Monthly Archives: June 2023

Camp Olave Adventures!

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It is hard to believe that it is already the end of another Guiding year! To celebrate, the 1st Sparks recently went to one of our favourite camps, Camp Olave!

The group stayed at the waterfront cabin, Brock. It was the first camp for every single Spark who attended, and they all did great! The camp was an “Under the Sea” theme. The Sparks mentioned that their highlights included the beach time and low ropes. There was a campfire ban so they couldn’t have a campfire, but they did make oven s’mores. They also travelled with fellow Burnaby Mountain group, the 47th Sparks/Embers and spent some time with them on Saturday night. 

They also did crafts, including making a wind chime. They got to take advantage of all of the fun attractions that Camp Olave has to offer, including the blind trail, the fitness circuit, and the enchanted forest. They enjoyed exploring the nature house. 

The Sparks got really lucky with the weather since the forecast had a high chance of rain. It was dry all weekend, if mostly overcast, but magically the couple of hours of nice sunshine happened while they were at the beach! 

We are so glad that we are able to go to Camp Olave again! Have a wonderful summer, everyone!

Introducing our new District Commissioner!

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Burnaby Mountain Girl Guides is very excited to announce that we have a new District Commissioner! Bethany Suvak has recently taken on the role of leading our District. We are very excited to have her leading our District for the next 3 years!

The role of being the District Commissioner is not new to Bethany, as she previously held the role from 2015-2018. Bethany has been in Guiding for 30 years and started as a Brownie. She had the chance to travel to Europe with Girl Guides in 2001, and can be seen in the photo above touching the Atlantic Ocean. She is currently a Spark Guider with our 1st Sparks Unit, where the Sparks call her Sparkles. Most of Bethany’s Guiding experience has been as a Spark Guider, but she has also worked with Embers and Rangers.

Bethany has been a trainer since 2013, and is passionate about supporting Guiders through training and mentorship. In 2018, she was a “Girls First Champion” and helped implement our new program.

Outside of Guiding, Bethany is a Mom to a three year old “future Spark” and teaches English at a local college.

We are very excited to have Bethany’s experience, passion, and knowledge in the District Commissioner role! This is a very important role in our District, as the Commissioner leads the District team, supports our Guiders, ensures Guiding is visible in our community, and does so much more! Bethany’s priority for this position is to strengthen bonds in Burnaby Mountain District. She wants to see more collaboration between members both at the unit and district level. She also wants to support our Guiders as much as possible, and part of this is an emphasis on recruiting more adult volunteers. She looks forward to welcoming more members onto our team very soon and can’t wait to start planning some of the events and activities that she has in mind!

We also wanted to thank Sandra Berry, who is our outgoing District Commissioner. Sandra took on the role during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped keep Guiding strong in our District throughout. Thank you so much, Sandra, for all of your service to Guiding and Burnaby Mountain District over the last 3 years!

Congratulations, Bethany, and thank you, Sandra!