Tag Archives: District Planning

Introducing the new DC team

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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

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!

District Planning and Cutthroat Kitchen

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With September, the start of the Guiding year, just around the corner, Guiders from Burnaby Mountain district gathered yesterday for their annual planning day. The morning featured training sessions to help new Guiders understand how to run the Guide program and to give tips and tricks for running a unit including planning, communication, and conflict management. In the afternoon there was a planning session where topics such as cookies, fundraising, and district events were discussed — there’s a lot of fun stuff in the works for this year!

Cutthroat_Kitchen_LogoOf course we wouldn’t really be Girl Guides if we didn’t incorporate an element of real FUN into the day. Our mid-day activity was a team-building exercise based on the Food Network TV show Cutthroat Kitchen. Guiders were put into teams to cook a main dish, side dish, and dessert in just 45 minutes, with crazy challenges thrown in for extra chaos.

SAM_2990Cooking started out with a frenzied collecting of ingredients from the pantry. Teams quickly put together their plans and got to work. Throughout the event, however, the host (District Commissioner Gerry) would announce challenges that teams would bid on to inflict on another team to try to sabotage them. Challenges including having to pause to sing campfire songs, having to use a teeny tiny frying pan to cook your food, having to wear one oven mitt for the duration of the game, and having to be handcuffed to another teammate. SAM_2994Above is one player cooking her meat in a tiny pan, and below are two players both handcuffed and oven mitted, attempting to plate their meal.SAM_2995The event was judged by District co-treasurers Nikki and Chris, along with Area Commissioner Donna. The meals, shown plated below, showed great creativity and were remarkably tasty given the limited amount of time, single shared kitchen, and the challenges inflicted.

SAM_3004 More than enough food was made for everyone to enjoy lunch out of their creations. Dishes included prawn stir fry, sloppy joes, chow mien noodles, spinach pasta salad, and peach tarts. Leaders had a great time being silly and competing against each other. In the end, leaders from three units split of the prize of $100 for their unit’s bank accounts.