Girl Scouts Celebrate 'A Century Of Women Making A Difference'

BALTIMORE (WJZ)—The Girl Scouts are celebrating their 100th birthday, and Baltimore is part of the big celebration.

Ron Matz has more on the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland which helps build courage, confidence and character in young women.

The Girl Scouts are celebrating. They turned 100 years old Monday.

"I've been in the Girl Scouts for four years and I really like how you get to sell cookies and earn money to go on trips," said Morgan Stolba, 8 years old, from Lisbon, Howard County.

The Scouts were founded in Savannah, Ga. in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Lowe. Today it's much more than selling those famous cookies.

Lowe "wanted to create an organization where girls could provide a service to their community and learn to explore their issues, find their voices, and develop courage, confidence and character," said Maria Darby, vice president of Girl Scouts of Central Maryland. "We, of course, do camping, which is a hallmark of Girl Scouting, but we also do science, technology, engineering and math, and we do information related to healthy living."

Moms joined their daughters at Jimmy's in Fells Point to mark the centennial.

"Girl Scouts are important to me because I was a Girl Scout," said Dainab Boonekukoyi, of Reisterstown. "It taught me survival skills. I got my daughter involved and I got back in the mix. It's good being a Girl Scout."

The Girl Scouts reach beyond the United States.

"We think that from meeting other people you learn diversity and you learn understanding of other cultures, communities and religion. Central Maryland is probably one of the most diverse councils that we have," Darby said. "We have about 30,000 Girl Scouts in Central Maryland, and that's a growing number for us. We're very excited. That includes Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties."

And on this big day we'll let a Girl Scout have the last word.

"I've been a Girl Scout for three years and what I like about it is whenever we go to Girl Scouts we learn everyday life things we need to do," said Mackenzie Brinkley, 10-year-old Girl Scout from Lansdowne.

The Girl Scouts will celebrate Monday evening at their headquarters in Northwest Baltimore.

"We're doing a century of women making a difference," Darby said.

They'll be joined by leaders of Hadassah and the Junior League of Baltimore who are also celebrating 100 years of service to the community.