Units Visit Bright Lights

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Carissa

Recent weeks have seen outings from two different Burnaby Mountain units visiting the Bright Lights at Stanley Park and the festive Christmas Train. 2nd sparks stanley park

First, on a Saturday afternoon, the 2nd Sparks enjoyed the sights and sounds of seasonal merriment, then on a Tuesday evening the 22nd Guides enjoyed the lights during a much darker time of day.

2nd sparks train

The Sparks really enjoyed the train itself, oohing and ahhing over the different displays. They enjoyed the music and recognizing scenes from different Christmas stories that they all know and love, including Charlie Brown, the Grinch, and Frozen.

22ns guides stanley park

For the Guides, at nighttime, what really stood out were the 3 million lights set up in a variety of displays. It really looked magical.

The Bright Lights event benefits the local Burn Fund, an excellent cause! Both units had a great time.

Sparks See Frozen on Ice

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Carissa

Eight months ago when Disney on Ice announced their touring production of Frozen on Ice would be visiting Vancouver this November, one Spark Guider knew that this is something girls in her unit would love to see. She jumped on the opportunity to order tickets in the group sales pre-buy.

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This fall, girls in the 1st Sparks worked very hard to sell Girl Guide cookies — together they sold more than 70 cases! — to help subsidize the event.

Eager for the show to start

On November 28th, 16 girls and their Guiders went to Pacific Coliseum to see their favourite movie re-enacted by world class figure skaters. Girls were dazzled by the special effects, impressed by the skaters’ talents, and eager to sing along to their favourite Frozen tunes.

Mesmerized by the skating

The leaders were impressed by how well the girls followed instructions and kept together as a group. As you might imagine, there were a lot of little girls at the coliseum that day. The group navigated the busy chaos without any problems — even the super crowded bathroom at intermission!

Olaf singing about summertime

It was a fun day, enjoyed by all. The only thing more magical than seeing Frozen on Ice is seeing it with a big group of your closest Spark friends.

Brownies Build Birdhouses

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Carissa

This week the girls from the 54th Brownies went to Home Depot to try out some new skills with tools and construction!

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Each girl got to make her very own birdhouse. Leaders were impressed with how quickly some of the girls picked up on the skills, figuring out how to assemble their pieces and how to screw and nail them together almost before they even told how! It is great to see them all so proudly showing off their creations.

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The leaders were very impressed with the program offered to them by the staff at Home Depot. One leader said “Mark, Gary, and Penny at Home Depot on Henning Drive were fantastic! They were so helpful, went out of their way to accommodate us (Especially Gary who precut all the pieces at home on his day off!)” Wow! A huge thank you to Home Depot and its staff for supporting Girl Greatness in our community!

Sparks Winter Themed Sleepover

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Carissa

The girls and leaders from the 1st and 2nd Sparks joined forces last weekend for a Winter Wonderland themed sleepover at a local community hall.

For many of the Sparks this was their very first sleepover ever. The leaders were impressed with how well everybody did. The Sparks really took to the spirit of sharing and being a friend, and there were no major problems at all. Even girls who were a little nervous about missing their families and being away from home were so busy having fun and being with their friends that there wasn’t a single melt down, even at bedtime.

snowman

The winter-themed activities included making their own “toss the snowball through the snowman” games to take home, making snowflake headbands, and watching everyone’s favourite movie (Frozen, of course) on a big screen almost like being at the movie theatre. It was quite spectacular to see 22 Sparks singing along to Let it Go with perfect diction and clarity!

dancing

Girls also got to eat yummy pizza, sing their favourite campfire songs, and spend time dancing with a disco light.

They even went to bed at a reasonable hour, without very much fuss at all.

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It was a wonderful night of fun and friendship.

This was a very successful first sleepover for these units this year. Both groups look forward to taking their Sparks on more exciting outings, sleepovers, and camps throughout the year.

Introducing the new DC team

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Carissa

Burnaby Mountain District is pleased to be welcoming a new District Commissioner team.

For the last four years, Burnaby Mountain has had a wonderful Commissioner, Gerry. During her term, Burnaby Mountain’s membership numbers have increased substantially, and new units have opened allowing us to serve more girls in our community. Gerry also was at the helm of a variety of district events, with highlights such as Science Day at SFU in the 2013/2014 Guiding year and the super successful Space Centre Sleepover in 2014/2015. These kinds of all-ages, large scale events with clear educational benefits are typical of Gerry’s conviction for having “fun with a purpose” in Guiding. These are traditions that the district will hopefully continue.

Gerry, out-going DC, happily barbecuing for her district’s Guiders

Starting today, Gerry’s term has concluded and taking over for her as District Commissioner is Bethany. In addition, the district now also has the benefit of a Deputy District Commissioner who will help support Bethany with the DC duties. Bethany is thrilled to have Saffina taking on the Deputy DC role.

The new DC team! Deputy District Commissioner Saffina (right) and District Commissioner Bethany (left)

The new DC team! Deputy District Commissioner Saffina (left) and District Commissioner Bethany (right)

Bethany and Saffina both have several years of Guiding experience. They have been active guiders in the district for a long time and both have experience with international Guiding.

Sometimes, parents and girls don’t have a very clear idea of what the District Commissioner does. The DC leads the district council. This includes a variety of important duties including (but not limited to):

Communicating information from the Area, Provincial, and National levels of Girl Guides of Canada to our unit’s Guiders
Ensuring that safety, legal, financial, and administrative procedures are being followed in all units
Interviewing and orienting new leaders
Facilitating communication throughout the district including team building, workload sharing, and if necessary, conflict management
Coordinating the district’s biannual Girl Guide Cookie campaigns
Planning, or overseeing the planning, of large-scale district events

It is a big job, and Bethany and Saffina anticipate that Gerry will continue to mentor them for the next few months as they get accustomed to their roles.

Thank you, Gerry, and welcome to Bethany and Saffina!

Iron Chef: Best Appetizer, 12th Rangers!

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Carissa

Burnaby Mountain District is very proud of our 12th Rangers for being awarded Best Appetizer at the 2015 West Coast Area Iron Chef competition.

Every year, Pathfinders and Rangers from Burnaby, New Westminster, Vancouver, Richmond, and Ladner gather for an intense competition of outdoor cooking skills. Using the kinds of cooking equipment they would have access to at camp, girls prepared a full meal Iron Chef style at Deas Island regional park in Delta. The annual competition has a Halloween-theme as it always takes place at the end of October.

Their winning dish in the appetizer category, an Egg Salad Skeleton Wrap (pictured above), was judged based on taste, presentation, creativity, and nutrition.

It’s good to know that the 12th Rangers will be well fed when they go to camp this year. Clearly, these girls have great skills. Way to go!

Guides have a Halloween Party

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Carissa

This week, the girls in the 22nd Burnaby Mountain Guides had a Halloween party! The girls took a break from their regular Girl Guide uniforms and came in costume because of the special occasion.

Fun included many pumpkin and Halloween themed activities.

Crafts are a favourite activity of these girls. At the party they coloured Día de Muertos masks, and also did a spooky pumpkin seed tree craft.

And it wouldn’t be a party without games and treats. They rounded out the evening with pumpkin bowling and decorating a pumpkin-shaped rice krispie treat!

Many units are celebrating with Halloween parties this week. Thank you Guides for sending in these fun photos.

Happy Halloween from Burnaby Mountain District!

Sparks Enrollment

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Carissa

Burnaby Mountain’s newest unit, the 2nd Sparks, had their first ever enrollment ceremony today.

Eight new girls were enrolled, plus one girl who was a Spark in another unit last year. Special guests, the new Burnaby Mountain District Commissioner and Deputy District Commissioner came for the event, as did several of the girls’ family members.The ceremony involved the girls sliding down the rainbow, just like the girl Crystal in the Sparks ceremony. Girls felt very special as they said their promise and got their first collection of badges, including their Sparks enrollment pin.

Following the ceremony, girls and their guests got to enjoy some delicious cupcakes, fruit, and juice. It truly was a merry occasion.

At the end of the day one dad remarked, of his daughter, “between all the rainbows, friendship, and sharing, it’s like this program was designed right around her!” It’s so great to see the girls enjoying the Sparks program. Welcome to Girl Guides, girls!

Cookie Day Fall 2015

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Carissa

It’s that time of year again! Burnaby Mountain Girl Guides were out in full force today selling delicious Chocolatey Mint Girl Guide Cookies. Girls from our various units could been seen selling at Save On Foods, Independent Grocers, Nestor’s Market, WalMart, and the Dollar Tree.

It was a beautiful day to be out in the community. Girls sold lots of cookies to support their fun and engaging programming. Lots of boxes were bought to support the local food bank as well. Thank you to everyone out in the community who supported our sales!

Burnaby Mountain District

Register today at www.girlguides.ca!

Author Archives: Carissa