Driving force behind Girl Scout
Troop 6000 eyes Council seat
BY BILL PARRY
The Woodside native who
co-founded the city’s first Girl
Scout troop for homeless girls
has announced she will run
for City Council to replace the
elected official that helped her
do it.
Giselle Burgess, 34, will
file papers with the Board of
Elections next month to run
for Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer’s District 26 office in
2021 — when he is term-limited
out — to represent her hometown
Woodside, Sunnyside
and Long Island City, where
she lived in a homeless shelter
with her five children in 2017.
Burgess, a community engagement
specialist for the
Girl Scouts of Greater New
York, and her children lived at
the Sleep Inn hotel, when she
collaborated with Van Bramer
and Sunnyside resident Meredith
Maskara, the COO of
the Girl Scouts of Greater New
York, to create Troop 6000 for
22 girls living in the shelter.
Burgess then managed the
expansion of the program to
more than 18 shelters citywide,
serving more than 600
girls and women volunteers.
“I was debating about running
for his office since August
and I decided it’s time to
make more of an impact,” Burgess
said. “I’m in Ozone Park,
but I’m looking for a house
back in Woodside where I was
born and raised. I want to go
home, that’s where my heart
is. There are so many good organizations
in Woodside but
nobody seems to be working
together and that’s something
we can change. I want to do
something different. I want
to run with the community,
not for the community. Let’s
change things together.”
Burgess and her children
became homeless in 2016 when
the home she rented in Flushing
was sold to make way for a
condominium. After a year in
the system, she was able to find
a new home in Ozone Park and
gave birth to her second son.
“As a working mother of six
and someone who has recently
experienced homelessness, I
know firsthand how hard it is
to survive in our own community,”
Burgess wrote on social
media on Monday. “With the
cost of living going up and the
lack and instability of affordable
housing, we are all two
TIMESLEDGER | Q 2 NS.COM | DEC. 13-19, 2019
paychecks away from becoming
homeless. I guarantee that I
will fight my hardest to ensure
that more affordable housing
is offered in our community
as well as enforcing stabilized
rent laws and extending them
to those who may not live in a
rent-stabilized home.”
Burgess explained that she
was empowered to run for office
after taking a 14-week
training course with Dare to
Run, a nonprofit organization
which provides the skills
women need in order to run
for public office at the local,
state and national levels of
government.
“I know how to do this
because of the course. They
provided the knowledge and
training that you just don’t
find on a Google search. They
have given me confidence and
courage as well and I have my
notes so I know how to get this
campaign up and running,”
Burgess said. “There is such
a need for women to run for
office and Dare to Run makes
you feel courageous and undefeatable.
I want more women
to feel encouraged to know
that their voices do matter and
there is a way for them to give
back to the community and
using Dare to Run as the foundation
is definitely the way to
go.”
In addition to her work at
the Girl Scouts of Greater New
York Burgess was unanimously
elected to the board of directors
at The Child Center of NY,
a Forest Hills-based nonprofit
Burgess called a “hidden gem
that nobody knows about until
they need their help.” She became
a client after losing the
family home in Flushing.
“I will let them know I’m
running for office at the next
board meeting to see it there is
a conflict of interest,” Burgess
said. “The same goes with the
Girl Scouts.”
When Troop 6000 was
chartered in his district, Van
Bramer said it was “one of the
best things” he had ever been
a part of.
“Giselle Burgess is a strong
woman whose life story is
deeply moving and inspiring,”
Van Bramer said Tuesday. “I
am proud of all she has accomplished
and fortunate to call
her a friend. I wish her nothing
but the best.”
Hunters Point Civic Association
president Brent O’Leary,
who announced he would run
for Van Bramer’s seat back in
August 2018, said he welcomes
Burgess into the race.
“I believe in true democracy,
so I’m happy to see that
more voices are joining in
on debating the best course
for the community’s future,”
O’Leary said, adding that his
civic group recently finished
their annual food drive which
provides more than 4,000
pounds of food and critical
items to area food pantries for
the homeless.
As for Burgess’ children,
she has already received their
vote of confidence.
“Oh my God, they’re so
excited and supportive over
this,” Burgess said. “My older
girls just look at me and say,
‘Just do it, mom.’”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by
e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4538.
Van Bramer joins Burgess (top, second from left) and members of Troop 6000 during a tour of City
Hall in 2017. Courtesy of Van Bramer’s offi ce
Girl Scout Troop 6000 co-founder
Giselle Burgess announced she
will run for Councilman Jimmy
Van Bramer’s seat in 2021.
Courtesy of Dare to Run
Brent O’Leary announced he
would seek Van Bramer’s seat
back in August 2018.
Courtesy of O’Leary
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