A couple of months shy of her ninth birthday, Caitlin Stoskopf landed in foster care. She stayed there, living with the same family, until she was 18.

Now, at 23 with a fresh degree in art and communications from Pacific Lutheran University, she wants to mentor other young women.

As an AmeriCorps volunteer she’ll work this school year with the Girl Scouts to imbue girls in foster care with the core messages of Scouting: courage, confidence and character.

“I thought that since I’ve been in a place similar to the girls that I could be a role model and a mentor,” Stoskopf said Friday.

She’s one of 20 AmeriCorps members who will help the Girl Scouts of Western Washington expand programs and begin new ones through a $756,000, three-year grant. It pays stipends for the workers, who are based at the organization’s DuPont office.

The cadre “will help us build capacity in the community,” delivering more programs to more girls, particularly at-risk young women in Pierce County, Genell Hennings, the Scouts’ AmeriCorps program supervisor, said.

That will include:

 • Beginning a pilot program to help girls referred to Pierce County Juvenile Court.

 • Improving the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program that helps imprisoned women work with their daughters.

 • Expanding the Girl Scouts Fostering the Future program that reaches foster care girls in kindergarten through 12th grades.

 • Expanding and improving programs offered during the school day and after school.

These kinds of outreach programs help around 850 girls a year, Hennings said.

Girl Scouts of Western Washington has about 26,000 members in troops from Whatcom County to Cowlitz, Wahkiakum and southern Pacific counties.

The AmeriCorps workers will weave lessons in service into their work with at-risk girls in the Scouting ranks. Side by side, they’ll volunteer at food banks, help with community cleanups and run school supply drives as stores run low, Hennings said.

Their work with the girls won’t begin until next month when the Scouting program gets running for the year.

But their service is already apparent.

Friday, the AmeriCorps group worked at the southeast FISH Food Bank on East 85th Street. Stoskopf and other women scooped dog food from large bags, parceling it into smaller portions for distribution to families in need. Three of their colleagues sorted clothing donations.

Marcie Hundis was among the dog-food scoopers. She’ll help girls build self-esteem and academic confidence while teaching them that “science is something they’re smart enough to do and can be a lot of fun,” Hundis, 31, said.

She and the others won’t get rich along the way. AmeriCorps members get a yearly living stipend of $11,400 and can earn a $4,725 educational credit for future learning or to pay off student loans at the completion of a one-year service commitment, the women said.

“We wanted to help young girls and we all have our particular histories and reasons ,” said Sarah Peppers, a 22-year-old University of Washington graduate with a degree in English.

They plan to bring girls together in shared experiences and “perpetuate that ideal of hope and service,” Peppers said.

Kris Sherman: 253-597-8659

kris.sherman@thenewstribune.com