The Search Institute has identified forty building blocks of healthy development that help young people grow up healthy, caring and responsible. The more assets a girl experiences in her life, the more likely she is to make good choices. If she experiences fewer assets she is more likely to engage in destructive behaviors. Rainbow provides girls the opportunity to experience twenty-five of those assets. Here's a listing:
Support. A Rainbow Girl …
Knows non-parent adults she can turn to for advice and support.
Empowerment. A Rainbow Girl …
Feels valued by adults in her community.
Is given useful roles in her community.
Serves others in her community.
Feels safe in her assembly setting.
Boundaries and Expectations. A Rainbow Girl …
Sees Rainbow adults model positive, responsible behavior.
Sees her fellow Rainbow Girls model responsible behavior.
Is encouraged to do well by adults in Rainbow.
Constructive Use of Time. A Rainbow Girl …
Spends time constructively in her Assembly.
Commitment to Learning. A Rainbow Girl …
Is actively engaged in learning.
Positive Values. A Rainbow Girl …
Believes it is important to help other people.
Wants to help promote equality and reduce poverty and hunger.
Can stand up for what she believes.
Can tell the truth even when it's not easy.
Can accept and take personal responsibility.
Believes it is important not to be sexually active or to use alcohol or other drugs.
Social Competencies. A Rainbow Girl …
Is good at planning ahead and making decisions.
Is good at making and keeping friends.
Knows and is comfortable with people of different cultural/racial/ethnic backgrounds.
Can resist negative peer pressure and dangerous situations.
Tries to resolve conflict nonviolently.
Positive Identity. A Rainbow Girl …
Believes she has control over many things that happen to her.
Feels good about herself.
Believes her life has a purpose.
Is optimistic about her future.
Your involvement and encouragement will help shape your daughter's experience in Rainbow. She will see your commitment to her growth and, before you know it, you'll be growing too! You will get to know your daughter's friends and be able to spend quality time with her while enjoying wholesome activities. Here are some suggestions for becoming an involved parent:
Attend meetings and other events which are always open to parents, grand parents and legal guardians.
Provide assembly dues and additional funds for special events and activities. If you cannot afford a fee, ask the Mother Advisor to help you apply for financial aid.
Take responsibility for your child's health and well-being. Plan to go along on trips when your daughter requires special attention.
Support your daughter's Mother Advisor and offer to help. You can shop for supplies, make phone calls or share a skill or talent. Be sure to appreciate and recognize the efforts and time of these dedicated volunteers.
Help in the dining room after a reception or installation so the adult officers will be able to more efficiently conduct their duties. You will have fun ladling punch, cutting brownies and dishing up ice cream as fast as you can go!
Money Raising Activities
Because the Assemblies are self-supporting and the girls' dues are nominal, it is necessary to hold fundraising projects during each term. Projects could include an annual fireworks stand, rummage sales, candy sales, paper drives, pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, car washes and everything in between!
We hope you and your family and friends will support these worthwhile projects. Money raised helps support our contributions to the non-profit organizations we support, and also helps defray part of the cost for all of the girls to attend Grand Assembly in June. If you have a good fundraising idea, let your daughter know or feel free to contact the Mother Advisor directly!
Service Projects
Each Worthy Advisor selects a charity project for her term. These may include making tray favors for a nursing home, helping a needy family at Christmas, visiting and helping at convalescent homes, working for Muscular Dystrophy, Cancer Research, Diabetes Research, Heart Foundation, March of Dimes, Special Olympics or even collecting eyeglasses for the local Lion's organization. Your daughter will be expected to help in some way on such service projects. Rainbow is a SERVICE organization and each girl should feel a social responsibility to participate in helping the less fortunate.
The girls support the state organization by raising funds for the Grand Worthy Advisor's project. In recent years we have donated $6,000 to $11,000 per year to the Shriner's Hospital for Crippled Children, Special Olympics, Multiple Sclerosis, Children's Language Disorders, Officer Buddy Bear, and many others.