Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 30/04) - Seventeen years ago, Deleigh Rausch was looking for an extra-curricular activity for her daughters.

The NWT volunteer of the year found what she was looking for in the Girl Guides of Canada.

"I was in 4H and Girl Guides was the closest thing I could find that has the same values and beliefs," says Rausch.

After working for years at the local level, Rausch is now NWT/Nunavut territories' commissioner for the Girl Guides of Canada.

The majority of her time is spent working to train other leaders across the territories.

She also attends national meetings where she shares Northern success stories with other provinces looking for ways to help their more isolated northern divisions.

Seeing the girls develop as they move through the various Girl Guides of Canada programs is what keeps Rausch motivated to continue.

"We're trying to teach the girls they can be anything they want to be in whatever profession they want," she says.

Her daughters must have enjoyed the Girl Guides of Canada programs. Twenty-five-year-old Jennie and 22-year-old Jara are now students at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, but they return home to Yellowknife each summer to help out with Brownie and Girl Guide camps.

Nominated as one of the region's top volunteers in 2001, this is Rausch's first time being honoured as NWT volunteer of the year.