She decided she needed help, so she made a list of everything she did and asked the girls' parents to each accept responsibility for one task.

"I went to school at night, worked during the day and had a husband and two children," Lane recalled. She presented her plan but the parents begged off, claiming they didn't have time. "So I said 'Fine. You don't have time to do one, then I don't have time to do it all.' "

Once Lane threatened to quit, parents quickly realized the importance of scouting to their daughters and began to share some of Lane's weekly work. That was back in the '80s, and since then Lane has gradually increased parental involvement in her troops.

"I have it where I can delegate and walk away," she said.

That's how she maintains five troops today with more than 100 girls in them in the Logan and Germantown neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, not all Delaware Valley troops have such a high level of parental involvement and leader commitment, which means many girls can't participate in scouting.

The Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania has initiated new marketing strategies to attract additional volunteers by highlighting the organization's diverse programming catalog, the travel opportunities for girls and volunteers, and the managerial skills that volunteers can develop with the Girl Scouts. The goal is to recruit 250 volunteers in the next few months, according to Gari Brindle, vice president of marketing for Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Ann Meredith, chief executive officer for Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, said that one reason for the lagging rate of volunteerism may be that women's perception of Girl Scouts is outdated. They are stuck in the "Leave it to Beaver" view of the organization, a time when mom stayed home with the kids and dinner was on the table at 5 every night.

Today, most Scout leaders don't fit that profile and the model for leading a troop is changing, said Meredith.

"It recognizes busy lifestyles and it recognizes that we as a council have to do everything in our power to facilitate a volunteer experience that is as easy, flexible, effective and productive as possible," she said.

Volunteers may spend as few as two hours a week on troop activities, but during the cookie sale some troop leaders put in much more time - up to 50 hours a week, in some cases. The time commitment depends on the strength of the troop leadership team.

"We've heard of very successful leadership teams where there's a sharing between two, three or even four women who take turns," Meredith said. "That's a good model for busy people."

Time management isn't the only aspect of scouting that's changed. The programs and opportunities offered to girls and volunteers have been updated, too.

"It's not just cookies and camping anymore," Lane said.

Not that cookies aren't important. Lane's troops have the highest cookie sales in the council, and the money has taken her scouts far - to Paris; London; Milan, Italy; Mexico; and on Disney cruises. Next year they're planning a trip to Africa.

"You will never hear me say that we take our cookie money and go camping," said Lane.

Girl Scouts activities have expanded to include car care, dog mushing, conflict resolution, bully prevention and engineering, to name a few of the 168 programs offered to the more than 25,000 girls who participate in the Eastern Pennsylvania council.

"We have spa days, but we also have media and body image, Internet safety, healthy choices, curriculum about anorexia and bulimia, science technology, math, technology programs and LEGO robotics competitions," Lane said. These wide-ranging programs reflect the transformation that scouting encourages in girls' lives, said Meredith.

Girl Scouting has been reinventing itself since it started 95 years ago, said Meredith. At that time, founder Juliette Gordon Low would hang bedspreads and canvases to conceal girls playing basketball from curious onlookers.

"It has always been a cutting-edge program," Meredith said. "This is yet another stage of evolution."

Lane has had a front row seat to the changes.

"We're becoming more diversity-sensitive and putting a little more resources in minority communities," Lane said. "As a child, I always wanted to be a Girl Scout, but there were no Girl Scouts in my area, and my mom didn't have a car" to take her to a neighborhood that had a troop.

One fringe benefit of becoming a scout leader is the opportunity to hone management skills that women may have lacked before volunteering.

Meredith describes this as "the management track." Volunteers may start out working on a troop's cookie sale and then go on to become a co-leader, then a leader and eventually a service-unit manager, who supervises other leaders.

"That's when you really get power," Meredith said.

Volunteers have to be at least 18 years old, but Girl Scout experience isn't necessary. And you don't need to have a child of your own. All volunteers receive free training that prepares them for the job they want to do.

Cookies lured Lane into scouting.

"I just loved selling cookies," Lane said. "My daughter was only 3 or 4 and it was hard to find a girl in the neighborhood who was selling, so I took on a little girl and just started selling" with her.

That's when Lane realized there weren't many scout troops in her neighborhood. She recruited some parents, chaired the cookie committee and then started a troop. Eventually, she found herself responsible for five troops, then eight. Since she first became a leader, she estimates she's worked with more than 1,000 girls. "I don't turn girls down, and I never close troops," Lane said. *