Saturday, May 01, 1999
American Heritage Girls expanding
Scout alternative in 5 other cities
BY PERRY BROTHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A grass-roots alternative to the Girl Scouts, founded in West Chester on the tenets of God, family and country, is going national.
American Heritage Girls (AHG), a girls program that has grown from 35 to 500 members in less than five years, announced plans to expand AHG membership beyond the Greater Cincinnati area at its annual meeting Friday in Fairfield. The expansion, AHG officials said, is in response to a flood of interest from parents and girls in other states.
“It's good family values. It's a very wholesome program,” said Dave Schroeder, president of the AHG advisory board, explaining the group's popularity. “It's not an easy program. We have girls working very hard for the merit badges.”
AHG was created in 1995, after 26 Lakota Ridge volunteer Girl Scout leaders broke
from the Girl Scouts in a dispute over a sexual-awareness education program for the girls.
Carolyn Moore, a spokeswoman for the group and mother to 11-year-old AHG member Amanda, said the group has started the expansion in Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Louisville and Lexington.
“We have had a great deal of interest,” Mrs. Moore said. “We have had several articles written about us, we have a Web site, people have moved and it's spread by word of mouth.”
AHG serves girls in four age levels: Tenderfoot (grades K-3); Explorers (grades 4-6); Pioneers (grades 7-8); and Patriots (grades 9-12).
Nearly 50 AHG troops exist in the Tristate, with 130 registered adult volunteers.
True to the AHG oath — “I promise to love God, cherish my family and serve my community” — the group stresses Judeo-Christian values, American history and community service.
Brynn Cullen, 15, of West Chester was one of about 40 AHGs and AHG parents who gathered Friday at Receptions Banquet and Conference Center. Brynn was an original AHG member and is one of three girls on the advisory board.
“Mainly, I do it for the service,” she said. “It (AHG) gives you a lot of opportunities to serve the community.”
Recently, AHGs collected toiletries for tornado victims and various items for homeless shelters. The girls regularly visit patients in nursing homes in the “Nursing Home Network” program.
“A lot of people want to help and they don't know where or how,” said Emily Behan, 15, of West Chester, another AHG board member at the meeting Friday.
AHG gives girls a direction for the desire to help others, Emily said.
“It really gives me good leadership,” she said, “and it lets me be a good leader.”
FOR INFORMATION
• For more information, contact the American Heritage Girls at P.O. Box 242, West Chester OH 45071, or call (513) 779-8756. Or visit the AHG Web site at www.americanheritagegirls.org/~ahg
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