E’BURGH WOMAN RECOGNIZED BY GIRLSCOUTS OF THE GREEN AND WHITE MOUNTAINS
It’s been over six decades since Cheryl Heneveld was a Brownie Girl Scout in her native California, but a close encounter with greatness no doubt influenced her life’s path. The Enosburg Falls resident says it seems like only yesterday that she met Olave Baden-Powell, World Chief Guide and wife of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the modern Scouting movement, “I can still see her, with her Dalai Lama smile,” Heneveld recalled.
The lifelong Girl Scout volunteer, who has made it her mission to maintain personal connections in an increasingly digital world, has been honored as Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains’ August Volunteer of the Month.
A girl-scout member through her early teens, Heneveld returned to Girl Scouting when she was a young mother living in Geneva, Switzerland, and signed up to help with her daughter’s troop. She attended training at Our Chalet, one of five World Centers of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). Over the years, fate led her back to the states—to Vermont and Washington, DC, then back to Vermont.
Girl Scouts remained a constant throughout her daughter’s childhood and following a long hiatus, Heneveld returned to Girl Scouting after her granddaughter expressed interest in joining a Brownie troop.
“There wasn’t much happening with Girl Scouts in Franklin County at the time and I saw a huge need,” she said. At the urging of her friend, GSGWM Board Member Martha Manley, Heneveld decided to join the Board Development Committee. Heneveld, by then a retired English teacher, rediscovered her passion by teaching lessons of a different sort.
“I’ve always been a strong proponent of training and the community connection is SO important,” she said. As years passed, Heneveld took on many volunteer positions within the council, serving as her region’s community learning coordinator and later, volunteer support coordinator. To date, she’s trained an estimated 30 volunteers, and has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
“Meeting the volunteers face-to-face…that’s something that really comes naturally to me,” Heneveld said. And while volunteer training is now available online, Heneveld continues to offer her ongoing support and friendship to volunteers.
In her daily interactions with her fellow volunteers, Heneveld said her favorite quote—the words of Lord Robert Baden-Powell—come to mind. “Look Wider! And when you are looking wider, look wider still.” “Everything we do in life has a ripple effect,” she explained.
In 1991, the council presented Heneveld with the Thanks Badge, which honors individuals whose ongoing commitment, leadership, and service have made an exceptional impact on meeting the overall mission of the Girl Scout Movement.
“Really, it’s all about the girls. That’s the way it’s always been,” she added. “Adults do tend to have fun in the process, but we’re all here to listen to the girls when they tell us what they want to do.”
Whether providing training and support to her fellow volunteers, or networking, exchanging ideas, and teaching sewing lessons at GSGWM’s Farnsworth Weekend (an annual Girl Scout volunteer training and networking event in Thetford, VT), Heneveld said she’s proud of the things she’s accomplished in Girl Scouts.
“Girl Scouts isn’t just an activity: it’s a mission that’s still viable today,” she added. “We’ve changed to keep up with the times, but some things remain constant: the girls are learning leadership skills in a way that no other organization provides.”
