May 7 2012

Community Service During Girl Guide Action Month

Pippins, Brownies, Guides and Rangers will be out and about all over the country helping in the community during Girl Guide Action Month.

An annual event, Girl Guide Action Month will run from 5 May until 5 June and will see girls aged five to 18 years engaged in community service to help others.

“Girl Guide Action Month also helps strengthen Guiding’s profile and visibility as part of their local communities,” says Sonia Faulkner, GirlGuiding New Zealand’s National President.

“Although our girls are always out and about in the community, it’s a great opportunity to focus on helping others in a concentrated way for a month,” Sonia said.

“It is also a chance to be involved with other local groups and services.”

Community work already planned for Girl Guide Action month includes collecting money for the local hospice, food for the SPCA and books and toys for doctors’ surgeries along with visiting retirement homes in their area.

In New Plymouth, Pippins aged five and six are raising money for the kiwis on Mt Egmont by picking and selling feijoas and making crafts and cards.

Guides in the Manawatu are continuing their community work in the region by doing the HeartStopper Challenge with teams dressed in Guiding clothes from different eras to help attract support for HeartStopper when they jump into pools of icy water – in the middle of May!! All the money raised will go to the @Heart cause.

Girl Guide Action Month also fits well with the goals of the organisation’s international group, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), of which New Zealand is a key member. The goals focus on leadership development, community engagement and their mission to “enable girls and young women to develop to their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world”, Sonia Faulkner said.

“Girl Guide Action Month is also a great way to promote GirlGuiding NZ throughout the country and the way we help girls develop skills and confidence.”

ENDS

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