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Volunteer of the Month: Donna Peyer
April is Volunteer Appreciation month, but EVERY month is an opportunity to celebrate and show gratitude to our amazing Girl Scout volunteers! Join us each month as we highlight the oustanding volunteers who help guide, mentor, and inspire local Girl Scouts to unleash their limitless potential, shatter expecations, and be the change-makers our world needs.
March 2025 Volunteer of the Month: Donna Peyer
This month, we’re shining the spotlight on Donna Peyer, a dedicated volunteer who has been inspiring Girl Scouts for 35 years! Donna is especially passionate about camping and outdoor education, ensuring girls* gain confidence and skills through hands-on adventures. Donna’s Girl Scout journey started as a Brownie in 1955, and today, she continues the tradition by supporting her granddaughters’ Girl Scout activities.
How long have you been a Girl Scout volunteer?
35 years
Are you a Girl Scout alum?
Yes, I was a Girl Scout between 1955 and 1962.
What types of volunteer roles have you filled as a Girl Scout volunteer?
I was a troop leader for 27 years, service unit manager about 6 years, day camp volunteer for about 10 years, council facilitator 29 years, and now I help my two granddaughters with their Girl Scout activities.
What is your favorite part about being a Girl Scout volunteer?
Helping kids plan and carry out their camping trips and facilitating Outdoor Overnight workshops, since it means more kids will be able to go camping.
Is there anything surprising or less known about being a Girl Scout volunteer that you want to share with others?
When I took a troop camping or facilitated a workshop, I got to enjoy our beautiful Girl Scout Western Washington camps!!
What makes the Girl Scout Leadership Experience such an important program for Girl Scouts to participate in today?
When kids learn by doing and learn how to support their team members, they learn valuable skills and can gain confidence in themselves. In Girl Scouts, they have many opportunities to achieve this when they plan and carry out their events, camping and travel trips, community service projects and work on Highest Awards.
What does Girl Scouting mean to you and why?
I did not have many opportunities to go outside when I was a young child. When I became a Brownie, I felt as though a new world opened up for me. For the first time, I planted flowers, wadded in a creek, walked in the woods, went to a park. I wanted to be a Girl Scout leader when I grew up so that I could make these activities available to kids. I am grateful that Girl Scouts helped me do this.
What would you say to someone who is considering becoming a Girl Scout volunteer?
I was very nervous about becoming a leader but found that I had plenty of other volunteers and the council to support and guide me. I quickly learned I loved being a leader.
What has been one of your most memorable moments as a Girl Scout volunteer?
Being asked to speak at a troop member's Gold Award dinner.
If you had to describe what it means to be a Girl Scout volunteer in one word, what word would you choose and why?
Friendship. I have so many wonderful, caring and kind friends that I met through Girl Scouts.
Is there anything else about being a Girl Scout volunteer or Girl Scouting in general that you'd like to share with us?
Girl Scouts wasn't available for my grandmother when she was a child, but she became a leader in the 1930s. I am so thankful she realized the importance of this organization and began our family's tradition.
Do you know an amazing Girl Scout volunteer who deserves to be recognized as a Volunteer of the Month? We want to hear about them! You can nominate a volunteer by sending an email to stories@girlscoutsww.org with the volunteer's name and a few details about why they should be highlighted. Please include "Volunteer of the Month" in the subject line of your email.
*Girl Scouts of Western Washington uses the term girls inclusively to speak to everyone who identifies with the Girl Scout experience, which includes cisgender girls, gender-expansive youth, transgender youth, non-binary youth, gender nonconforming youth, genderqueer youth, and any girl-identifying human.
