2011 STAR Awards Career Winner: Bonnie Carpenter

Apr 25, 2011   //   by Amanda Reel   //   Career, STAR Awards  //  No Comments

In a partnership with the Kalamazoo Gazette, we are pleased to feature their STAR Award winner stories. To view the original of this article, please click here to be taken to the Kalamazoo Gazette’s website.

By Jef Rietsma | The Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO — Bonnie Carpenter’s affiliation with Brownies and Girl Scouts started when she was in grade school. She never imagined her commitment to the organization would contin­ue nearly 50 years later. “It’s funny how things work out. … I never set out to dedicate so much time to the Scouts. It just sort of happened,” the Kalamazoo resident said.

Carpenter, 55, has earned the 2011 STAR award in the cat­egory of Career Volunteer. In addition to volunteering 1,200 hours with the Kalamazoo Pro­gram and Training Center of Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan, Carpenter logged 570 hours collectively with Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes and Bethel Baptist Church. Carpenter said it has been easy to support the Girl Scouts organization because its values are consistent with her own.

“Scouting gives the girls the ability to make decisions; it gives them courage, confidence and character; it lets them know that they have a voice, too,” Carpenter said.

During her senior year at Loy Norrix High School, Carpenter took on the role of a troop leader’s helper, a task reserved for longtime scouts who show potential as prospective leaders when they become eligible.  In fall 1976, as a full-time student at Parson’s Business School (now Davenport College), Carpenter became a troop leader. Taking on that role helped fill a void she had felt since she concluded her career as a scout member during her senior year in high school. “I was committed to the job, but I had a lot of learning to do. The girls didn’t know this at the time, but I was going to just learn right along with them,” she said.
Carpenter went on to finish college and begin a career that would span more than 20 years with a local bank. Throughout that time, she maintained her commitment to the scouts, overseeing a variety of age groups that included Daisies, Brownies and Girl Scouts. She eventually oversaw a program that involved training prospective troop leaders. She has also served as cookie chairwoman for Kalamazoo County.
Making a difference
Within the local Girl Scouts organization, Carpenter has probably had a hand in virtually every facet and role. “It usually surprises people when they learn I don’t have children of my own because that’s typically why a woman gets involved in scouts,” she said. Jackie Williams, membership specialist with the Kalamazoo Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan, nominated Carpenter for the STAR Award. Williams said an ailing father and a broken foot have done little to slow down Carpenter.
“Bonnie’s dedicated service to the Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan Council in Kalamazoo County and beyond has helped ensure that more than 400 volunteers have received all of the information, training and materials that they need to run their troops in an informed and efficient manner,” Williams wrote in her nominating petition. “In turn, that has helped to enrich the Girl Scouting experience for more than 2,000 girls.” Carpenter has mulled retirement. She said she never really thought about the hundreds of hours she invests in scout-related duties.
Laughing, she said she now realizes why she’s always exhausted by 8 p.m. “When you start to have children of children in scouts, and when you find out their moms specifically requested you as their leader, it’s a real pat on the back. And it’s why I keep my commitment to scouting,” she said. “I’ll bump into former troop members, and when they tell me what a difference I’ve made in their lives, I realize maybe my work isn’t done.”

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