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Service is still an important part of Guiding, and something that differentiates us from many other groups. There is a great Christmas Holiday Service Challenge elsewhere on the site and below are some ideas for service that ANZAGL members have undertaken...
If your girls live in the country but on a major highway then here is an Idea for a service project which works well for an active unit or for Lones. While wearing your uniform, get a pair of rubber gloves, a couple of old supermarket bags, and an adult to supervise you, head down to the local rest area (or playground) and pick up all the rubbish you can find. Dispose of it correctly or take it home and dispose of it responsibly. A Saturday or Sunday afternoon would be good for this after everyone has passed through on their way to and from their destination. Sheryl B., 2007 We did the Hands On unit patch [NZ] during the whole of last term.
We meet in a community centre hall where the local Playcentre is run on week days. On the Thursday night before our meeting the playcentre lady came along and put all their equipment out ready for the morning and told us what needed doing then she left us to it. The girls had a BALL. We cleaned/scrubbed the tables, washed the blocks and tea sets, tidied the dressup clothes, washed the dolls, tidied the dolls clothes. There was a fair amount of playing going on too!
We also brought along used clothing and toys and donated them to a local women's refuge.
Another activity which was very successful was that we made little chocolates in molds and small flower posies for recipients of meals on wheels, together with a card saying have a nice day. Some of the girls wrote a wee letter on their card. A relative of my co-leader then took them around to the old folk and stayed to have a chat with them (on a day when the food wasn't being delivered and getting cold). We had some lovely messages and notes back and one man sent along chocolates for the girls to share. It felt good to make someone's day like that.
Service is a really important part of guiding I think. We try to incorporate it into every term. Meg R., 2007 We had some members of the local CWA come in over a couple of meetings and teach our 7-10 year olds how to knit. The girls were then given a ball of wool (100g of 8ply) and a set of needles and set the task of casting on 30 stitches and knitting any length that they wanted up to 50 cm over the school holidays. If they were keen they knitted quite a few strips, if they were not keen they did only a few cm's. At the end of term we sewed the strips into small rugs and then organised a visit to the RSPCA where they were donated as animal bedding. The girls also visited a supermarket on the way and bought canned food with that weeks subs.
This worked really, really well because the dogs and cats didnt care about dropped stitches, holes and interesting sewing skills! And wemanaged to interact with the CWA, teach the girls a new skill and donate to the animal shelter all in one activity! (Admittedly it was over quite a few weeks though).
Surprisingly it also sparked an interest from a few mums and nans and enabled quite a few of the girls to spend quality time with mum/nan. We had a number of strips donated by nans too which were proudly brought along to the meetings by the girls. Sharron G., 2007 My Guides spend 10-15 minutes at the beginning of every meeting knitting koala toys to donate to the ambulance for sick kids who get a ride in it.
This has been organised by one of the Guides who is doing the BP Award, and as a result of my teaching them how to knit at a recent camp.
It's also a great way to learn a skill that can be used to help others (in the Junior BP Award), and as a unit service. It also gets the girls making something tangible other than a never-ending scarf! Gaye W., 2007 For service during a weekly meeting how about: - a visit to a nursing home or retirement village etc.
- or a local church might appreciate cleaning of the brass inside it eg. candlesticks, memorial brass under windows.
Kaylene B., 2007 - Spending time making something for others e.g. Craft packs or trauma dolls to be used in the children's ward of the local hospital or kits for use in refugee camps overseas or "Welcome to Australia" kits for newly arrived refugees
- Collecting things to distribute. e.g. Food and other goods for farmers hit by the drought or toys and/or clothes for charity groups
Cathy M., 2007 How about making scrapbooks for the local plunket or rural children's service ( our rural plunket belongs to REAP) to give out. You need to buy the cheap magnetic page photo albums (about $2.00 from K Mart) . Then each page has an A, B, C, D etc, or sometimes 2 to a page. They then cut out pictures representing that letter. By using the photo albums they stick easily and are also covered so they don't get dirty. They could be lent out or given out. We made 7 that I gave to the REAP lady. She gave 1 to the plunket room and 1 to the hospital, then 3 went to underprivileged families with no books and lots of young children. The rest she loans out for 2 to 3 weeks. She also loans out puzzles and games to children in the community. Again along the same line- make easy jigsaw puzzles. Community Service: E-mailing a disabled child who is stuck at home or writing to someone regularly. Would the correspondence school have any ideas? Making talking books. A project at their local school, maybe planting flowers or seeds at home then giving them to the school once established. Jo-Anne For this I would accept collecting stamps for the stamp bank or tea coupons and hand them on to who ever. (Tea coupons - Does anyone know who you are supposed to send these on to? Or does that no longer function?) Does anyone have any suggestions that would grab the girls attention and enthusiasm that would appeal to them enough to get motivated. The more 'novel' the better. Dianne F One service activity that we do each year and girls really enjoy and request in the program is what we call Patrol Stalls. It is essentially like a mini fete organised by the girls, and held in the hall, and occasionally just outside as well. Each patrol arranges activities that they "market" to the girls of other patrols. Sometimes parents are also invited. The sorts of activities include lucky dips, food, "horror house", various games, donut on a string,....etc.
The charges are only minimal.....10c, 20c, 50c
They usually raise somewhere over $50 and the girls determine what is to happen to the money raised. We have "bought an animal" and provided a water tap / well to a community, e.g. through World Vision. It is not really about how much is raised. It is an activity that requires planning, organisational skills, marketing, and initiative. The girls have a lot of fun, and importantly it is a service that they do from start to finish! Liz E., 2007 We have recently painted the doors of the Guide hall - all internal. To prevent them looking shocking we sponged them rather than brushing or rolling. They look great!
We will be making biscuits for Christmas to give away in Christmas hampers.
On this same theme we have asked each Guide to bring along $2-00 and spent the meeting time shopping at Woolies for items for Christmas hampers - makes them think about what they would like for Christmas lunch - eg gravy mix, mince pies, serviettes, tinned vegetables, long life custard, custard mix, long life milk, wrapping paper etc. The Guides have particularly enjoyed this activity. We then had someone come from our local church to collect all the goods, which the girls had arranged into hampers. So the Guides could see them going somewhere also. Parents were quite happy to support this and we also used some of the unit funds and told the girls that instead of giving them Christmas gifts we used that money to help others. Angela R., 2007 Stenciling fishes on storm water drains (from a discussion on service for Lones) Stenciling fishes on storm water drains as a reminder not to tip paint etc down them might be an option for some. A stencil can easily be made and posted out in a lones letter and it's quite a lot of fun. Some safety / planning points: - You need to check with local bodies to make sure that it's ok for the girls to do this in your area (with lones that could be very spread out - maybe you could do a draft letter and get them to approach the local body with their parents help) - You need to sort out colour paint. Overseas it is often yellow - when I last did it in NZ (in the Auckland area) the colour in use was a light bright blue. Organising paint for the girls could be tricky with Lones but there are lots of creative solutions I'm sure :) - Stencils made out of old x-ray sheets last really well. - Remember to reinforce road safety - make sure the girls have someone else with them to keep an eye open for traffic, wear bright clothes so they are easily seen, and do it at a sensible time of day. Anne E
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