Let’s send some kind and encouraging words out into the people in our world. Why not surprise someone in your community with a positive, empowering message… on a rock! or a window sign! or get out your sidewalk chalk and send a message to your neighbourhood!

Hearing positive messages can boost your self-acceptance and confidence, so spreading them around is a great way to lift up the people you care about. The Kindness Rocks Project was started to surprise people with random acts of kindness. 

Homework this week: Inspire and share positive messages with others through decorating your own rock, sign, window sign, sidewalk, post-it note…whatever! Leave it in a visible place and take a photo to share with the group. Email your photos to the leaders by April 14.

Tonight is all about exploring identities – YOUR IDENTITY! You’ll reflect on who you are and how who you are can change depending on your age or situation. We’ll do a few group activities over zoom and we’ll also talk about ways we can share encouraging messages to our friends and neighbours in these difficult times. 

What you’ll need tonight:

1. Some scrap paper

2. Markers, crayons, or pencil crayons

Activities we’ll do tonight:

1. Check In 

2. “Sides of me” activity from Girls First Platform

3. “Past, Present, Future Self” activity from Girls First Platform

4. “Kindness Rocks” activity from Girls First Platform

To get inspired to share kindness with your neighbourhood, take a look at this article: 

B.C. family’s sidewalk chalk messages lift spirits in a time of social distancing

5. 3rd Years will stay on the call and we’ll walk you through how to use Girls First Platform to design your Girl-Led Meeting.

Here is how you can join the Zoom meeting at 7 pm:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/466720461?pwd=Tk82ajBaU0lJclM0V1VRdDlNZnk0UT09

Meeting ID: 466 720 461
The password is the same as it was last week!!

If you need to phone in, please check your email for more detailed information!

The last few weeks have been extremely uncertain for all of us. While the Guiders have been working hard to take care of ourselves, our families, and our communities, we’ve also been thinking, planning and experimenting on ways for us to stay connected through the COVID-19 responses.

We’d like to try out a Pathfinder meeting on Zoom from 7 – 8 pm on Wednesday April 1!

You can sign up for a free Zoom account online, or download the app on your smartphone or wifi enabled device. Please download and try out Zoom in advance. When we connect on Wednesday, we’ll spend some time checking our connectivity, checking in on how you’re doing, and talking about some activities and options for Pathfinder program work, including working on your Canada Cords. If you don’ have access to Zoom, please let me know by email. There is an option for a phone-in meeting where you could call in using a regular phone, but we’d need to set this in advance.

Here is the Zoom meeting information:

Topic: Pathfinders Meeting

Time: Apr 1, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us04web.zoom.us/j/748327994?pwd=U1pwNWduVW0zc29TUitKQTUwbXRYUT09

Meeting ID: 748 327 994

The meeting is password protected. We emailed the password out to everyone on Monday night, so check your emails or check in with your parents if you’re not sure what the password is.

Also – with regards to cookies – many of you have already picked up spring cookies to sell. We won’t be distributing any more cookies for sales, and would like to check in with everyone on how your cookie sales have gone over the past few weeks. Please take a moment to fill out this short survey on google forms to give us a sense of how your spring cookie sales are going.

We’re looking forward to connecting on Wednesday night!

Cookies have been delivered, and are available for pick up this weekend. Please check your emails for more information!

Happy International Women’s Day! Did you know that the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts reaches 10 million girls and young women in 146 countries across five regions? They’re the largest voluntary movement dedicated to girls and young women in the world. Check out what WAGGGS is doing for International Women’s Day!

Closer to home, we’re heading to the West Coast Area Girls Can Do It! event at VCC downtown today. Meet Erin at Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain Station at 2 pm, at the upstairs/top/Beatty Street entrance.

Please wear your uniform, and bring a water bottle. There will be no food or drink at the event.

Also reminder that as of this Wednesday, we’re moving to our new (old) meeting location of St Thomas Anglican church (2444 E 41st Ave). Entry to the church is off of St Margaret’s Street, through the back basement door. We’re looking forward to seeing you all there for our last meeting before Spring Break, where we’ll be having a dialogue around climate change.

Lastly, we’ve posted forms and information about the Southridge District Camp Skills Day taking place on Sunday April 26. We’ll be volunteering to help run stations, and 3rd year Pathfinders will run a station of their own! This is a great way to get some of your volunteer hours for your Canada Cord completed. Check out the Calendar posting for forms and more information. Please bring back forms as soon as possible, and no later than April 1.

Reminder that we have two outings in the next few days!

Tonight, we are going to the West Coast Area Travel Talks at York House School (4176 Alexandra Street) from 6:45 – 9 :15 pm! Check out the event posting for more information.

On Sunday, it’s the West Coast Area’s Girls Can Do It! International Women’s Day Event from 2-5 pm at VCC downtown. Check out the event posting for more information on that event.

Both of these events required pre-registration, so if you’re not sure if you’ve registered, please contact a Guider in advance.

Next week, we’ve got our first official meeting at our new meeting location – St Thomas Church!

Happy World Thinking Day!

On February 26 and March 4, we are going on two fun outings!

On February 26, we are volunteering at the new location of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. The Food Bank has moved to Burnaby (8345 Winston St), so please make sure you come to the right place! Also, our volunteer shift is earlier than our regular meeting time. Please arrive at the Food Bank by 5:50 pm, as we start at 6:00 pm sharp. We will end by 8:00 pm.

Uniforms and close toed shoes are mandatory for this service event. Please also bring some non-perishable food items to donate to the food bank. Some of their most needed items are canned beans, dry pasta, pasta sauces, canned fish, and canned full meals (such as soup or chilli).

Please also bring the Food Bank Volunteering Form (below) with you on Wednesday.

• Food Bank Volunteering Form

Also, as a reminder, on March 4, we’re heading out on another exciting outing to the West Coast Area Travel Talks event. We’ll post more information about that fun event in advance of March 4.

Lastly – and very importantly – effective March 11, we will be switching meeting locations to St Thomas Anglican Church as First Lutheran Church is no longer available on Wednesday nights starting in March! St Thomas is just a few blocks away from First Lutheran at 2444 E 41st Ave, at St Margarets Street – enter from the back basement door off of St Margarets Street. Some of you will remember St Thomas, as we used to meet there. Their renovations are complete, and the new meeting space is wonderful, so we’re very excited to be returning! We’ll send out more information about the move via email.

Tonight, we’re learning about what it means to be members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), and exploring themes related to equity, diversity and inclusion as we celebrate Thinking Day.

Part of our commitment to World Thinking Day is to contribute to the Canadian World Friendship Fund, which support Guiding in other parts of the world. We’ve opted to do a twoonie-drive this year, so encourage you to bring a townie or two, which we will contribute to CWFF on behalf of the 9th Pathfinders.

Good news and bad news – our outing to see Urinetown: the Musical is so popular that Studio 58 couldn’t fit all of us at the show on Feb 5. Instead, we’ve moved the outing to Feb 12 and will be having a regular meeting at the church on Feb 5 instead!

Check out the Urinetown Calendar posting for updated information.

Also, if you’re now able to make it because of the date change, please bring forms and $$ back on Feb 5. If you can no longer make it, please speak with a leader! We can reassign your ticket and apply your $18 to a different activity.

This week, we’ll be doing the camp song (re)writing workshop we’d planned for January, and having a fun campfire! Bring your creative energy and singing spirit!

Hope you’re all enjoying the last little bit of snow! We have lots of event information and forms to share in advance of this Wednesday’s girl-led meeting.

Please note that forms and payment for all of the events below are due by Wednesday January 29, as they have tight registration deadlines and we don’t want to miss out! Everyone currently has cookie cash available from the fall cookie campaign, so email Karla before Wednesday or speak with another leader at the meeting if you’d like to use your cookie cash towards these events.

Wednesday February 5 – “Urinetown” @ Studio 58 (Langara College)

• About “Urinetown”: In a city gripped by a severe drought, a large corporation holds a monopoly on all toilets and citizens must pay to pee! Heroic Bobby Strong incites the masses to revolt in this Tony Award-winning musical satire about capitalist greed, environmental catastrophe, and hope.
• Event costs $18 to attend. Forms and event info are available in the Calendar posting and on the Forms page.

Saturday February 8 – Sunday February 9 – Sleepover @ BC Guide House in North Vancouver

• We’re heading to the brand-new BC Guide House in North Vancouver for a sleep-over! This amazing adventure will start with a transit journey from East Van to North Van, followed by a meeting with local MLA Bowinn Ma to learn about being a woman in politics. After that, we will explore the Shipyards, possibly go skating or to the Polygon Art Gallery. We will make dinner at Guide House and spend the night playing games and making crafts. In the morning we will have breakfast, clean up, do a Guides Own and take the Sea Bus back to meet the parents.
• Sleepover costs $30 to attend. Forms and more information are available in the Calendar posting and on the Forms page.

Wednesday March 4 – West Coast Area Travel Talks @ York House School

• Our Guiding members have travelled all over the world and want to share their amazing experiences to you. Attend this inspiring evening of diverse speakers as they present their storytelling and insights from their Guiding adventures. Each presenter speaks for seven minutes; no more, no less. This is the TED Talks of Guiding travel adventures.
• Event costs $5 to attend. Forms and event info are available in the Calendar posting and on the Forms page.

Sunday March 8 – West Coast Area “Girls Can Do It” International Women’s Day event @ VCC Downtown Campus

• WCA will be hosting a fun fair of cool things to explore. Beyond brochures and trifold display boards, we want to get girls trying new skills in hands-on ways. With hundreds of Girl Guide friends, come explore booths from local businesses, professionals, and organizations, who are contributing their time and enthusiasm. Girls will explore the tables at their leisure throughout the afternoon. There will be a variety of activities set up, with interesting people to talk to, demos to try, swag to take home, and more.
• Event costs $5 to attend. Forms and event info are available in the Calendar posting and on the Forms page.