Last spring Girl Guides of Canada together with TD Bank Group piloted a new financial literacy program, Girls Count. Stretching from coast to coast and from Sparks to Rangers, 35 units together with 53 TD employee volunteers presented the pilot crest program. Girls Count is all about introducing financial education lessons that focus on money, budgeting and career planning to Girl Guides of all ages.
It was a lot of work to make the pilot a reality and the list of people who could be recognized for their outstanding contributions to the program’s success would fill a bank vault. Yet in saying that, the program continues to grow and there is no doubt about it, Girls Count is a fantastic way to introduce financial literacy to your unit.
The curriculum is well written with a variety of age-appropriate learning tools and activities. Designed to be delivered by female TD volunteer employees, I was fortunate enough to be a part of the pilot and one of the first to deliver the program to a Guide and Sparks unit in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. Make no mistake there’s prep work required to make the presentation a success yet it is clearly laid out and easy to follow for both presenter and Unit Guider alike. What I found so absolutely wonderful about the program was the response from the girls to the program. They all learned something and so did I.
The very first question you present with Girls Count – Sparks is “What is money?” My 17 Spark-aged participants bantered back and forth a wee bit about what exactly it was but then unanimously agreed: “Money is what you use to buy gifts for people.”
As a TD employee I couldn’t be more proud or more excited to be a part of Girls Count.
By guest blogger Tina Murphy, Manager of Community Relations, TD Canada Trust – Atlantic Region and former Guider.
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