The Sooke Legion was transformed into a winter wonderland for the Harbours District Girl Guides Snowflake Ball.
Girls aged 5 to 15 put on their prettiest dresses and enjoyed an afternoon of crafts, games, stories, dancing, cupcakes, cookies and punch. Snowballs flew and cookies were decorated; masks were adorned and jigsaw puzzles transformed into silver snowflakes as the girls enjoyed the company of all the other Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders and Rangers in Sooke.
Admission to the ball was a donation to the Sooke Food Bank — 120 pounds of food was dropped off after the party. This kicked off the Girl Guides’ annual food drive, where each girl is challenged to bring one food item to her Girl Guide meeting each week between now and Thinking Day on Feb. 22. Thinking Day is the day when Girl Guides celebrate the birthdays of founders of Guiding and Scouting, Lord and Lady Robert and Olave Baden-Powell.
The girls also took this opportunity to work together to assemble 110 hygiene kits, which are being distributed in Sooke via the Sooke Transition House, Sooke Crisis Centre and Worklink. Girl Guides would like to thank the following generous donors from our community: Dr. Chris Bryant (toothbrushes and toothpaste for every kits), Shoppers Drug Mart, Peoples Drug Mart and the Prestige Hotels (soap, shampoo, razors and other items) for the kits. Families of the girls donated socks, mittens, hats, scarves and every kit for a child contained a brand new small stuffed toy.
Girl Guides in Sooke is a busy group with units for all ages from Spark to Ranger. Girl Guides offers the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities with girls their own age — crafts and games, camping, field trips to name a few.