Brownies Gotta Camp

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Carissa

Last month girls from the 24th and 54th Burnaby Mountain Brownies took part in an overnight camping experienced organized by the West Coast Area camping committee called Brownies Just Gotta Camp!

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This awesome introduction to camping event was a great way to show the girls some of the fundamentals of camping. They got to sleep in a tent, eat traditional camp food, have an awesome campfire, and learn some great skills. Woodwards Landing is the perfect spot for these kinds of adventures — this beautiful campsite is in Richmond, so it isn’t too far from home.

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As an Area level camp, this event featured girls from all across the lower mainland. So not only did the girls from two Burnaby Mountain Brownie groups get to make friends with each other, they got to meet new friends from other parts of Burnaby plus Vancouver, New Westminster, Richmond, Ladner, and Tsawwassen. We have lots of Guiding friends!

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Guiding loves to empower girls to take on new challenges. At this camp, girls learned how to safely light a match, worked on their tenting skills, and got to learn about using a compass for orienteering. These are skills that the girls will build on as they continue to move through Guiding.

These units are both looking forward to ending their Guiding year with a trip to Camp Olave at the end of the month. It is so wonderful to see the girls making so many great Guiding memories.

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Outdoor fun is an important part of what Guiding offers girls. It is so great that West Coast Area is able to put on events like this to help support our Guiders in giving girls these opportunities. It’s a lot of work to plan camps like this, and the girls and leaders had a wonderful time — thank you!

Adult Recognition

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Carissa

Earlier this week several Guiders from Burnaby Mountain District attended the West Coast Area annual awards dinner. This is a great event with hundreds of Guiders from all around Burnaby, Vancouver, New Westminster, Richmond, Ladner, and Tsawwassen. It’s a great way to say THANK YOU to our wonderful volunteers, and some even get recognized with formal awards for their contributions.

This year we had several members in our district get recognized for their many years of service. One of these women, pictured below, was recognized for 55 years of service.

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Another, who was unfortunately unable to attend the evening’s event is celebrating 60 years of membership!

In addition, several women throughout the area were presented with merit awards for their outstanding service. One of these was one of our University Highlands Guiders, pictured below, who received a Bronze Merit Award for her dedication to Guiding. In addition to taking on increased responsibility when one of her co-Guiders went on leave earlier this year, this Guider is responsible for a patrol going to SOAR (a week-long camp in Smithers this summer), and is consistently involved in district events including organizing the Science Day at SFU last spring. Way to go!

The District Commissioner, Area Commissioner, and Provincial Commissioner present a Bronze Merit Award

Over all the event was a lot of fun. The ladies at the Burnaby Mountain table had a great time socializing and enjoying each other’s company. They all enjoyed a great meal, and also enjoyed browsing the silent auction.

We’re currently working on our plans for next year’s leadership and we need some more enthusiastic women to join our team! If you, or someone you know, would like to join the sisterhood of Guiding please reach out any time. We’d love to give you more information.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Carissa

For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain
Because today’s the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic

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A couple of weeks ago two Burnaby Mountain Sparks units attended the West Coast Area Teddy Bear Picnic, which was organized by the camping committee for Sparks and Brownies all across the Area. The picnic was at Confederation Park in Burnaby and was a “beary” fun day!

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The girls had a blast participating in classic picnic activities like potato sack races and scavenger hunts. It is always a treat to have such classic outdoor fun with your friends. There were lots of fun teddy-bear themed games, stories, and songs.

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Of course, everyone took a break from the festivities to eat their picnic lunch as well. In addition to all that, each girl had the chance to get her face painted, and everyone got a ride on the miniature train!

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Thank you “beary” much to the West Coast Area camping committee for planning such a fun event. The girls all had a wonderful time.

National Volunteer Week 2016

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Carissa

Happy national volunteer week to all of our amazing volunteers! Guiding wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and dedication of all of our leaders, council members, and commissioners. We’d love to take this opportunity to share the following thanks from Girl Guides of Canada:

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As well, we would like to congratulate some of our amazing volunteers who were recognized with merit awards for their hard work in our organization. Burnaby Mountain had three Guiders awarded with merit awards at last week’s West Coast Area Awards dinner. Two were able to attend the event — congrats, Christine and Gerry!

The third Guider has not yet received her award, so we don’t want to spoil the surprise right now. But well done, everyone!

Looking ahead to next Guiding year, Burnaby Mountain is sad to be bidding some of our leaders farewell as they move on to other things. This means we have a shortage of leaders in some of our units. If we are unable to recruit more, some units are at risk of being closed. This would be a great time to consider volunteering! Guiding is a great place to work with amazing girls and women to promote girl greatness and empowerment in a fun and supportive environment. Guiding offers great opportunities to our adult members including training, scholarships, travel, and more. For more information, contact us using the comments or by email at the “contact us” tab above.

To all of the amazing volunteers who power our district, Burnaby Mountain District says a big THANK YOU!

Brownies take over Science World

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Carissa

UPDATE: We’ve added a few more photos to this post as another one of the leaders sent some in and we just had to share. Enjoy! – Feb 9, 2016.

This weekend more than 400 Brownies and their leaders from all around West Coast Area gathered at Science World in Vancouver for an overnight event of fun, friendship, and science! Our 54th Burnaby Mountain Brownies were thrilled to be part of the excitement.

Highlights of the night included an Omnimax movie about Humpback Whales, an engineering demo and experiment time with KEVA planks, science shows, and exploring all the great exhibits with hundreds of other Brownies. trex

Sleeping among the exhibits is one of the coolest parts of this sleepover. Our Brownies got to sleep in a most exciting spot: next to the hollowed out tree and right next to Mr. T-Rex!

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The KEVA blocks were a really cool way to learn about building and engineering in a hands on way. The science world staff had girls help knock down a giant KEVA tower and girls had plenty of time to build their own creations.

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Towers are great to build with friends — a great tower can be built with great teamwork. Alternatively, some girls decided to get creative and build animals with the KEVA blocks, including some who made meerkats!

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The event wasn’t all about science — girls got in some classic Girl Guide fun, including a huge campfire in the omnimax theatre, made extra exciting with the use of glow sticks. Brownies love singing in big groups like this.

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The science exhibits in the galleries are always a lot of fun. Science World is a great place for hands-on learning. Here are some girls trying their hand at working a flying machine.

Science shows are always a lot of fun. Demonstrations are a great way to learn new things. And its always fun to hang out with friends in the audience.

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Thank you to all the Guiders who worked hard to plan and execute an event of this size. These girls had a blast. Thank you as well to all of the wonderful Science World staff who made the event possible. Large scale sleepovers like this one with hundreds of Guiding friends are some of the memories that we make that last a lifetime.

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!

Celebration of Achievement

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Carissa

Last month an Area wide celebration was held to recognize girls who achieved the highest awards possible last Guiding year. In Burnaby Mountain district two young women were celebrated for accomplishing the Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award. These dedicated members earned their award through activities in Rangers and as Junior Leaders with younger branches.

The award night is an annual area tradition. It was a lovely celebration. Seen below are the recipients of the Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award with the Bill Reid prints that they received in honour of their accomplishments. Carissa and Ziyana represent Burnaby Mountain district.

The Chief Commissioner’s Gold Award is the highest award a girl member can achieve in Guiding. It recognizes completion of the Ranger program including a cookie campaign challenge and a service project. This award generally takes three years to complete and successful completion of the award also entitles the girl to two additional high school credits.

Way to go Carissa and Ziyana! Your district is very proud of you and we appreciate all that you’ve done for our organization.

Area Awards Dinner

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Carissa

Last night West Coast Area held its annual awards dinner to thank all Guiders in the Area for their hard work and to recognize extraordinary contributions with awards. Our district filled two whole tables with Guiders who enjoyed a wonderful meal and a silent auction benefiting girls going trips this summer.

Our district was also proud to see seven of our adult members recognized with awards. Here is a list of who recieved what.

The Membership Pin indicates years of membership in the organization. After 15 years of membership, pins are awarded every 5 years.

Sandra, 14th Pathfinders

Awarded for 45 years of dedicated membership in Girl Guides of Canada.

The Gold Thanks Pin may be awarded to girl or adult members for exceptional service to Guiding. They are given at the district or area level.

Chelsea, 1st Sparks & 54th Brownies

Awarded for her many informative talks given to units throughout the Area about her 3 months volunteering at the world centre Sangam, in India

The Commissioners and Administrative Communitiy Leaders Award is presented to Commissioners who lead by example, actively welcome new Members and retain current ones, mentor adult Members, and uphold the values of GGC.

Gerry, District Comissioner & 54th Brownies

Awarded for stepping up to the plate as a new member commissioner when the district was desperate and going above and beyond the requirments of her role at Area council and benefiting the Distric immensely.

The Broze Merit Award is given to a person who goes above and beyond the basic requirements of her role and demonstrates dedicated service to Guiding.

Neelofar, 3rd Sparks

Awarded for her dedication in helping her unit recover from several issues that threatened to close her unit. She worked tirelessly to repair administrative issues requiring close work with the District Comissioner and Treasurers all while offering a great program to her girls.

Nadia, 49th Guides

Awarded for her ongoing dedication to her very large Guide unit, promoting Guiding in her daily life, and being a positive role model to her girls. She takes on the important role of communicator for her unit.

Ann, 14th Pathfinders

Awarded for her longtime commitment to her girls and the district. She has gone above and beyond, often volunteering to do things like help with unit bookkeeping.

The Silver Merit Award is given to a person who goes above and beyond the basic requirements of her role and demonstrates excellent service to Guiding.

Bethany, 1st Sparks & 54th Brownies & District PR/Membership Advisor

Awarded for her accomplishments in creating and maintaining the district website and Facebook page, as well as attending volunteer fairs, resulting in increased membership in her district and in others.

Congratulations to all of the award winners. Your contributions to Guiding are greatly appreciated. Our girl programs would not be possible without the tireless work of these amazing volunteers.

Go Burnaby Mountain District!

Congratulations Cookie Poster Winners!

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Carissa

Congratulations to the two members of Burnaby Mountain District who won the West Coast Area cookie poster contest for their branch levels!

The winning Spark poster was by Ryley, a member of the 1st Sparks.

The winning adult poster was by Bethany.

Good job to everyone who entered the contest. There were some great posters sent in. Ryley and Bethany will be recieving their prizes in the mail. Good luck with your cookie sales everyone!

West Coast Area Bursaries and Awards

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Carissa

You might be aware that Girl Guides of Canada offers scholarships, bursaries, and awards to its members. It is also important to remember that these awards are not only available at the national level, but also at the provincial and area level.

West Coast Area offers bursaries and awards to both girl and adult members — you don’t have to be in grade 12 to apply! Girls are young as Brownies may be eligible for some of these awards. Check out the youth awards flyer for Education Bursaries, Music Scholarships, and Performing Arts Scholarships here.

Information about additional West Coast Area awards including scholarships for girls in grade 12 and for adult members, see the Area awards page here. Many awards have deadlines in March and April so apply soon so as not to miss out.

Burnaby Mountain District

Register today at www.girlguides.ca!

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