What better way to give thanks to the healthcare workers in our community than handmade keychains and Girl Guide Cookies. 

Moose Jaw’s Sparks, Brownies, Guides, Pathfinders, and Rangers, so girls ranging in ages from five to 17, made 381 keychains that will be given out to staff at the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital as a way of saying thanks for their service. 

Leaders from Moose Jaw came up with the idea after Guides in Melfort did a keychain project during the pandemic for their healthcare workers. 

“They posted it on one of our Saskatchewan Girl Guide pages and a bunch of us leaders from Saskatchewan saw it and thought it would be nice to do the same project locally in our own cities,” said Melanie Pilloud, one of Moose Jaw’s leaders. 

The keychains have seven beads on them, representing the seven principles of the guiding law, and a “hope” charm to give recipients a boost of hope as well. A tag is attached to the keychains that read “We share with you our guiding light we hope will make your days quite bright.” 

The Guides recently dropped off a few of the keychains to some of the staff at the hospital, while others will be given out to staff later this month. 

Meanwhile, the Guides dropped off a secondary gift for the staff, a case of Girl Guide Cookies. 

“We did two group sales, one at Safeway and one at the Town and Country Mall, and we had lots of community members give us donations and so we took some of that money and put it towards a case of cookies and then donated it to the hospital,” Pilloud said. 

Pilloud said the Girl Guides are just wrapping up their cookie campaign and they only have a few cases of cookies left that can be purchased from members.