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– Girls will wear their Guide uniforms to school to help expand the movement –
Dublin, 21/02/2018 – The 12,000 members of Irish Girl Guides will tomorrow [22 February 2018] join 10 million Girl Guides in 150 countries across the globe in celebrating the impact of Guiding on their communities.
Of the 800 million girls around the world today, 10 million are Girl Guides or Girl Scouts making the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts the biggest organisation for girls in the world. Involvement in Guiding has a positive impact on girls, helping them grow in confidence, independence and maturity as they develop essential life-skills.
World Thinking Day [22 February] is a day when Girl Guides across the globe give thanks for the international friendships they enjoy through the Guiding movement and raise money to deliver life-changing opportunities for girls in developing countries. This year’s World Thinking Day theme is ‘impact’.
Thousands of girls will be wearing their Irish Girl Guides (IGG) uniform to schools across Ireland tomorrow in an effort to raise the profile of the organisation and encourage more girls to give Guiding a go. They want to see even more girls have a space in which to grow and develop to their full potential and have an impact on their local communities and, as they grow older, the wider world.
Speaking ahead of World Thinking Day, IGG Chief Commissioner Helen Concannon said: “Everything we do in Girl Guiding has an impact on our lives and the lives of the people around us. My own life has been hugely impacted upon since joining as a Brownie over 30 years ago. By taking part in relevant, exciting and fun activities, our members experience positive change within themselves. As they develop different skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, commitment and citizenship, they get motivated to make a positive change in the community and wider world. Hence, Girl Guiding impacts individually and collectively.”
Funds raised this World Thinking Day will help raise money for new Guiding projects, for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts’ Stop the Violence campaign and for grants for girls and young women to attend leadership development projects.
Irish Girl Guides welcomes new members from age 5+ and volunteer Leaders from age 18+. To find out more, see www.irishgirlguides.ie or telephone 01-6683898.
ENDS
Contact:
Fiona Murdoch, Communications Officer, Irish Girl Guides
Tel: 085 8570565
Email: communications@irishgirlguides.ie
Notes for editors:
Irish Girl Guides has approximately 12,000 members. Guiding started in Ireland in 1911 and operates throughout the 26 counties with 1,800 volunteer leaders providing an informal educational programme of fun and challenging activities that foster confidence and leadership skills in girls and young women, enabling them to develop to their full potential and to become responsible citizens. Girls from age 5+ can choose to earn a wide range of badges, including Community Action, Cultural Diversity, Disability Awareness, Drug Awareness, Online Surfer, Science Investigator and Global Traveller.
World Thinking Day has been celebrated by Girl Guides and Girl Scouts worldwide since 1926. It is an opportunity for girls to appreciate the international friendship they find in Guiding, to raise money to help grow and share Guiding with more girls and young women around the world, and join together to take action on global issues.