By Christina Roberts
I love volunteering with Girl Guides because providing girls with enriching experiences and learning opportunities is tremendously rewarding. For the past two years, I have led a Brownie unit. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting intelligent and driven girls who love learning and trying new things. I have watched their confidence and their independence grow.
This year during our “Getting Ready for Camp” meeting, I witnessed this transformation. The girls were required to bring the items on their kit list and prepare their bedrolls. Amidst the mess of tarps, bungee cords, blankets and mattress pads, they experienced the trials and errors of learning how to roll up a bedroll. I saw the second-year girls race to share their experience, in a confident manner, with the first-year Brownies, who took a task that was unfamiliar to them and succeeded in accomplishing it. I was so proud and excited as the first-year girls, with much enthusiasm, showed their parents their bedroll creations.
At the end of each Guiding year, the girls put together a scrapbook with pictures of various outings, camps and meetings they have done throughout the year. I hear them reflect on the friendships they made, the meetings they learned something new, the feeling of accomplishment when they earned a certain badge, and the experiences they had participating in service projects, camps, district events, cookie blitzes and various outings. Their reflections and positive energy remind me of why I dedicate my time week after week. The positive impact I can create in the girls’ lives is meaningful and that is why I volunteer.
Christina Roberts is a Unit Guider with 2nd Brookhouse Brownies in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and also works full-time as a substitute teacher. Interested in volunteering with Girl Guides or know someone who is? Visit our website.