From Miss Mel-Rose-Petals-Whisper - February 18, 2013 9:08 pm As a 25 year member of Girl Scouts, Ive seen a lot... When I was a teenager, my two favorite places on Earth were Piper Hills Girl Scout Camp and Camp Shabonee. At that time we were told that those properties, along with Singing Bird Lodge and others, needed to be sold in order to make the necessary improvements to Camp Conestoga. Many of us fought those sales, knowing that the longer the distance to camp, the less parents would be willing to take the girls. And camping declined. According to the councils research in 2010, 67.5% of girls attending resident camp found out about camp through the print camp booklets. They discontinued the booklet. And camping declined. The councils research shows that parents arent willing to drive more than 1 hour for day events, and now they want to create 1 centralized location, which would be well over and hour, even up to 3 hours drive for some girls. And they expect that it will be a popular place? Do they not see this pattern? Girls want to go to camp. They want to go horse back riding (80% of girls voted this was very important), swim, do archery, zip line, and canoeing. So, why arent they getting there? Girls want camp, but they dont get everything they want. Their parents cant get them there, or cant pay and wont apply for financial aid. Or they want to troop camp, but have a leader who wont take them, because she isnt confident in the outdoors. We need to address these problems, rather than taking away opportunities. If the girls want an option of air conditioning, or for computers and wi-fi, we could address that at our current camps. Camp Conestoga had a building called Bea Conrad. It was falling apart, so instead of fixing it or rebuilding it, they tore it down and turned it into a pavilion. Its not as useful that way. Rebuild it as an air conditioned lodge with wi-fi through a satellite connection, and provide a handful of tablets and a printer. Then girls could have their option for high tech, and also an option to enjoy what already exists. There are volunteers who would take troops camping. There are volunteers who run an excellent year round horseback riding program. There are volunteers who run archery, canoeing, and zip line. As one of those volunteers, I would hate to see the girls lose out on the things they want that do exist, in hopes for something that might never be an option for them. Pass along this link to get Girl Scouts you know to place their vote on whether camps should close or not. sogosurvey/k/TsVWXQsRsPsPsP The survey is no longer available...Mel-Rose-Petals-Whisper maybe able to post the results - although I am not sure how many members OUTSIDE the QCA were able to complete the survey. It would be terrific, if the entire membership was allowed to VOTE on weather there should just be ONE camp for this 38 county Bi-State mega council that has already LOST at least 7 Girl Scout camps over the years due to mergers with other councils. Below is the link to the QC times article where this comment along with SEVERAL others originally appeared. A Scout from Kentucky who working towards getting GSUSA to put the Outing back in Scouting with an Outdoor Journey sent me the link this evening.... But if you have not read this article yet - please read it.... dailykos/story/2013/10/02/1243123/-Stealing-from-Girls-Stealing-from-Communities What is happening here in Iowa is happening all across the USA - and it is NOT because girls just want to have wifi.... As melody wrote above: Girls want to go to camp. They want to go horse back riding (80% of girls voted this was very important), swim, do archery, zip line, and canoeing. So, why arent they getting there? Girls want camp, but they dont get everything they want. Their parents cant get them there, or cant pay and wont apply for financial aid. Or they want to troop camp, but have a leader who wont take them, because she isnt confident in the outdoors. We need to address these problems, rather than taking away opportunities. qctimes/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/barb-ickes/camps-for-sale-because-girls-just-wanna-have-wi-fi/article_2adc3e4a-78b4-11e2-95e4-0019bb2963f4.html If you want to skip to the comments: qctimes/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/barb-ickes/camps-for-sale-because-girls-just-wanna-have-wi-fi/article_2adc3e4a-78b4-11e2-95e4-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=comments
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 05:50:21 +0000
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