July Volunteer of the Month: Michele Mainz
July Volunteer of the Month: Michele Mainz
Dedicated Girl Scout leader brings great opportunities to troop
July 01, 2023
RAYMOND, NH – With years of experience leading Girl Scouts in several states, Michele Mainz provides a wide array of experiences and caring leadership to a multi-level Girl Scout troop in Raymond. With great appreciation, she has been named the Volunteer of the Month for July by Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, the council serving Girl Scouts across New Hampshire and Vermont.
Mainz, 53, of Raymond, is better known to her Girl Scouts as M&M, her camp name. The 31 Girl Scouts in Troop 10427 range from Daisies in kindergarten to Cadettes in grade 8, who meet at Bethany Church in Raymond. She has a team of co-leaders and helpers that make it all work, breaking the group into different age levels for activities, but always coming back together as a cohesive group.
“She’s been such a joy to work with,” said Amanda Powell, volunteer support specialists with the council. “So positive and so dedicated to Girl Scouting!”
As the mother of five daughters and having been a Brownie as a girl herself, Mainz knows there is great value in the Girl Scout program.
“There’s just something about Girl Scouts that’s very appealing,” she said. “I like the fact that we’re teaching them right behavior, we’re teaching them to be brave, we’re teaching them to try stuff even when they’re a little bit afraid.”
A recent trip to the seacoast to go tide pooling - exploring ecosystems during low tide when the tide pools are exposed and accessible – meant overcoming some of those fears young Girl Scouts felt.
“One of my girls were terrified to get near the water, near the critters,” she said. “But they did it anyway! I made a point of saying to them ‘You did it! You weren’t sure you wanted to, you were a little bit afraid, but you still did it! You got in the water, you touched the critters, you did it!’ And I wanted them to know how awesome that was.”
Mainz started out as a camp counselor for the Girl Scouts at Camp Seawood in Portsmouth, volunteered with a council in Massachusetts, and moved to New Mexico for eight years, where she was determined to bring her camping skills to the Girl Scouts there. Bringing that opportunity to Girl Scouts in a western state is very different, with the towns very spread out.
“We lived in Alamogordo, New Mexico, which is in Otero County, which is south central New Mexico. It’s an hour to go from there to any other city. So, the closest camp for them was four hours away,” she said. “The one thing that I did for them that I’m most proud of is that, because these girls did not have access to camp, I wanted them to get a little taste of what it was like.”
She planned a four-day event she called a day camp sampler and recruited people to help, making use of a fire pit someone gave her.
“We’d do our flag in the morning and then different things each day,” she said. “We did songs, we did themes, we did tie-dye” she said. “So during the day camp sampler, I taught them fire building with this fire pit, and we cooked! I had so much fun!”
Here in New Hampshire, Mainz’s troop is very active, exploring the world, learning new skills, and taking action to make the world a better place.
“There’s a lot going on! When they’re all together, for me it’s the best. It’s the best feeling to see all those girls,” she said. “I know all their names. I try to make them feel valued, I want them to have as much fun as we can possibly have! But they know I have certain expectations. When I’m talking, you’re not. I’ve tried to make sure they know what I mean when I say respectfully quiet, like when we did the Memorial Day parade, we talked about what right behavior was for that. Because it’s not a fun parade, not like Fourth of July. Fourth of July we get to throw candy and all those things. Memorial Day is not like that. So I had a big discussion with them about it. They need to learn there’s a time to be silly and a time to be respectfully quiet.”
Her troop also learns a lot from the Girl Scout Cookie program, and benefits greatly from the proceeds, which Mainz uses to provide all their uniforms and resources for their many activities. They’ve visited the Seashore Trolley Museum in Maine, gone rock climbing at Vertical Dreams in Manchester, go camping, and visited a guinea pig sanctuary, to which they donated supplies. The Juniors in the troop, those in grades 4 and 5, earned the highest honor for their level, the Bronze Award, by assembling and delivering stress-relief bags for young school children.
Along with her volunteer work, Mainz is in the middle of her second year as camp supervisor for Camp Kettleford, the Girl Scout day camp in Bedford. During the school year, she is a paraprofessional at Sanborn High School providing her skills to teens with emotional disturbances.
She recommends volunteering to anyone who has ever given it a thought.
“You should do it!” she said. “I really love Girl Scouting and I love everything that we stand for. I’m honored that I get to play a small part in these young ladies’ childhoods. (At camp) I get to provide an experience for these girls that 100 percent technology free, 99 percent we’re outdoors. There’s nothing better than that!
We Are Girl Scouts
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.
