Open Letter to Girl Guides.

To whom it may concern.

My wife and I are both former members of the BoyScouts/Girl Guides organizations and when our daughter reached the appropriate age we enrolled her within our local troop, expecting her experiences to reflect our own fond memories. Unfortunately there have been several incidents which have given me cause for concern. April 1st 2008 my daughter sustained a minor injury while under the supervision of the Girl Guides. We received a phone call informing us that Phoenix had been hurt and that she wanted to come home. Upon arrival at the units hall we determined that the injury was severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospitals emergency ward. The doctors performed a proceedure to drain the excess blood and swelling and Phoenix later lost her thumbnail. I am a reasonable individual and understand that accidents happen and children can hurt themselves if not properly supervised. I am not upset by the incident but rather the reactions of the leadership. Phoenix was never given first aid treatment and not so much as an icepack. The incident has never been fully explained and to this day I am not sure how she was hurt as the leaders clearly did not observe the accident.
This episode was enough to cast doubts upon the quality of the training and responsiblities of the Guiders. Sadly this incident has been compounded by a violation of the spirit of the tenents set out by the national organization. We were informed that Phoenix would be participating in a graduation ceremony called 'Walking over the Rainbow'. Phoenix was very excited and looked forward to the event by counting sleeps and inviting her grandparents. Not a day went by that she did not mention this momentus occassion. At last the big day had arrived and accompanied by her mother and grandmother Phoenix attended the meeting. Whereupon the Units Guider, Christy Carrelli utterly crushed my childs spirit by forbiding her from participating due to her Birthday falling on New Years and thereby making her 6months too young to 'walk across the rainbow'. This was a contradiction of Christy's previous assertions from the week prior. Any parent knows that breaking promises has a very upsetting effect on the self esteem of children and predictably Phoenix was very disapointed by Christy Carrellis apparent lack of values. My wife Aimee was informed by Christy that they were aware of this misunderstanding shortly after informing Phoenix of her ceremoney. An entire week had lapsed but not without communications between Christy and Aimee via emails of a media event but no attempt was made to inform our familly of this impending emotional disaster. It is for these reasons that we will no longer continue supporting the Girl Guides nor participating in any fundraising events or activities. Our entire familly including the attending grandparent are all very upset with the mismanagement of the organization and the cold and unfair treatment of our daughter. Christy Carrelli certainly deserves a review of her leadership skills and should feel deeply ashamed of her behavior. Although life is full of bitter disapointment and tragedy one should not be learning these lessons within the Girl Guides.

Sincerest Regrets
Bryce J. Bushell.