E-News FOUND IT! Contest
Congratulations and a $25 Online Guide Store credit goes to Guider Debra Hunt of the 395th Guides/Pathfinders in Toronto for entering our March ONLine FOUND IT! contest.
For April’s contest, simply find the mystery link word “Ontario” somewhere within the ONLine document below. When you find this hyperlink, click on it and send us an e-mail in the window that opens with the subject: Found It! We will choose one winner randomly for a $25 credit for our Online Guide Store or one of our two Ontario Guide Store locations. Good luck! April’s winner will be announced in May’s ONLine.

Ontario Guider E-News Gets New Name!
Congratulations and a $25 Online Guide Store credit goes to Guider Carol Fahey for submitting the “new” name for Ontario Council’s monthly electronic newsletter. Thanks too goes out to all the Guiders that took the time to submit their ideas. We had an abundance of good ideas to choose from!! The winning name is "ONLine."

User Space Update
Now is the time to confirm your meeting space for next fall!
If your Unit meets in a school, a copy of the proposed permit renewal application for next year will be sent to the current Contact Guider listed in iMIS, by the User Space Coordinator. userspace.coord@guidesontario.org Upon receipt, the Contact Guider should review the prepared document and confirm that the information is accurate. Please add any information that may be missing or incorrect and return it to the User Space Coordinator. Please respond by the due date specified in order to provide sufficient time for processing. The User Space Coordinator is responsible for signing all permit applications, processing payment, and submitting them to the school board. Upon receipt of the approved permit from the school board, a copy will be forwarded to the Contact Guider designated on iMIS at that time. Please note: School boards will not guarantee a space for renewal of applications received after their deadlines, so please check the deadlines carefully.

If you were the contact person for a permit last year, you may receive a permit renewal application directly from your school board. If you receive this, please forward it to the User Space Coordinator who will follow up to ensure that the proper documentation is prepared and submitted. If you receive permit information in error, please also forward it to the User Space Coordinator.

If your Unit meets in a facility other than a school, please designate a Guider from your Unit to contact your meeting place to discuss your return in the fall of 2008. This will ensure local Guiders are the ones staying in contact with their meeting place and keeping your relationships strong.

remember, any document requiring signature must be forwarded to Lynn Manning, User Space Coordinator, who is the only authorized signatory for GGCON. (As outlined in the Procedures Manual for the Community Model of Guiding, page UG-MEM-10: “Any contract, agreement or permit required for space use must be forwarded to the provincial User Space Coordinator for signature”).

For further information, please contact:
Lynn Manning, User Space Coordinator

Girl Guides of Canada, Ontario Council
303 – 250 Merton Street, Toronto, ON M4S 1B1
Phone: (416) 486-8721 ext. 2473
Toll Free: 1-877-323-4545 ext. 2473
Fax: (416) 486-4290
e-mail: userspace.coord@guidesontario.org

Do You Know That Your Community Has an ACL?

What is an ACL?
What Can She Do For Me?
What Can I Do For Her?

The Administrative Community Leaders Forum is comprised of a volunteer leader from each of the 39 Administrative Communities in Ontario. The Administrative Community Leader (ACL) works closely with the Unit Administrator to meet the needs of the Unit Guiders in her community. Major tasks are recruiting, screening, and placing new Guiders. In addition, the ACL provides support to the Unit Guider to resolve issues, and to understand the administrative tasks required to run a Unit. The ACL does not know all of the answers for the Unit Guider, but understands the structure in order to direct Guiders to the appropriate specialty community or to an Adviser who can answer the question or address the concern. The ACL will encourage Guiders with special skills to become a Member of a specialty community. She works with Guiders to resolve problems, and conflicts as they rise. She works with the Guiders to determine the learning and development needs in her community, and then with the Trainers to ensure that the opportunities exist to meet those needs.

The ACL need not arrange all meetings between Guiders in the community. If you wish to meet with Guiders in your branch, or Guiders in your neighbourhood, by all means go ahead and do so. In some Communities Guiders have come together to arrange a sisterhood gathering for all of the Guiders in the community. If you have an idea for an event, the ACL will welcome your input.

Being the ACL is a huge job, and really requires a team of people to do the tasks effectively. In some Communities two or three Guiders are working together as co-ACLs. In each Community the ACL has a team of Guiders (a local specialty community) who together ensure that the Community has the necessary resources. This is not a Council, but rather a team of Guiders, each of whom brings ability and a willingness to contribute to the leadership of the Community by assisting in one or more functions of the role. This may include assisting with screening new Guiders, checking references, organizing cookie blitz days, or special event planning, as examples. If you could assist your ACL, please contact her.
Susan Birnie, Deputy Provincial Commissioner - Administration

Meet A Few Of Our ACL’s!
As we know that it is always nice to be able to match a face with a name, we have asked our ACLs to share their photo with us. For the month of April, we invite you to meet the ACLs of 16 different communities …

Ontario Council Elected Member Positions
If you enjoy exploring new ideas and are a ‘big picture’ thinker, this may be the place for you.

Ontario Council’s role is to carry out the business and programming of Girl Guides of Canada in Ontario. There are 9 Elected Member positions on Ontario Council. The three year terms of our Elected Members are staggered so that 3 new women join the Council each year thus we are currently seeking 3 Elected Members to begin their roles on July 1.

We are seeking applicants who:
• will actively contribute to meetings –share knowledge; provide opinions; offer advice
• have a broad understanding and commitment to the Vision and Mission of Girl Guides of Canada
• think and act strategically
• support the direction of Ontario Council

The deadline for applications is April 18th. Click here for application.

Cookies
Cookie deliveries are well under way and by now, most of you should have received your cookies. Sales Aids were sent to the cookie receivers for distribution with the cookies.
FAQs
Some questions keep popping up, and we would like to address some of them here:
• COOKIES regardless of whether CLASSIC OR MINT, are to be sold at $4.00 PER BOX. There is no variation to this price. Units may not tack on extra costs to the customers because they are doing extra fund raising. All cookies are to be sold at the same rate.
• UNITS RETAIN $11.00 PER CASE of cookies, both classic and mint. PAYMENTS for cookies ARE DUE MAY 19, 2008 for all Units, including those on the new centralized banking system. It is the responsibility of the Unit to sell and pay for the cookies they have ordered and UNSOLD COOKIES WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO BE RETURNED.
• Invoices for the cookies will be sent to the contact Guider after the Unit has received their cookies. Payment is to be directed to your Unit Administrator. If you are not on centralized banking, cheques should be made payable to Girl Guides of Canada, Ontario Council. If you are on centralized banking, the amount will be deducted on May 19th from your account.

Placing Orders
Many Units, including Trex, Lones, and Trefoil Guilds have not placed orders for cookies. There are a small number of spring cookies still available. If you would like to arrange for some of these cookies, please contact the Cookie Coordinator at cookie.coord@guidesontario.org Some Units have had “reserve” orders placed for them so that the cookies were delivered to your local cookie cupboard.

This is the first campaign where Unit Guiders were able to order their Units cookies directly online, and select a delivery location of their choice. This has enabled Guiders to have a little more flexibility in their cookie deliveries, however, once the orders have been placed online and forwarded to Dare, these delivery locations cannot change. We also cannot change delivery schedules to accommodate holidays. This caused some confusion with deliveries happening over the March Break. The preliminary delivery schedules are posted on our website once they are given to us.

Delivery schedules are not set by Ontario Council. We are given delivery routes and schedules from Dare and the Transport Companies. Requests to change delivery location and/or delivery date, where absolutely necessary, must be made by us to National and there are costs incurred. We do not have a guarantee that changes can be accommodated.

There are no boundaries, there are no “turfs”. We are all out there selling cookies. Please keep this in mind, and remember to reflect the Guiding spirit as you and your girls are selling cookies in the community.

Blitz Fun!
As you are out there blitzing and selling in malls, please keep in mind that door to door sales are also a big part of our organization being seen in the community. To help emphasize this, and to create a little enthusiasm and competition, we have established FIVE “MYSTERY ADDRESSES” located randomly throughout the province. If a girl or girls from a Unit show up at the mystery address, in uniform, with cookies in hand to sell, they will have won one of our Mystery Address” prizes, suitable for their Unit to share.

How to Get More Cookies!
We still have a large number of mint cookies available, and Units themselves may still have mint cookies unsold. These cookies HAVE NOT EXPIRED and the selling date for these cookies in Ontario has been extended to June 30, 2008. Please continue to offer your mint cookies with your spring classic cookies. If you would like to obtain some of these mint cookies to help us clear our stocks, we have them available at the following offices:
Cambridge – Galt Guide House
Ontario Guide House – Toronto
Toronto Community Office – Merton St.
Kingston Community Office
Ottawa Community Office
Oshawa Community Office
Newmarket Community Office
London Community Office
Mississauga Community Office (requests from Hamilton will be sent from the Mississauga office)
If you would like some of these cookies to sell, please contact the Cookie Coordinator to arrange for the cookies at cookie.coord@guidesontario.org

We appreciate your input. We would also appreciate your help. We have an immediate need for volunteers to form Cookie Specialty Communities to set up and administer cookie blitzes and mall sales in your community. We also need people to form a Provincial Specialty Cookie to assist us with the task of handling cookie sales in the Province of Ontario. If you would like to assist, please contact Lynda Chapple at cookie.adviser@guidesontario.org. Happy selling!

Safe Guide Update
This Safe Guide update includes the following important topics:
• I have no ACL, can I contact my Unit administrator at home?
• First Aid certificate clarification – do I require Emergency First Aid or Standard First Aid?
• National Safe Guide update
Click here to open full Safe Guide Update document.

Summer Camps 2008 – Girls Grow with Camping
The excitement is building as we prepare for summer camp at 10 OCA accredited summer camps! By the time you receive this, last year’s summer campers will have received a brochure detailing the variety of experiences available and postcards are in the mail to all our Members with information about summer camp.

Are you aware of the wide variety of opportunities available at our camps? Girls can choose to focus on general camp skills or drama, cycling, canoe tripping and just about anything else you can imagine. We offer indoor and outdoor accommodation for all ages. Check out our website at http://www.guidesontario.org/camping/summercamps.htm
Encourage your girls to continue the fun they’ve experienced in Guiding over the year at one of our summer camps!

Do you know a young woman who will be looking for a summer job? Encourage her to apply for a position at one of our camps. Perhaps you and some of your friends in Guiding would enjoy spending a week together at one of our camps as a volunteer? What a great opportunity to gain new camping skills in a comfortable environment.

Girls in Ontario Say…Focus on Camping!
I’ve been brought up with Guiding my entire life, and have personally been a Member for 10 years. One aspect of Guiding that has kept me captivated is camping. I started camping with my Unit in Brownies then progressed to Guides, after which I had to start some “serious” camping. Camping with my Unit or my family just wouldn’t cut it anymore. I was sent to Doe Lake Girl Guide Camp or as I like to call it, my summer home.
For the first five or six years in Doe Lake, I would do the regular programs staying for one week, making new friends and enjoying all of the offered activities. But, after six years of doing the same thing I was getting bored. It was then, that I noticed the tripping section of Doe Lake. Once I noticed this… well, let’s just say my life has never been the same since; in a GREAT way of course!
Now, not everyone knows what “tripping” is: some know it as exterior camping; others just look at me cluelessly as I attempt to explain the joy of tripping. To involve yourself in tripping you must be a camper, [have to] love to sleep in tents (without padding), paddle for hours on end, and portage canoes, food barrels, and [LARGE] backpacks as your break between paddling.
There is so much more to tripping! There’s astounding scenery, amazing animals (though, I have yet to see a moose), and best of all, there’s the marvelous friendships with those [very cool] girls and [fantastic Guiders] made along the way. Sleeping, canoeing and cooking along side all this, tests all of our tolerances to estrogen, and forms long-lasting and true bonds with everyone. It also helps, that by the end of your trip, you most likely will have lost a few pounds from eating trip food and gained some muscle from the hardcore workouts you participate in everyday!
In addition, if you’re still not convinced to trip, I would suggest you go to your local Guider and ask about the types of tripping you can do as a Unit and receive a hands-on approach to tripping. If your Unit doesn’t want to try it out, check out this link on the Ontario Council website -http://guidesontario.org/camping/campprograms.htm and see what each of these camps has to offer!
Submitted by: Carleigh Milton, Pathfinder in Community 17 Member of the Girl Advisory Forum.

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Finance Trainings
This is a reminder that finance trainings are taking place and all units need to have a Unit Treasurer that has been trained on the new system. For a list of dates and times of trainings please go to the Event Calendar on the Ontario website.

For Ontario Trainers
Learning & Development is currently working on putting together Trainer Enrichment trainings and there will be 3 dates and locations to choose from. This is not mandatory training and the registration cost for the training will be $100.00. This cost has already been subsidized by Ontario Council, no further subsidy will be provided. The cost includes meals, accommodations and travel to/from the conference. Trainers are not expected to attend all 3 dates; the training offered at each location will be the same. Once the registration form and details on the training are available it will be sent out to all Trainers, as well, it will be placed on the Event Calendar on the Ontario website.

Membership

Meet the Membership Staff Team
From left to right

Mary Porto - Membership Development Coordinator

Lynn Manning - User Space Coordinator

Charmaine Burnside - Membership Administrative Assistant

Kit Carrothers - Membership Manager

Marilyn Worth - Membership Support Coordinator

Girl Renewal Process
A new, proactive renewal process for current Members is being introduced for the 2008/2009 Guiding year. By registering our Members this spring, we can identify and focus our recruitment efforts for the fall. We know that some communities have held spring renewal/registration in the past and this new process will look a little different. Renewing girls now for the fall will help to distribute some of the work load for Guiders when it comes to registration time at the end of the summer. This has been a successful practice in the past which we are implementing province-wide.

Parents/guardians of girl Members will be informed of the new process via direct mail in early May. The intention is that spring renewal offers a benefit of Membership to our currently registered girl Members. Returning Members will get priority placement in their current unit or their advancement or transfer unit, as applicable.

The process for registering new Members is being reviewed. Details on the process will be provided to Unit Guiders during the week of April 28th.

Unit Guiders
Please check your e-mail inbox and read the message from Marnie Cumming, Provincial Commissioner as it contains the details that you need to know about the new Girl Membership Renewal Process. Also, during the first week of April, you will receive an email from your ACL requesting your personal Guiding plans for the 2008/2009 Guiding year. As Unit Guiders, your ongoing commitment is vital to effectively deliver the program to our girl Members. Please be sure to respond by the deadline.

We appreciate your support of this new process!

Provincial Recognition Ceremony – June 2008
We are pleased to announce that a Provincial Recognition Ceremony will be held on Sunday, June 22nd in Mississauga. The event team is currently working hard to plan a special afternoon to recognize the achievements of our Members. Presentations will be made to Girl Members who have earned their Canada Cord and Chief Commissioner's Awards.  Adult awards will also be presented.
Further details of the event will be provided as soon as they are confirmed. In the meantime, please be sure to hold the date so that you and your girls can participate.

Volunteers Needed!
Membership Support needs volunteers to help with the planning and implementation of Recognition Awards Ceremonies (girls & Guiders) for Fall 2008. The tentative locations for the fall ceremonies are set for Ottawa and Kitchener-Waterloo. If interested please contact Amanda Farion, Membership Support Adviser at Membersupport.adviser@guidesontario.org

Do you like to meet new people? Are you willing to share your love of Guiding? Then you might be interested in being a part of the Membership Development team.

Local volunteers are needed to:
Help to staff our trade shows
Be the face of Guiding at local Volunteer Fairs
Help out at registration events
Contact Geraldine Kelter - Memberdev.adviser@guidesontario.org or Mary Porto Membershipdev.coord@guidesontario.org

Lincoln M. Alexander Award 2008
This award was established in 1993 to commemorate the term of the Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander as Ontario’s 24th Lieutenant Governor. The award recognizes young people who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in eliminating racial discrimination. There are three awards presented each year; two to students and one to a youth in the community. Each recipient receives an award of $5,000 and a scroll signed by the Lieutenant Governor and the Premier.
If you know of a young person you believe to be deserving of this award, please fill out a nomination form found at:
http://www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/english/honours/
The deadline for nominations is May 31st.

Mark your calendars for the 2008 Provincial Annual on November 21, 22 & 23, 2008!
The 2008 Provincial Annual will be held at the Holiday Inn Select in Toronto. We are ready to inspire, inform and involve you! All adult Members are welcome to apply at the beginning of April. Watch the Ontario website for further registration details.

ENVIRONMENT
Happy Earth Day everyone! I hope you have a great time celebrating with your Units. If you take part in an Earth Day service project or event (or if you did something special for Earth Hour), e-mail what you did to Jess Fleury, Environment Adviser at: environment.adviser@guidesontario.org and we'll share your activities with other Units around the province. Also coming in future editions of ONLine, keep your eyes open for new Environment Task group positions!

INTERNATIONAL

WHERE in the WORLD our Members are TRAVELING?
For the month of March, the following groups submitted an IT.2-Intent to Travel and approval has been granted to move forward in their trip planning process:

For a more detailed list of where our Members are travelling, log into the Ontario section of MemberZone

Dominica Adopt-A-Unit
The Adopt-a-Unit Program with Girl Guides of Canada and Dominica is well under way and the monthly packages continued to be mailed. To see what items have already been mailed to the Units in Dominica, a supply list is posted on our website and will be updated each month.
To get your Unit involved in the Adopt-a-Unit project, please check the schedule below for your Community’s adoption month. remember our Guiding sisters in Dominica are in great need of our support each month. Please send your Unit’s items for the project to your community office by the 5th of the month for which your community is assigned to ensure your wonderful items are included in the package being sent to Dominica. For the month of April 2008, the Ottawa Community Office and the Unit Administrator for Community 36 are collecting items to be shipped to Dominica.

For more information, click here.

Thank you to the volunteer Guiders who have been packaging the items for shipment to Dominica each month from their Community office.

Quebec City Summer Exchange Opportunities
National Council has shared some information received from the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada (SEVEC) about Quebec City summer exchange opportunities that might be of interest to Units here in Ontario. Click on the link for more information from the SEVEC website: http://www.sevec.ca/programs/exchanges/index_e.asp
For more details about the program, please contact Laurie Clement, Executive Director-SEVEC at 1-800-38-SEVEC ext. 210 or 1-613-727-3832 ext. 210

2008 National Sponsored Events
Congratulations to more Ontario Members selected for the National trips
Katrina Boyko, Jordyn Read,Victoria Omelijaniuk and Charlotte Poon – Switzerland and Our Chalet
Natalie Sommers– Mexico
Megan Baxter, Sabrina Savji and Keira Webster – England
To view an updated participant list, click here.

What is the challenge? For this challenge, your Unit will need to organize or join a community service project on Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), which takes place April 25-27th, 2008. We encourage you to try and plan your activities for this weekend. However, we want as many girls as possible to be able to complete the challenge, so if you are unable to plan something for those dates, you can still earn your crest by planning a community service activity between now and June 30th, 2008. For additional information please visit the National website: http://www.girlguides.ca/default1.asp?id=1420.

Religion in Life Statement
Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada is an organization that encourages inclusivity and diversity in both its Membership and programs. Research has shown that the majority of Canadians believe GGC to be a Christian organization. This has never been the case. GGC has always welcomed Members regardless of their religious affiliation.
In light of this research we are currently reviewing our programs and practices. During this process we have removed the Religion in Life program from our website. However, the information is still available should a girl wish to complete this challenge.
If you would like this information please send an email to programs@girlguides.ca.

Around Ontario for World Thinking Day 2008
What did you do with your Unit for Thinking Day this year?
Thank you to all the Guiders and girls who took the time and initiative to plan and lead amazing activities. Here is a sample of some that took place across the province.

Thinking About Water….
The 3rd Courtice South Pathfinders planned a bridging event with the Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders and Senior Branches using the theme of "think about water". Girls rotated to different stations to explore this theme, including a game of "Who's Smarter than a Fifth Grader" and eco-system terrariums in our immediate area. Everyone brought their Thinking Day pennies which we taped to large branch-level coloured trefoils, raising over $200 for the Canadian World Friendship Fund!

South Porcupine/Porcupine Units took the theme of water seriously and we dedicated our night to the wet stuff. The Sparks, Brownies and Guides divided into three groups: Evaporation, Condensation and Precipitation, and rotated around stations. At the craft station, we filled a “lake” with decorated water drops. Another station was a water game which made the girls think about conservation and what they can do at home to conserve water. At the final station, girls enjoyed a snack of ice cream while 3rd year Guides explained to the Units about how in Australia (a long time ago) girls were encouraged to deny themselves an ice cream and donate the 5 cent cost to Lady Baden Powell’s discretionary fund. We were all asked to bring 50 cents (inflation!) for our ice cream and the money was donated to the Canadian World Friendship Fund. To end our evening with a splash, Red Owl led a rousing campfire with some water related songs.

Thinking About Service….
The 2nd Dundas Pathfinders planned a bridging activity with the 4th Dundas Guides to pack up the materials and badges needed to complete and earn a "First Aid" and "Feeling Good" badges. This effort contributed towards their international service project programming. Before we started, Anne Craig, a former Guide now in university, shared her slides and spoke about her trip to the Dominican Republic as part of a Habitat for Humanity effort. This brought home to the girls the importance of their efforts. The evening finished up with some traditional games and Closing.

Thinking About Our Past….
70 girls and Guiders from Community 16 from Port Credit & Mississauga travelled to Toronto to celebrate Thinking Day at Casa Loma. The destination was the home of Canada’s first Chief Commissioner, Lady Mary Pellatt. It was a fitting place to reflect upon our sisterhood in Guiding and its rich history. We toured the vast residence, visited Lady Mary’s rooms where she held some of the earliest ‘district’ meetings, and viewed the Girl Guide display cases. It was neat to see samples of the first uniforms and some of Lady Pellatt’s awards. We even got to
climb to the top of the towers where you get a 360° view of the city! It was a wonderful, adventure-filled day with a little learning thrown in for fun!!

Thinking About Global Awareness….
In Toronto 175 girls and Guiders from 13 Units in Community 18 came together to celebrate Thinking Day. Girls earned the Asia Pacific Challenge and learned the importance of conserving water. Activities included a Japanese tea ceremony, origami, Asian folktales, decorating hands with mendhi, making miniature New Zealand sheep, replicating the sounds of a monsoon, and participating in traditional Indian dance with the help of the Gunaseelan Dance Company. The girls collected coins for a period leading up to the event using the suggestions on WAGGGS' Thinking Day website. When pooled, their contributions added up to $1000 for the Canadian World Friendship Fund.

Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders and their Guiders, held a Thinking Day Bridging event at St. John the Baptist Church in Scarborough. The focus was Australia which is part of the Asia Pacific Challenge this year. The girls had the opportunity to do a round robin event including, crafts (a boomerang), a demonstration by a Guider who had been on a trip to Australia, music and of course, food. The girls took to each session with enthusiasm and ended the evening with a campfire.

Kirkland Lake Units from Community 35 celebrated Thinking Day with a Hawaiian Luau. Everyone had their name translated into Hawaiian for the event. Round robin activities included Snack at the Tiki Hut (slushies made with concentrated fruit juice and fresh fruit -- watermelon, cantaloupe, melon, pineapple, banana and coconut), Hula Dance where each was given a skirt, Craft -- a wrist lei to make and wear, Game -- we played iceberg, water creature relay and did a find the water creatures hidden in the picture, then everyone went on to campfire and did an interactive water story.

The 7th Sault Ste. Marie Guides have been collecting Thinking Day money in a jar and hope to contribute to the Guiding Water Fund and perhaps purchase a chicken or goat for the Good Samaritan program.

The 2nd Orleans Guides had fun thinking about their sisters in Guiding, while surrounding the pennies they collected for Thinking Day this year.

Thinking About Sisterhood…
Throughout “Thinking Week” Guiding in Kingston maintained a booth at the Cataraqui Town Centre. The local Sony Store lent us a pink television and we showed videos of our Units in action! Guiding is sure to grow heartily in our Community this fall as we collected dozens of names for potential Members from families that dropped by our display. We held two special events during the week. Our first was a large campfire that enjoyed attendance by more than 300 girls and Guiders. As many of the girls attended with their families in tow, the mall was filled with Guiding!! We wrapped up the week with a large birthday cake in honour of Thinking Day. All in all – a fabulous week!

A Thinking Day Funfest in Stittsville jointly with the Stittsville Scouts. We celebrated the birthdays of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell by playing snow games in the lit soccer field of Goulbourn Recreation Centre together. Some of the games included tug-of-war, sled races, buddy skis, obstacle course, snow soccer, parachutes, freeze tag, manhunt, red light/green light, and Knights & Kings. Afterwards, we shared hot chocolate and cookies.

To celebrate the sisterhood of Guiding, the 1st Lilac Trefoil Guild hosted a Thinking Day Tea for the Trefoil Members in Thunder Bay. A total of 42 Members from the 3 Guilds (Forget-me-Not, Amethyst and Lilac) joined together for an afternoon of fun, food and friendship. Everyone participated in a candlelight ceremony celebrating the birthdays of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, reflecting on the virtues of Guiding and acknowledging our Guiding sisters around the world. The day concluded with dessert and the presentation of Membership Pins and Appreciation Awards, as well as the presentation of Trefoil Pins to the Members of the newly-formed Lilac Trefoil Guild. During the day each Guider was asked to add her Membership years to the Guide-¬O-Meter, which registered a total of 1125 Guiding years. The Trefoil Guilds in Thunder Bay are definitely keeping the spirit of Guiding alive.

If you would like to share your Unit’s Thinking Day 2008 experience, please contact the International Adviser at:international.adviser@guidesontario.org or the International Coordinator international.coord@guidesontario.org We would love to hear about what you did!

COMMUNITY CHATTER

Community 11 - The 14th Hamilton Rangers had excess craft and camping supplies that were overflowing out of their meeting place cupboard space. When they heard of new Units starting up in Red Lake and Thunder Bay, Ontario that needed craft and camping supplies, the Unit packed up seven large containers with camping equipment and craft supplies and shipped it to Red Lake. We hope that they can use to “grow” their Units and enjoy the outdoors in beautiful Northern Ontario.

Community 16 -The night of February 13th had an international flavor for our Community sisterhood! It was a casual evening of crafts, food, music and dance from around the world. We sampled Indian chaat papdi hors d'oeuvres and Japanese sushi, made Mexican paper decorations and tried our hand at paper quilling. We also learned about water conservation projects that our girls can be involved in. A special thanks to all of the organizers and volunteers of the evening. You all did a great job and we all look forward to future sisterhood events!

In February, we had a camp and the girls enjoyed the snowshoeing and tobogganing in the wonderful winter wonderland of Camp Ademac. The cottage was cozy and the girls had fun both indoors and out. A favourite with the girls was the Monk's meal which was just that much messier with spaghetti and ice cream sundaes!

Community 35 - The 7th Sault Ste. Marie Guides, working toward our World Guiding Badge decided to focus on our four World Centres. Each patrol organized information, displays, costumes, skits and great information for their country. It was a good team effort as a patrol. To end the evening we had treats from the four countries. We held our sleepover at the end of month to complete the Paris Challenge as well as enjoy some outdoor activities with the Pathfinder Unit. The evening campfire was a highlight for the day - our girls really got into the singing! The next morning we participated in the B.P. Scouting Parade at our church. Girls participated in the readings and acted out roles in a story during the service.

Community 37 -The 12th Newmarket Sparks and the 12th Newmarket Guides had a joint meeting in February. Our special guests were some of the critters from Zoo to You. The girls had a blast learning about all the different animals getting some one on one time with Thomas the African Spurred Tortoise.
Some even dared to hold Edwina, the Rose Hair Tarantula!
It was a great meeting and I would recommend Zoo to You to everyone! You will be surprised what you will let crawl on you!

Congratulations Kelsey!
Recently, one of our Junior Leaders, Kelsey received the Violet Richardson Award from the Soroptimists of Stoney Creek and Niagara. This award recognizes young women aged 14-17 engaged in volunteer action within their communities or schools.
The award is given to a young woman whose volunteer activities make the community and world a better place.
The Guiders and girls of the 1st Mount Albion Pathfinders are very proud of Kelsey and would like to congratulate her on her award.

TREFOIL TIDBITS
1st Gloucester Trefoil Guild - Our Guild has been active this year, and many of our Members attended the “Light up the Night” at Upper Canada Village. We have also been twinned with the Beeston Trefoil Guild from Nottinghamshire for almost two years now. We received a CD of photos from them, which was turned into a slide show with music and played at one of our meetings. We have received a number of photos and letters from them as well showing the Stone memorial to Lord Baden-Powell on Brownsea Island. We are interacting with the Beeston Trefoil Guild as to how they plan on celebrating the year 2010. We have made pillows for the cancer patients at the Ottawa hospitals, we have had hikes, and in the month of March, we will be hosting speakers from Grandmothers to Grandmothers. We have also supported a Girl Guide Unit from Burkino Faso for many years. Many of these girls are from very poor homes, and with our contributions to them, they have learned many new skills. One year we raised enough funds for them to purchase sewing machines. The Guides then proceeded to make their own uniforms, and are now helping others to earn a living. We had our Annual Potluck Christmas dinner and are now making plans to host a Trefoil Guild during the month of May.