The week starting the 9th of October all the way to the 17th saw CGI begin their recruitment drive for 2021. The plan for the week was to launch a wide array of new programmes, covering such topics as IT, Community Awareness, and Period Poverty.

The week began with welcomes from our Chief Commissioner Emily McCann and Assistant Chief Commissioner Michelle Finnerty, where they talked about all the events that were coming up in the week ahead and the various online places where people could follow and join in with the fun.

This was followed by an interview with our Development Commissioner Maria Travers, who filled us in on on the over arching strategy the Development team have for the organisation.

Later on that Saturday afternoon members of our Storrows met at our National Office where they were joined by Senator Rebecca Moynihan. Sen. Moynihan has been a strong voice in the last few years to help put a stop to Period Poverty. Sen. Moynihan was delighted to help the Storrows launch their PEPP (Period Education Period Poverty) Programme.

The following day the video that was posted was an interview with some members of the committee that helped develop the new Volunteer Information Pack that has been sent out to every Unit. In the video Mary Erwin and Fiona O'Dwyer run through what is actually in the pack as well as to how best to use all the elements.

Monday saw us speak with our International Commissioner Suzanne Lenihan. As it was the 11th of October which marks International Day of the Girl, Suzanne spoke with us about the new programme from WAGGGS called #WriteHerStory to help promote the day.

Also on Monday saw the beginning of a series of blog posts from Rangers around the country. In these blog posts the girls themselves try to reveal a little of what Guiding means to them. Today's post was from e Emma Carter from the Eastern Region talking about her journey from Brigín to Guider, this post can be found Here

Tuesday saw the first of two programmes Rachel Murphy would help us launch this week. Today saw us launch the CoDE Programme. CGI in conjunction with Fujitsu and EVAD IT Solutions have launched a programme for girls and Guiders that cover a wide array of IT subjects such as coding and robotics, skills that will help everyone in this modern world.

Tuesday also saw the second of our Blog posts from Rangers, today's post was from Rebecca Erskine, Northern Region. In her post Rebecca explains to us how Guiding has inspired her. Rebecca's post can be found Here

On Wednesday even though we were midway through the week there was no signs of slowing down as we launched the Take Action programme. Tara interviews some members of the team Anna, Olivia, and Gillian who tell us as volunteer youth workers in Ireland, they feel that their girl guides deserve the opportunity to demonstrate their budding leadership skills as well as their passion for improving their local communities.

The blog post for Wednesday was from Alice Greene, Northern Region. In her post Alice tells us the many, many opportunities that Guiding has offered her. If you want to have a read of some of the opportunities that are available it can be found Here

Thursday saw Tara interview members of the Storrows team as they officaly launched the PEPP Programme that Senator Moynihan had helped promote with them on Saturday.

The second last of our blog posts was posted on Thursday. The post was from Oonagh Martin, Northern region. In her post Oonagh tells us how being part of CGI has given her the opportunity to develop a vast range of skills she wouldn't have had otherwise. She also tells us how being a Guide has greatly helped increase her self confidence. To read all about it the post can be found Here

On Friday of this week we launched CGI's new Mental Health Awareness programme. In the video for the launch Tara interviewed Rachel Murphy who compiled the programme and Nicola Toughey from the National Office who helped Rachel get the programme ready for the launch.

Friday saw the last of our blogs from our Ranger members. The final post came from Ameila Finnerty, Eastern Region. In her post Ameila reveals to us how, being part of CGI, who in turn are members of the global organisation WAGGGS, there are countless international opportunities available to our members, If you want to have a read of this post, it can be found Here

As CGI is an outdoor organisation, on Saturday, our Outdoor Commissioner Arlene Griffin created a video to show the importance and the benefits of the Outdoors. In the video Arlene explains how our Organisation tries to encourage both girls and Guiders to go out into the great outdoors, through the various programmes and some upcoming events, including a National Guide & Ranger Campcraft Competition coming next summer!

The final programme to be launched after an extensive and busy week for us all here at CGI was the Paw Pledge programme. Members from Our Lady of Lourdes Guide company in Ballinlouqh explain to us all bout what is involved and also how you too can get involved in the programme and help keep all our communal outdoor spaces clean and safe for everyone.

As you can see, Recruitment Week 2021 was a hectic but enjoyable one for us all. This has just outlined some of the online work that was done during the week but there was plenty of work done at local level. We hope that with a push like this and all the resources we have created that it will help our organisation grow.

All of the programmes listed here can be found on OGM or can be obtained from the National Office.