs is doing and is proud to call her its Volunteer of the Month.
Want to get involved? See www.girlscoutsgwm.org.
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Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit girlscouts.org.
Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains serves girls throughout New Hampshire and Vermont through volunteer-run troops, events, and virtual programs. Visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org to learn more.
