September is a big month for the Conestoga River Girl Scouts.

The organization, which includes a total of approximately 250 girls from Penn Manor, Lancaster city, and Hempfield from kindergarten through 12th grade, will hold a recruitment event and a fundraiser.

The recruitment event will be held Sunday, Sept. 7, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Strickler Pavilion in Manor Township Community Park, 2670 Charlestown Road, Lancaster.

The Conestoga River Girl Scouts are part of the GSHPA, which stands for Girl Scouts Heart of Pennsylvania. "They're really encouraging service units to do recruitment events to get girls signed up to expose them to girl Scouting," said Beth Valentin, the events coordinator for the service unit. "We said this year we have capacity, and we would like to do that, so we're going for it. We don't always have a service unit-wide recruitment event that any girl can come to. I think we have a little bit more volunteer support for events, and we want to get girls signed up."

Valentin stated that the event is designed to "give girls a taste of what Scouting can be." There will be s'mores, and girls will be introduced to the tradition known as SWAPS (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere), where Scouts can make, swap, and collect items.

Valentin, who has also served as a troop leader, touts the benefits of Scouting. "It's fun. It's like an instant group of friends," she said. "You can learn so many different things, and I think it's really special to be with a group of girls. I feel like girls take risks when there are just all girls. My daughter (Annabelle, an eighth-grader) has been involved since kindergarten, and I have just seen she's very outspoken and articulate and can take a leadership role and can also kind of take a follower supporter role. I think it's just really enriched her experience as a small human, and I think it can do the same for others as well."

Valentin noted that representatives from GSHPA will assist families with finding the troop that meets the schedule and location they prefer. "You've got options," she said.

Preregistration is not required, but Valentin asks that those who plan to attend call or text her at 717-381-6760 or email estahlman1011@gmail.com so she can bring the proper amount of supplies.

The Conestoga River Girl Scouts will receive a portion of the proceeds from a fundraiser which will be held Wednesday, Sept. 17, from 4 to 7 p.m. at McDonald's in the Manor Shopping Center, 1234 Millersville Pike, Lancaster.

"Our service unit supports girls in Lancaster city and in Millersville, and without those funds, we are not able to do things like offer the recruitment event for free," said Valentin. "We're not able to support our day camp or have events for our girls. We are a really active service unit, so we try to offer a lot of things, and it kind of takes the pressure off the parents that are involved. We ask them for so many things. This is a great way for the community to easily give back to us and support just a little tiny bit, so it's less fundraising we have to do in other spaces and places."

Girls can also sign up for the Girl Scouts during the fundraiser. Those who wish to join the Scouts but are unable to come to the recruitment event or the fundraiser can go to http://www.gshpa.org. "They can sign up online and someone will be in contact with them to get them placed in their troop," Valentin explained.

Valentin said the Scouts will have an opportunity to be involved with many charitable causes. "Once you start getting in like the fourth- and fifth-grade range, you can start working on higher awards as well, which are community-service driven," she said. "We have a bronze, a silver, and a gold award that you can do from fifth grade up, and they are community service projects. We really want to get girls involved to do higher awards as well."