DOWNTOWN — Dannielle Carroll can’t do weekends.
Carroll, who lives on the outskirts of Santa Monica, is the leader of Girl Scout Troop 8355, part of the national organization that seeks to build character in girls and celebrates its 100 year anniversary today.
Troop 8355 is composed of fifth, sixth and seventh grade girls from schools situated in Santa Monica, and Carroll is constantly organizing events and trips for them, managing the troop’s finances, and serving as a role model for the scouts.
Beyond that, Carroll is the Santa Monica Girl Scouts service unit manager, overseeing all Girl Scout troops in the Santa Monica area.
When she isn’t doing Girl Scout stuff, Carroll is busy drawing blood at the Torrence Memorial Medical Center.
And when she’s not doing that, Carroll is a captain in the United States Army Reserve, a role that will see her deployed to Afghanistan later this year.
She’s also getting married this summer.
But Carroll’s busy schedule isn’t going unnoticed.
“I guess my troop nominated me,” Carroll said, referring to the Leader with a Heart award, an award that is given out to troop leaders. The award will be presented to Carroll at a ceremony on April 14 at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles.
Nominees are chosen by the parents of the girls in a troop, or by one of the nominees’ co-workers, said Shannon Johnston, chief mission delivery officer of the Girls Scouts of Greater Los Angeles.
“I’m excited that I’m getting recognized for volunteering lots and lots of hours,” Carroll said, with more humility than pride.
It’s a recognition that’s been a long time in the making.
Carroll, who grew up in Chicago, is a lifelong Girl Scout. She has been a part of the organization since she was in first grade; and once she graduated high school, and went to Centre College in Danville, Ky. to study art and math, she stayed involved in scouting as a volunteer.
“I really cherished the organization when I was growing up,” she said.
“Once I was an adult, I just wanted to have the opportunity to share Girl Scouting with as many girls as possible.”
Carroll moved to Santa Monica with her fiancé in 2006, and became the co-leader, and eventually leader, of Santa Monica’s Troop 8355.
Parents of scouts in the troop, like Lisette Gold, readily recognized Carroll’s dedication to the troop, the projects, and the scouts.
“It’s very unusual to have access to someone who is such a mature leader who actually sits and works with the girls on these projects. My daughter has been with her for five years,” Gold said.
It’s also unusual for a troop to be run by someone who isn’t a mother with a daughter in the troop, Gold said.
“She’s amazing to give so much of herself. Most troops are run by moms. This is something she’s always wanted to do,” she said.
When the troop mothers heard that Carroll was being deployed to Afghanistan this year, they could not let her go without giving her something to show their appreciation.
Gold and some of the other mothers in the troop sent letters to Johnston, citing Carroll’s creativity, skills and devotion to the girls, and recommending her for the Leader with a Heart Award.
Support was easy to find among the troop mothers.
Michelle Richards, another troop mother and the troop’s treasurer, has nothing but praise for Carroll.
“I’ve never heard her raise her voice, I’ve never seen her flustered. She’s just calm and cool and can do anything,” Richards said.
Carroll’s devotion and know-how extends to the parents. Even if it involves jumper cables.
“She started my [car] battery after a meeting. She said, ‘Don’t call AAA, we used to do this all the time in Chicago,’” Richards said. “She’s like one of the family.”
Richards said that even her younger daughter has asked Carroll to organize a Brownie troop for her.
“If she had time, she would. That’s who she is,” Richards said.
And certainly Carroll is not done with the Girl Scouts, not yet.
She’d love to jump back into Girl Scouts when she returns from Afghanistan, she said, and even continue working with scouts by volunteering with a scouting organization that’s already set up in Afghanistan.
“I’m hoping to get involved there as a volunteer, and somehow connect it with Girl Scouting here in Santa Monica,” she said.
Carroll would like to set up communication between her Santa Monica Girl Scout troop and an Afghani troop, and have the two units working on the same project half a world away.
“The girls in Santa Monica can have a worldwide experience,” she said. “I know that it’s been done before, and so it’s hopefully something that, when I get there, I can do again.”
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