Girl Guiding New Zealand Reception

Good afternoon to everyone here, all supporters of GirlGuiding New Zealand.

Thank you for coming this afternoon to celebrate the work of the GirlGuiding Army and volunteers.  It is a joy, as Patron, to have you at this lovely Auckland Government House and to commend you on your successes.

To begin, I would like to offer congratulations to GirlGuiding New Zealand for 53 years of selling the iconic GirlGuide biscuit as a means of both fundraising and promoting GirlGuiding.

The GirlGuide biscuit is one that thousands of New Zealanders enjoy, including myself.  According to a news report, they even went to Afghanistan where a Kiwi eagerly awaited a care package containing GirlGuide biscuits!

The biscuit season is one that, as many New Zealanders would testify, is keenly anticipated.  I am sure that some loyal buyers wish they were permanently stocked at the local supermarket.

Beyond the taste enjoyed by so many, is the reason they exist.  Buying a packet, or a carton of packets depending the number of biscuit lovers in the household, supports a fabulous organisation that works incredibly hard to ensure that young women in New Zealand reach their full potential.

I know that this year has been challenging for GirlGuiding New Zealand in the promotion and sale of the biscuits.  With between 1 and 1.7 million biscuits produced each year, this is a huge task, at the best of times.

I believe that 2009 was the first year of the GirlGuideArmy where former Guides were recruited to sell the biscuits to their colleagues, friends and family.  I was delighted to learn that this GirlGuideArmy consisted of more than 200 women, doing their part to give back to an organisation that obviously left a lasting impression on their lives.  I know that there are some GirlGuideArmy members here today so I congratulate you personally for stepping up to the challenge.

In addition to that support, GirlGuiding New Zealand had the help of Allyson Gofton, a New Zealand famous cook, Sera Lille, a talented young fashion designer, and Bernice Mene, a former netballer.  These talented women were the public face of the campaign and I understand donated their time and skills to help the biscuits’ promotion.

Of course it is most important to acknowledge the wonderful efforts of the girls, leaders, mums and dads and the Trefoil Guild.  Their significant commitment to sell as many biscuits as they could, even with stalls set up, as I observed, in wet Wellington weather, is worthy of praise.

I would finally like to thank all of the supporters of GirlGuiding New Zealand in its fundraising efforts.  Your help is greatly appreciated.

I hope you enjoy your time this afternoon here at Government House Auckland.  It is a pleasure to have you all gathered together to recognise your valuable contributions to GirlGuiding New Zealand.  No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.