Story of Strength: Margie Olivarez reflects on lifetime of service with Lubbock Girl Scouts

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - As a young girl, she was a Brownie. As a lady, she’s a well-respected troop leader with 25 years of experience. Today, Margie Olivarez is still committed to helping the Girl Scouts in Lubbock.

While looking back on her time as a hardworking Scout, Olivarez gained a new perspective that changed with the birth of her daughter.

“And when I had her, I’m like ‘OK! Yeah, as soon as she’s old enough, we’re gonna do Girl Scouts!,” she said. “And so, as soon as she became of age to be in Girl Scouts, we got her in.”

From there, Margie became a troop leader, a position she held for more than 20 years. Their times and travels have all been documented with photos taken by Margie.

“My Mom always was the camera lady, and I just inherited that. She’s like, ‘Capture the moment!’ so now I can look back and see all the girls that I have had the honor to be a leader to, and I have been very blessed to have girls that want to go somewhere outside of Texas,” she says, “We’ve been able to travel to Colorado, New Mexico; we’ve gone to Washington, D.C., New York. We just had a trip to Seattle, Washington, and I’ve even gone abroad. We’ve gone to Europe, to London, Paris, France, places that these girls from the barrio would probably have never experienced if it wasn’t for the Girl Scouts.

These adventures are made possible through the Girls Scouts’ most-popular fundraiser.

“We have the Girl Scout cookies, right? Well, we raise funds with those and then we decide as a troop, what do we want to do with those funds?”

While millions around the world enjoy Thin Mints, Shortbreads, and Tagalongs, Margie says that girls learn some lifetime lessons as well.

“Leadership, courage, strong characters...empowering. It’s just all positive,” Olivarez says. “It gives these girls the skills, and the attitudes, and the courage to dream dreams and make them into reality.”

Margie has a passion for helping young girls, as a GSA volunteer.

“Oh, I love what I do, and I don’t even get paid for it, but I love it!”

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