THANK YOU!! (and a reminder)

Thank you Brownie families, last night we collected 13 presents and $25 dollars in support of The Children's Aid Angel Tree Christmas Gift Program.  Your donations will go a long way towards putting smiles on 14 girls faces this Holiday Season.  Thank you! 

 

It’s never too late; there is still time if anyone still wants to make a donation and was unable to this week, we will still be taking donation next week.

Many thanks,

The Owls

PS - Please remember to bring a sock next week for our sock puppet craft!!

A few reminders - Nov. 29 and Dec. 6 meetings

A big thanks to all the parents/family members and friends who came out to Fruggle night last week! The girls seemed to have a lot of fun and, as always, the Leaders were very impressed with the creativity our Brownies have!

Nov. 29 is PJ night! Brownies are invited to wear their PJs to the meeting. We will be planning for our Christmas Party (Dec. 13 - the last meeting before Christmas holidays).

Other reminders:

* Please note that we are accepting Angel Tree donations on Nov. 29: a gift (we chose 7 to 9-year-old girls) or cash are welcome. The organization also takes Christmas gift bags to help with their wrapping.

* Permission forms to ride the float on Sat. Dec. 1 are due back Nov. 29 as well. This is an optional event, but a lot of fun!

* We are making sock puppets at our Dec. 6 meeting. Please have your Brownie bring a sock in either this week or on Dec. 6.

* Badge testing is ongoing. Please remind your girls to bring their Brownie books when they do their testing.

New entrance to gym, Angel Tree information

New Entrance to Gym -- since the back door of the gym has been so dark the past couple of weeks, we have decided to now have people enter through the front door of the school. PLEASE NOTE: we need to leave the fire access open when you are dropping off your Brownie. To do this, please continue to park at the side of the building for drop-offs and pick-ups.

Angel Tree Information

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”…Winston Churchill

The Angel tree program provides gifts to children and youths whose families are clients of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) of Ottawa and are in financial need.

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner again and with your help, sounds of happy children on Christmas morning will fill the air. We will ensure that many children in the Ottawa area, who are under the watchful eye of the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa-Carleton and who would otherwise not have a gift, will have one to open on Christmas morning.
 
Once again, this year, we are going to collect gifts for the Children's Aid "Christmas Gift Program." Unfortunately, the need in our community continues to increase. Last year the CAS distributed over 9,000 gifts to "our" children. We cannot cure all the wrongs of the world but we can make the eyes of a child sparkle and laugh on Christmas morning when they awake to a gift.
 
If you wish to involve yourself in this wonderful event, we ask that the girls bring an unwrapped gift in a gift bag to the meeting on Thursday November 29th.  Children's Aid will ensure that the gifts are appropriate and a gift bag is much easier to deal with than a gift-wrapped parcel.  We also welcome cash donations if you would prefer -- allowing the committee members to shop for gifts as needed.


See you Thursday for Fruggle night!!

A few little things...

Hi Families!

We have the St. Jerome gym back this week (yey!). We have lots of fun activities planned for the girls. Badge testing will also be available.  Please remember to bring indoor shoes!

Don't forget that November 22 is Fruggle night. The girls will be making little yarn dolls called fruggles -- they are "not quite a hug, not really a cuddle, but a friend to help you through your troubles". (More details can be found here -- http://wendybooks.ca/) Moms/older female friend/family members are asked to accompany your Brownie that evening to help with the craft, sing a few songs and have a tasty treat.

This year, our Brownie unit will be collecting contributions for the Angel tree, which provides Christmas gifts for children in need. More details will follow shortly, but if you would like to buy an gift for your own Angel, please let us know and we can arrange to get you one.

The Manotick Christmas parade is on December 1st at noon. The Manotick/Riverside South Girl Guide units will be putting a float in again. Save the date if you would like to join us!

See you on Thursday!

URGENT! Changes to Schedule and meeting location - Nov 8 - 22.

Due to the parent-teacher interviews this week (Nov. 8) at St. Jerome, we are unable to use the gym for our meeting.

Instead, we will be meeting at 6pm at the parking lot of Claudette Cain park (closest to the splash pad/Moncion's) for an outdoor meeting. Details:

*  We will have a shorter (6 to 7pm) outdoor meeting at the park.

* Girls are asked to bring a flashlight and wear reflective clothing if possible.

* Pick-up will be at the same parking lot as the drop off at 7pm sharp.

* Please dress your Brownies for the weather.

And due to parent-teacher interviews at Steve MacLean on Nov. 15, we will bump our Mother/Special Friend and Brownie Fruggles night to Nov. 22.  Nov. 15 will run as a regular meeting at the St. Jerome gym.

Other notes:
1. Remembrance Day: If you plan on attending a Remembrance Day ceremony, just a reminder that Brownies are encouraged to wear their Brownie Uniform as a sign of respect and remembrance.

2. Please remember that we ask for dues for every meeting, even those outside of the gym. Dues help us pay for craft supplies and badges. Kelly will send out a reminder shortly of dues owing. If you have questions or concerns about this, please see one of the leaders.

3. Great news! Girl Guides of Canada just announced that Diane Arbuckle, our Community Guider (you see her greeting parents at the gates of our camps) - aka Mrs. A - has been awarded a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her outstanding contributions to our community and to Canada. Congratulations Mrs. A! You deserve it!!

Our Brownies made over 100 SWAPS!

SCRAPBOOKS

Dear parents,

We are writing to ask for your help   Last year we gave each Brownie an eclectic scrapbook at the end of  the year with a collection of photos, artwork and stories.  This year we will have a scrapbook night so the girls can work on a few of their own pages.  In order to help make your daughter’s end of the year scrapbook as memorable as possible we have 2 requests:

1)   Over the year, if you have any crafts or photos that are completed in Brownies that are flat and can be placed in a scrapbook-certificates, enrollment card, bookmarks, artwork,  etc. we would love to have them for the memory book.

2)  We would also like to include positive comments from family members (mom, dad, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents), coaches, teachers, friends, etc.  If you could write out these comments and hand it to an Owl with your daughter’s name and who made the comment that would be appreciated.  Some examples, ‘you are a strong swimmer who works very hard to improve your strokes, from swim coach’, ‘you have a beautiful smile, from grandma’,   ‘I love how gentle and compassionate you are with your brother, from mom’.  The comments can be as long or short as you wish.  You may choose to write them, type them and/or decorate them.  You can send in as many or as few as you like. 

We will collect these items up until the end of  March 2013.  

Thank you for your help.  

The Great SWAP Event

Tonight we are making SWAPS, otherwise known as, “Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere.”   They are fun and creative little craft pins.   These are a tradition in Girl Guides.    They are meant to be traded with girls from other units for that unit’s SWAPS.  This year we will be mailing our SWAPS to other cities and provinces and we will wait to see what treasured pin we get in return!  If your daughter has a camp hat please have her wear it tonight as we will be pinning our newly made SWAPS to our hats.