May Volunteer of the Month: Crystal Booth
May Volunteer of the Month: Crystal Booth
Deering woman has dedicated 30 years of her time and skills to volunteering
May 01, 2024
DEERING, NH – With a good 30 years under her belt as a Girl Scout volunteer, Crystal Booth has become a vital and greatly appreciated part of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, the council serving Girl Scouts across New Hampshire and Vermont. She has been named the council’s Volunteer of the Month for May.
Booth, 63, of Deering, currently leads Troop 12580, a group of eight Girl Scouts now in grades 8-12, but she has mentored many girls over the decades as a troop leader, helper, and troop product sales coordinator, as well as training Girl Scout leaders. She has taught needle arts like trapunto and art in the outdoors, like how to make an edible terrarium. At camporees, Booth has taught knots and outdoor cooking, such as baking bread in a Dutch oven and making nachos in a box oven. She also did the Howl at the Moon program when her Girl Scouts were program aides.
“Crystal has been a volunteer for almost 30 years,” said DeeDee Rice, a volunteer support specialist at the council. “I have seen her work with girls from all ages, but particularly at the junior and high school level. She has made such a profound impact on their lives that they often return and give back as Girl Scout volunteers. Crystal supports the troop’s goals and makes sure that even when they are learning and exploring, they are having fun. The troop recently built a parade float while working on their Engineering badge and took second place in the float competition. Crystal looks for opportunities that will provide the troop with leadership and new experiences as well as engage them with ways to give back to their community. I remember many years ago when her troop and I worked together at the Discover Wild NH Fish & Game event, how impressed I was for how she explained the goal and then stepped back to allow the troop to take the lead at the event.”
Booth said she started Girl Scouts when she in sixth grade.
“I joined Girl Scouts in Massachusetts,” she said. “Went straight up to, I think, eleventh or twelfth grade, when our troop disbanded. I was a leader in Massachusetts for a while before moving to New Hampshire. When I moved to Deering, I volunteered and at that time they said, nope, we have enough leaders. And then, by the time my youngest daughter was in the fourth grade going into fifth, her leader was leaving, and nobody was taking over.so again I stepped up to the plate and said I'd do it and then doing it, since.”
Her Girl Scouts have gone camping, traveled, sold cookies, performed community service, and generally gained the life skills so crucial to their success as adults.
With their earnings from this year’s Girl Scout Cookies, more travel is in their plans.
“We're going up north during April vacation,” she said last month. “There's hiking trails up there. Last year we did the Sawyer River train and learned about the Sawyer River, the old trains, things like that this year. They might want to do the Cog Railroad.”
She credits her co-leaders and helpers with making things work.
“My co-leader now is Sarah Gee! She's like my backbone right now,” she said. “She is one of the girls who also got the Gold Award when she was a Scout in my troop. So it's like, if I need something she can grab it for me, or she's there, if I you know I can't be there. She's there or with the girls. And then I have a college (Girl) Scout who has been a big help, too, with the girls - Emma Willis.”
It’s all about seeing the girls’ growth for Booth.
“Just seeing the girls and the expressions on their face when they accomplish something or when they try something new,” she said. “Right now they're learning how to sew - we're upscaling T-shirts into a quilt.”
Volunteering is something that Booth says is a reward in itself.
“Go for it!” she said. “It's the best reward. Seeing the girls grow, challenge themselves, accomplishing tasks, and just being themselves.”
When not volunteering with Girl Scouts, Booth is a home health aide as a licensed nursing assistant.
Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains is grateful to Booth for her skills, service, and dedication to helping create young women of courage, confidence and character, who are making the world a better place. We are proud to call her our Volunteer of the Month.
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.
