Tag Archives: Adults

Recognizing Our Awesome Volunteers

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Recently, West Coast Area Girl Guides hosted its annual awards dinner, which is wonderful night for Guiders from across the area to get together to celebrate everything that we do to support girls in our various roles. Several of our adult members came out to celebrate together.

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At this year’s event we saw awards granted to Guiders Helen, Sandra, and Gerry — thank you ladies, for all that you do! From helping with camping equipment, to coordinating our cookie deliveries, to managing our volunteer human resources, these ladies are all fundamental parts of our district’s success.

Did you know that we are now planning for next Guiding year (2019-2020), and we have many vacant positions in our rosters? If you are interested in volunteering to join this amazing team, please reach out and let us know. Guiding is all about running great programs for girls, but it is also a way for like-minded adults to find new friends, have lots of fun, and make a difference in the community.

Guider Retreat

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The adult volunteers of Burnaby Mountain District recently gathered for a Guider Retreat at Camp Capilano in North Vancouver. 21 adults participated! The overnight event had three goals:

  1. Provide relevant training
  2. Team building
  3. FUN

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In regards to the first goal, our Guiders got training about the new Girls First program, camp equipment, effective communication strategies with girls, bullying prevention, and Guiding traditions.

Guiders also got to choose between two out trips — a tour of the new BC Guide House building and visit to Lonsdale Quay, or a geocaching hike in Capilano Park.

A highlight of the event was a team building visit from Dance Downtown, with a facilitator that took the group through a teamwork intro and a Bollywood dance lesson. It was so much fun!  There was a lot of laughter and bonding.

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All in all, the three goals were definitely met! Our Guiders now feel more prepared to engage with our new program and have lots of other skills they can work with. Perhaps even more importantly, we’re a better team than ever before.

Want to join the fun? Get in touch with us any time. We’re always looking for dedicated volunteers to join us.

Brownie Keepsakes #TBT

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Happy Throwback Thursday, Guiding friends! Check out this cool wall hanging that one of our Guiders recently unearthed when tidying her basement. Guider Kim from the the 56th Burnaby Mountain Guides says she remembers making this more than 30 years ago as a keepsake of her Brownie memories in the 32nd North Vancouver Brownies where she was a member as a girl.

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As we come upon the end of the Guiding year it’s a great time to think about how you’re going to save your girl’s Guiding memories. What can you do with those badge sashes and fun crests? Lots of people sew them onto a camp blanket. Others have incorporated them into quilts, or made them into wall hangings with or without frames.

Thanks, Kim, for sharing your cool keepsake project!

Adult Recognition

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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!

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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.

Guiding Reunion 2016

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In May, Burnaby Mountain District hosted a reunion event for past and current members of Guiding. The planning committee worked hard to get word out to past members who were involved either as girls or as adults who were now over 19 whether they were involved here in Burnaby Mountain or elsewhere but now lived in the community. The event was intended as a fun evening to thank our current members and to share memories about what Guiding has meant to us throughout the years.

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At the event, women enjoyed a wine and cheese reception, an interactive history timeline, nostalgia hat crafts, a 50/50 draw, and a campfire. The District Commissioner gave an address sharing information she had learned about the history of Guiding in Burnaby from the Burnaby City Archives.

Guests especially enjoyed looking at old photos of themselves and friends and sharing memories of camping trips, enrollment ceremonies, outdoor adventures, and friendship. Below is a photo of the current District Commissioner celebrating her birthday during a Girl Guide trip to Victoria in 1999!

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Another highlight was the campfire, complete with a s’more treat. Past members remarked at how surprised they were to remember the words to classic Guiding songs like “Land of the Silver Birch,” “Princess Pat,” and “I Don’t Wanna Go to Girl Guide Camp!”

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Thank you to everyone who came out to spend the evening with us. It is always nice, sometimes, for Guiders and Guiding friends to get together as adults to reflect on the spirit of Guiding and to remember fun times passed. Burnaby Mountain has lots of fun coming up ahead as well, and we made sure to remind all the past members that we’d love to have them back as leaders any time!

Guiders Planning for a New Exciting Year!

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Guiders from Burnaby Mountain District recently had “cookies on the mind” at their district planning session. In this team building game, our adult volunteers raced around a hallway corridor balancing a classic Girl Guide Cookie on their forehead. The winner of the race won a unit’s portion of profit from a case of Girl Guide Cookies for her unit!

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As always, the ladies had a good time coming up with fun activities for the upcoming year. The nearest events include a uniform exchange day, another district cookie blitz day, and a reprisal of last year’s successful bowling day. All three of these are fundraisers for bigger events to be announced later in the Guiding year.

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We’re always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to work with our units. Come out to meet representatives from Burnaby Mountain at Lougheed Town Centre this coming Saturday and Sunday. We’ll answer any questions about getting involved as either a girl or an adult in our organization!

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Provincial Book of Honour: Nancy McAskill

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Girl Guides values the contributions of all of its members, but some women stand out as having gone above and beyond. Long time member Nancy McAskill was one such inspiration. Having held positions ranging from Unit Guider, to District Treasurer, Camping Advisor, and Commissioner, her vivacious personality and dedication to Guiding touched countless girls and women in our District.

Sadly, Nancy passed away at the end of 2012. Our District was set on recognizing Nancy’s involvement in our organization so an awards team formed to get a posthumous honour. It is with great enthusiasm as well as mournful remembrance that we got Nancy installed in the Girl Guides of British Columbia Book of Honour.

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A member in the Book of Honour is one who demonstrated both a considerable commitment to fulfilling the organization’s Vision, Mission and Values and her acceptance of them as outlined in Guiding Essentials. The exemplification of and promotion of the spirit of Guiding through keeping the Promise and Law should have been evident in her Guiding endeavours. The Book of Honour is on display at Provincial Guide House and a different page is shown each day to recognize our Province’s most outstanding members.

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A copy of the page from the book was presented to Nancy’s husband, Neil, at a ceremony at one of our District meetings in early 2014. Nancy’s devotion to Guiding and her contribution to our District will not be forgotten. 

Ever thought of volunteering?

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Girl Guides of Canada is a great organization to volunteer with. Guiding is about girls and women, and there are great opportunities for adults who get involved.

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Here are some things you might not know about being involved as an adult member in Girl Guides:

  • There are thousands of dollars available in scholarships for adult members at any stage of their education
  • There are opportunities to travel abroad with or without girls (see Saffina’s trip to the UN, for example)
  • Some or all costs for outside trainings like First Aid and FoodSafe may be covered
  • Other trainings about camping, event planning, communication, and youth programming are offered
  • Various supports are available to help new leaders such as mentoring and online and in-person training
  • Little kids aren’t your thing? That’s okay! Volunteer with our older branches and work with teenagers
  • Link (18-30) and Trefoil (30+) are adult-only groups where women meet with their peers and pursue interests, volunteering, camping, and outings
  • Unable to commit to weekly meetings? Maybe you could get involved on a District or Area level where you’d attend a couple meetings a month and do the rest of the job from home.

Right now, our District is most desperate for Pathfinder (ages 12-14) leaders, but other units could use help as well. Contact us to find out how you can get involved.

We’d love to welcome you into the world’s largest organization for girls and women. We’re 10 million strong — that’s quite a community to be a part of!

West Coast Area is hosting an event called A Taste of Guiding for anyone who might be interested, but looking for more info. RSVP is requested so please contact us (via comment or e-mail) for details on how to do that.

A Taste of Guiding

Sept 7th 2013 10:00 AM — 12:30 PM
Richmond Guide House, 4780 Blundell Rd. Richmond (corner of Railway and Blundell)

Come & join us for a fun-filled session to find out what we have to offer. There will be camping, games, art, leadership, and much more. You won’t want to miss it!

There is no cost for this event. Refreshments will be provided.