TIPS FROM MODERN WOMEN

Dionne Hoffmeister is accustomed to being busy. She has three jobs, is the single mother of two children, coaches a basketball team, recently chaired the Downtown Merchants Association Auction and is a Girl Scout leader.

But Friday night was busier than most. One-hundred-ninety Girl Scouts showed up with sleeping bags for a bunking party Hoffmeister organized.

The event at West Park Mall was called "Nightfall at the Mall." Girls in grades 4-6 came from all over the Otahki Girl Scout Council to spend the night on the Famous-Barr court and earn their Women Today badges.

They heard talks by Debra Willis Hamilton of the Safe House, physician Dr. Deborah Thomas, TV anchorwoman Mary-Ann Maloney, 93-year-old former nurse Ruth Mulcahy, and others.

Hoffmeister, who was a Girl Scout all through college, said girls at this age will listen to respected women they don't know when they sometimes won't listen to their mothers.

"I asked Debra Willis Hamilton to speak to let them know there's a bad side of the world," she said, "and to let them know some ladies have gone the wrong way."

Thomas and Maloney are both women who have succeeded in professions -- medicine and journalism -- previously dominated by men. Mulcahy, a former Girl Scout leader, was there to tell the girls first-hand about the struggles of a career woman in the early part of the 20th century.

The girls also watched "Homeward Bound III" at the movie theater but were scheduled to get to bed by 2 a.m. Saturday. Some of them had a basketball tournament to play in later in the day.

Hoffmeister is herself an admired role model, say moms whose daughters are on her team or in her Girl Scout troop. One calls her "a great image for our daughters."

A former Central High School and Southeast Missouri State University basketball player, Hoffmeister coaches her daughter Ashley's fifth-grade team at St. Vincent's School. One-year-old, 27-pound son Stephen Michael is usually snuggled up against her stomach in his baby carrier while she coaches.

"I can't afford a sitter," she says.

"I try to be involved with my daughter, and I coach basketball because I love basketball."

Hoffmeister also has devoted time to the March of Dimes and the Cancer Gala.

"I've got some organizational skills," she says. "I want to share them."

Hoffmeister's father, Bernard Chaudoir, died last year from Louis Gehrig's Disease, a progressively debilitating condition that eventually required 24-hour care. During her pregnancy, Hoffmeister took a six-month leave of absence from work to help care for her dying father.

She attributes her ability to do so much to "a high energy level."

Of course, Hoffmeister was hardly the only adult chaperoning the 190 girls Friday night. But her team moms and troop moms say her dedication keeps them involved.

"We figure we can help occasionally if she has time to always be there," one says.