Atlanta, Georgia – Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta (GSGATL) announced that the organization raised nearly half a million dollars at its inaugural Night of a Million Dreams gala, held at the Delta Flight Museum on March 30. The funds raised will ensure that all girls, regardless of their economic background, can enjoy all aspects of the program, from attending camp to exploring career paths and earning leadership and skills badges, all while making lifelong friends.
The council also recognized three recipients of its Dare to Dream, Trailblazer and Changing the World awards. Honorees included, respectively, Atlanta Dream President and Chief Operating Officer Morgan Shaw Parker, Atlanta Office Managing Director at Accenture Chloe Barzey, and Yglesias Hollins, Director of Community Development at The Coca-Cola Company.
The three women share more than incredibly successful professional lives. They each grew up in the organization and credit it with driving career ambitions and civic responsibility.
- Yglesias Hollins is the force connecting Communities in Schools Atlanta and Girl Scouts to serve more than 400 middle school girls, completely subsidized, since program inception during the pandemic.
- Chloe Barzey, the first Black woman to lead the Atlanta Accenture office, received a Girl Scout scholarship covering her troop and membership costs, opening her eyes to possibilities she said she did not see growing up in Harlem, NY.
- Morgan Shaw Parker leads the Atlanta Dream WNBA team. She is a lifelong Girl Scout advocate and also earned her Gold Award, the highest achievement in Girl Scouting.
“There needs to be a platform that can meet a young girl where she is at a very young age and …teach her the skills, the resilience, the confidence to be the best person that she can be. There’s no one better, no organization better than the Girl Scouts, and I’m living proof of that,” said Parker.
At a time when national funding for women’s and girls’ organizations hovers at an all-time low of under 2% of total philanthropic giving*, Girl Scouts remains committed to providing its award-winning leadership development program to all girls, regardless of their financial status. Today, Girl Scouts are found everywhere girls are found, from private schools to Title 1 schools, community centers to houses of worship, and across the entire economic spectrum.
“More than ever, girls need our support to help develop their voices and pursue their dreams,” said Jai Ferrell, CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta and former Atlanta Girl Scout. “When one girl is left behind, that is one girl too many.”
*Women’s Philanthropy Institute, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and DataLake Nonprofit Research. (2024). Women & Girls Index. www.womenandgirlsindex.org
