THE FALL 2003 PC EXPRESS

“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can_ _ _ _ “ Do you recognize that phrase from a well loved children’s story? The Little Engine That Could was one of my children‘s favourites.

As my Deputies and I chugged along through this past summer, I often thought of that little engine working valiantly to do its best. Many Guiders in the center of the province were struggling against the awesome power of nature. Other Guiding friends and family came to the rescue and helped them through that challenging time.

In Vancouver, your new PC Team continued to plod through the paper as we tried to learn all of the aspects of our new job, just as many of you were doing. Like the train with the stalled engine, we knew that we had carloads of ideas and good things to bring to the girls. We just had to find a way to get them over the obstacles in our path.

Is your District or Unit struggling, looking for someone to lead them forward? Don’t worry that some will pass you by, full of their own self-importance, or that others are too tired to bother any more.

Our Guiding train is carrying a precious cargo that will provide hours of fun, creativity, adventure and the opportunity to grow. We must help it reach all of the girls in the province. If we are patient, the right “engine” will come along who really wants to help, because it sees value in what we are doing. It may not seem big and important, but if it is willing to work hard and try to do its best, it may just be able to make the difference.

I feel a lot like that little engine. I am just a small town girl who has tried to do my best, one step at a time and can’t really quite believe where it has led me. With the support and encouragement of others, I have somehow always found the strength to do what I thought was impossible.

Now, as I am writing this, we are all gearing up and gathering steam in preparation for the busy fall season and our very special Event Extraordinaire. Some of you may also be attending the National Forum where we will look at Leadership, Guiding in the future and obstacles that Girl Guides of Canada may need to overcome. The impact of these opportunities should fill up our fuel tanks and empower us all to go valiantly onward, up and over the mountain top.

By the time you read this, most of the fall meeting time is past and many of you will be thinking of Christmas. I hope that you will all have found the energy and the resources to enable you to puff steadily onward toward another successful Guiding year, saying: " I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could_ _ _ _"