The local Girl Guides chapter is struggling to build enrollment in a restrictive coronavirus world

Whitecourt Girl Guides are hoping to drum up interest in their program as coronavirus restrictions keep enrolment numbers down. The typically well-attended groups are cut down to mere slivers of themselves, and the ladies at the helm are hoping to encourage volunteers and members to sign up! Josee Leduc is the District Commissioner of Whitecourt and surrounding area, and Catherine MacDonald is the Deputy Commissioner. Usually, neither Leduc nor MacDonald would lead a group as they already have responsibilities on their plates, but this year they have both needed to do so. “We had so many leaders quit because of COVID. We lost six leaders,” said MacDonald. Now, Leduc leads the local Girl Guides, and MacDonald leads Brownies. 

As for the numbers, Leduc guesstimated that they only have a tenth of the numbers they usually would. “Our numbers are really low. I have three Guides, and normally I would have 10-12. One year we even had 25. Sparks is usually our biggest group, and this year there are only nine of them,” explained Leduc. In total, Girl Guides includes five levels: Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers. “For Brownies, I normally would have about 12, and right now, we have two,” said MacDonald.

One of the group’s most significant issues is that they cannot have any indoor activities right now. “We can’t be inside, so everything we do has to be outside. That makes things hard, especially now that it is getting colder,” said MacDonald. Over the last couple of weeks, they have done a few different events since the weather was warmer, including walks through the community and making sit-upon buckets. Last week, they learned about trapping. “We had local hunters bring skeletons, hides and antlers. We made snares, learned about animal tracks and trapping animals,” said MacDonald.

This week, they planned to do outdoor yoga, but they switched it to Zoom yoga instead. “It’s too cold to be outside for that,” said Leduc. Utilizing Zoom for meetings has proved to be a sore spot for some parents. “We have a lot of parents that don’t want that. They like the in-person stuff, so we lost a couple of girls because of that,” explained MacDonald. For the moment, it is a waiting game. They know that eventually, they will receive the go-ahead to have events indoors but, until that approval comes down the pipe, the units will have to make do with the situation. “There isn’t a set date yet, and we have been told we have to wait,” said Leduc. “At first, they said mid-October, but we still don’t have any idea. We are just guessing at this point.”

Once they receive approval, there will be new hurdles to get over as they maneuver a stricter cleaning schedule, COVID restrictions and costs. “There will be lots of cleaning and hand sanitizing. There is also a special product that we must buy. It is extremely specific,” said Leduc. Unfortunately, the costs must come from each group’s cookie fund. “We’ve never received any government funding for all this extra stuff,” said MacDonald. “It comes out of the money we raise.”

With that in mind, residents are encouraged to support the cookie fundraiser once it starts. Groups will receive roughly a third of the cookies they usually would, which means there will be less funding raised overall, making it even more critical. “The mint cookie campaign wasn’t even supposed to happen. The factory that makes the Girl Guide cookies was going to charge Girl Guides Canada because they weren’t putting in the regular order,” explained Leduc.

“Girl Guides has a contract with the factory to make a certain number of cookies each year, and when COVID hit, they were going to be out that money, so they were going to fine the club. Girls Guides Canada ended up buying enough cookies to make up the fine,” further explained MacDonald. Cookies should arrive within the next two weeks, and once they do, they will be at the Whitecourt & District Public Library, where both ladies work. They will also do a virtual cookie sale. Both wanted to shout out to Canadian Tire and IGA for what they did last March when COVID first struck. “They bought all our cookies and sold them for us so that we could have that money for the girls. We want to thank them for doing that for us,” said MacDonald.

If anyone wants to join Girl Guides as a volunteer, Leduc and MacDonald would be pleased to have you. “We need volunteers! You can join as a leader or as a non-member volunteer,” said Leduc. Volunteers would give no more than two hours each week, and as a leader, MacDonald said it is easy to do but very impactful. “Planning the activities is easy because they provide guidebooks for each group. It tells you which badges they can be working on, and meetings are broken down too. They tell you what to talk about with the girls. It’s a fun thing too!”

Once indoor activities are allowed, the ladies hope that parents will bring their children back to the program. There are changes due to COVID, but the restrictions are like other programs. “No singing is allowed, and leaders have to wear masks. If we are closer than six feet to the girls, the girls must wear a mask. We also sanitize and do a COVID check before each meeting,” explained MacDonald. “We have lots of fun, and we hope to see more familiar and new faces soon!”