Welcome to Pathfinders

Welcome to Pathfinders for the 2014-2015 Guiding Year

 

 

 

We are so excited to have a great group of new girls join our unit this year.

We had a planning meeting two weeks ago and yesterday we had a Parent meeting where we discussed a lot of information. It looks like we are going to have a fantastic year with lots of great activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese New Year

 

 We are going out for dinner together to a local Restaurant to celebrate the Chinese New Year during our normal meeting time.

Chinese New Year is February 10th, and ushers in 

The Year of the Water Snake.

Good food, good friends and  we will experience international traditions.

Skating the River Trail from the Forks

Last night we went skating on the river! The Forks in Winnipeg is a tourist and shopping area that is located at  the forks of the Red and Assinaboine River and it has been a meeting place for thousands of years. The city has worked on grooming the ice on the river into the longest natural ice skating location in the world. The girls were excited to have skated a round trip total of about 14 km.

 We warmed up in the coffee shop afterward with hot chocolate and pastry treats.

The following video was produced a year ago by Rick Mercer who is a Canadian Comedian/ interviewer. It is a bit tongue in cheek but it really seems to show the flavor of the River Trail mixed with an assortment of factual information. The winning entries  of the international warming shelters architectural competition are of course different this year.

Volunteer at a Tea

 
  For the past several years our wonderful Pathfinders and Rangers have volunteered at the Stroke Recovery Association's annual Valentine Tea. This year it will be on Saturday, February 9th, 2013 from 1 to 3 pm at Immanuel United Church at 755 Golspie at Kimberly. 

There is no charge to attend. There is a silent auction, craft and bake sale. The girls help with the set up and help serve the tables sandwiches and dainty plates as well as bringing tea and coffee.  This event will counts toward service hours for the girls program.

We hope to see as many girls as possible at the tea. 
The help is truly appreciated. 

Day of Remembrance and Action

The girls have been working on several areas of the program related to well being and citizenship over the past few weeks and some parts dealt with Canadian citizenship rights, relationships values and choices, dating violence and the special violence against women's challenges. Please see the newer edition of the program book pages 61, 58-59, 191-193 and page 123 to see some of the topics we have been discussing. 

The last section of this page has links to PDFs with information and  the requirements for the challenge program we are using.


This year Girl Guides of Canada is supporting the campaign 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence.   Please visit this link for more information. We will not be focusing on the extension materials.


As part of the Citizenship Certificate the girls are required to attend two different types of ceremonies over their three years in Pathfinders.  Prior to the ceremony they need to learn about the significance of the ceremony and why it is celebrated. We did this preparation prior to the Remembrance Day ceremony and we have also done preparation for the Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

We would like as many people from our unit as possible to attend the Sunrise Service at the legislature.  The ceremony is fairly short and very meaningful. The girls should be able to get to school close to 9 am.

Here is information from the Government's Status of Women website.

National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

December 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, this day marks the anniversary of the murders in 1989 of 14 young women at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal. They died because they were women.
As well as commemorating the 14 young women whose lives ended in an act of gender-based violence that shocked the nation, December 6 represents an opportunity for Canadians to reflect on the phenomenon of violence against women in our society. It is also an opportunity to consider the women and girls for whom violence is a daily reality, and to remember those who have died as a result of gender-based violence. And finally, it is a day on which communities can consider concrete actions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

The following is copied from a poster for this year's Manitoba Ceremony

SUNRISE MEMORIAL

to commemorate Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

• Thursday, December 6, 2012

• Manitoba Legislative Building

• 8:00 a.m.

• Guest Speaker: Ms. Wanda Siatecki

This year’s Guest Speaker will talk about the impact of violence against women on friends and family.

• Refreshments to follow

• This year, we are collecting new unwrapped toys for children at A Woman’s Place Contributions are welcome!

Hosted by the Manitoba Women’s Advisory Council
(Manitoba Status of Women)
Please RSVP by Monday, December 3

Singing

We are going to be singing at a seniors residence with some music students. We have a very talented group of singers and musicians this year and I am excited to take part in a service project where the girls can share their talents.


The plan is that the violin and cello students will do their performances and that we will lead everyone in a sing-along.





We are also going to sign some holiday cards at our next meeting so we can give them to the residents when we visit.

The girls should be in uniform and it would be wise to have indoor shoes available.

Cheer Board

Once again our District is supporting the Christmas Cheer Board.

We will be sponsoring a larger family and each unit in the district will help with gifts and getting food to donate.

I will try and give a few updates on this post as we get more information about what our unit is supposed to give.

Take a look at their website and you can see some pictures and read about the history of the Christmas Cheer Board in Winnipeg.