Thanks a million: Girl Guides district leader Jean Croft nominated

Nothing - not floods, COVID-19 or the tyranny of distance - will stop Girl Guides district leader Jean Croft from getting on with what matters.

District Manager of South Townsville Girl Guides Jean Croft has been nominated for News Corp’s Thanks a Million campaign. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Girl Guides district leader Jean Croft is used to running her weekly meetings under challenging circumstances.

The meeting hut she used was destroyed during floods last year and her team continued to meet in a room with walls missing and only a sink and a bathroom.

So when COVID-19 hit and her Girl Guides meetings were cancelled altogether, Croft took this new challenge in her stride.

She took her weekly meetings online, gathering with her girls each week over Zoom in order to keep the connection.

She was nominated in the Thanks a Million campaign by Doree Ann Hartley for her ongoing dedication to the Girl Guides movement.

“During COVID-19 she took on the challenge of running her Guide unit by Zoom, coming up with programs girls could do at home,” Hartley said in her nomination.

Thanks A Million campaign; District Manager of South Townsville Girl Guides Jean Croft kept her weekly meetings going by using Zoom over the COVID lockdown. Picture: Alix Sweeney

“The outcome is that she kept all the members of her unit, a great outcome in these times.”

Croft was conducting a camp with her Girl Guides unit at the Blue Water Park campsite north of Townsville in mid-March when the urgent message came from Girl Guides QLD for people to go into lockdown.

She had 20 minutes to contact parents to collect their daughters.

“We didn’t meet face-to-face again until the start of Term three in July, which was a real shame because coming together as friends from different schools or groups is what the Guides is all about,” Croft said.

“I organised to meet via Zoom for all of Term two.

“I sent the girls seeds to plant a veggie patch, they sewed badges onto blankets and we did some cooking, all over Zoom.”

Croft is the district leader for three Girl Guide units; two in Townsville and one on nearby Magnetic Island.

And she is the teacher librarian at Kirwan State High School, where she is also the Duke of Edinburgh co-ordinator. And if that wasn’t enough, she made plasma donations throughout lockdown.”

Thankfully, her Guides were able to return to face-to-face meetings in Term three and four and participate in camps once again.

“It was so nice to see the girls reunited again, to talk, share their experiences and interact,” Croft said.

To nominate someone and say thanks, go to thanksamillion.net.au and they could receive a $200 Woolworths Gift Card. Terms and conditions apply.

Originally published as Thanks a million: Girl Guides district leader Jean Croft nominated