Albany Wateri-Clover Girl Guides Unit halfway to $40,000 fundraising goal to attend 2023 Jamboree

Members of the Albany Girl Guides are halfway to their fundraising target to get their members to the 2023 National Jamboree in Victoria.

The Albany Wateri-Clover Girl Guides unit need $40,000 to get 14 girl guides and three adult leaders to the Kani-Karrung National Jamboree next January in Ballarat, Victoria.

Fundraising efforts have taken place over the past 18 months to get them halfway, but they still have about $20,000 to go before next year’s jamboree.

Leader-in-charge Julie Brooks will be one of the leaders travelling with the girls and said the jamboree would allow them to be challenged and develop their leadership skills.

“They participate in activities that challenge the girls out of their comfort zone, because we’re all about challenging the girls but in a fun way,” she said.

“The older girls get to choose what they call their adventurous activities, like rock climbing, abseiling, horse riding, all the way through to a spa retreat.

“And then the younger ones get adventurous activities on site, so it might include modified rock climbing or abseiling.”

Mia Collins, 18, who has been involved in Girl Guides since 2016, last attended a National Jamboree in 2018 and will return to the National Jamboree as an adult member next year.

“I learnt so much, all the different girls from across the world were able to tell us stories about their guiding traditions and everything,” Ms Collins said.

“The amount I learnt from that camp is something that I want to go back and teach and hand over to the younger girls as well.”

Up next in their fundraising efforts is a strawberries and cream stall at this weekend’s Katanning Agricultural Show, a sold-out Halloween quiz night on October 29, a sausage sizzle at the Albany Agricultural Show, a Thermomix raffle and a fundraiser selling sheep manure the girls have collected themselves from underneath sheep sheds.

Ms Brooks said she wanted to thank the community for their support so far.

“We’ve locked ourselves in everywhere we can and sort of diversified,” she said. “We’ve also been lucky enough to get some sponsorships along the way from some local businesses.”

Ms Collins said the fundraising itself been an educational experience.

“Even the fundraising is awesome for us and the girls to learn how that works and how to run those kinds of things, so just the fundraising leading up to it is its own learning curve,” she said.

To support the Albany Girl Guides, call Julie Brooks on 0429 016 253.