Statement from GSNEO

Hey world-

GSNEO released their statement today. Its pretty much bad news all around. They are going to follow through with the "temporary closure" of Crowell-Hilaka for the 09-10 program year. The problem with a "temporary" closure, or mothballing, is that the camp is already in such a state of disrepair that after a year it will pretty much be unusable. This is extremely disappointing to the FOCH members, but we won't give up yet. More to come!


Dear GSNEO Members:



On behalf of the GSNEO Board of Directors and Staff, I would like to
thank you for you interest, commitment and dedication to the Girl
Scouts of North East Ohio. Over the past two months there has been a
great deal of discussion surrounding the future of several GSNEO camp
properties. The Board sent representatives to seven different
meetings in June and July to hear your questions and concerns
regarding the camps. As promised, we are now able to provide you with
an update on what actions the Board has taken with respect to the camp
properties.



First, let me start by saying that GSNEO was privileged to host a
GSUSA property consultant on Wednesday, August 5, 2009. The
consultant came to provide us with a framework to begin a much needed
GSNEO Long Range Planning Process surrounding our camp properties and
program. The consultant, along with volunteers from Great Trail Camp
and Camps Crowell-Hilaka, Board members and staff visited the
aforementioned properties. After the tours, the consultant provided
an overview of what trends were occurring in the Girl Scouting
community nationwide as its relates to camps. The consultant felt
that the recent Board actions were consistent with decisions being
made by Councils throughout the country. He pointed out that as the
mergers have occurred, many Councils have found themselves having to
re-evaluate among other things the following:



- How much money is necessary to operate and maintain
healthy and safe camps

-How their camps align with the Girl Scout Leadership experience

-What is the highest and best use of a property

-What portfolio of programs are important to Girl Scouting

-How to effectively price and market camping opportunities

-How many camps (and of what size) are sufficient to
provide the appropriate Girl Scout experience





As a result of the information gathered over the last 20 months, the
information presented at the seven Board/user group meetings,
countless letters, phone calls and emails from interested members, and
the information presented by the consultant, the following Board
actions will be implemented.



1. The Board will develop a long range vision/plan for all GSNEO
camps and camp related programs. A sub-committee of the Properties
Committee will be formed to evaluate our council's outdoor programs
and properties and develop a plan that meets the needs of our
membership and is economically sustainable by the council. This
sub-committee will be made up of board members, volunteers
representing users of each camp, and staff providing subject matter
expertise, geographic diversity, and a commitment to serve. The
sub-committee will present to the Properties Committee a recommended
vision/plan through 2012. The Properties Committee will consider the
recommendation and then make a recommendation to the Council's Board
of Directors. All final decisions about council property rest with
the council's Board of Directors. As the process for the
sub-committees work is finalized, more information will follow shortly
on the sub-committee composition and meeting schedule.



2. The Board is proceeding with the decisions made in March of this
year with respect to the following camp properties:



Relinquished to legal land owner-East Palestine Cabin,
Wintergreen Cabin, Camp Jessie Mae, and Wadsworth House.

To be sold: Camps Singing River and Lycopodia



3. Great Trail Camp will have limited, partial usage over the 09-10
membership year. The staff need an opportunity to operationalize the
new directive of the Board. At this time, the areas of camp to remain
open and when have not yet been determined. Shortly, more information
will be released to allow members to begin to register for this camp.
However, wait until a registration plan is communicated before you
call and try to schedule the camp. To make the process fair so that
everyone has the opportunity to register to use the camp after October
1, 2009, members who attempt to register before a process is released
to all members will be reminded that we are not taking reservations or
creating waitlists for this property at this time.



4. Camps Crowell and Hilaka will remain temporarily suspended for the
09-10 membership year pending the outcome of long range
visioning/planning process.



5. Separate fund-raising by 'Friends' of groups needs to be deferred
until the long range planning committee has finished its work of
identifying priority projects and the plan is accepted by the Board.
There will be an opportunity to support your camp this year through
both the Fall and Cookie product sales in the form of 'Pathway Passes'
or 'Cookie Dough' to be redeemed at camp or specifically designating
your incentive to a Girl Scout camp or project.



While the Board stands behind all of its initial decisions, even the
one to temporarily suspend operations at Great Trail Camp, the ability
to provide a camping experience within a reasonable distance for
members in the southern most areas of our the Council was a major
reason for the decision to provide limited use of Great Trail Camp.



We know that each of you have memories and hold dear particular camp
properties. And we want you and future generation of Girl Scouts to
have the opportunity to continue to make these memories in a way that
is engaging and meaningful. To do this, we must engage in as an
entire group (Board, members, staff) in this long range
vision/planning process. We are hopeful and excited for each of you
to play a role in assisting the Council in supporting the remaining
camps. By actively using the properties that remain open, serving on
and/or participating with survey requests of the long range planning
committee, supporting Council sponsored product sales, helping a new
leader take her troop to camp, the list goes on. I look forward to
seeing many of you actively working with us to create a GSNEO outdoor
program that will be second to none.



Yours in Girl Scouting



Karen McQueen
Daisy L. Alford-Smith, Ph.D.

Board President
Chief Executive Officer

Waiting for notes from today's GSUSA camp visit

Well, the word on the street is that the future is not looking too hot for Hilaka. I do not know any details at the moment, and I will post as soon as I hear anything.

In the meantime, I wanted to share the proposal that Lynn (president of FOCH) sent on our behalf to council yesterday. This gives a rough outline of the plan that we have for saving Camp Crowell-Hilaka, from short term solutions to our long term plans.

We know that they have recieved it, but no feedback as of yet.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the board will allow us to continue working on this problem!!

To the Board of Directors, Girl Scouts of North East Ohio

After having carefully considered the presentation on Crowell Hilaka July 20th, the members of the Friends of Crowell Hilaka ( FoCH ) have committed to several initiatives that we believe will dramatically boost camp usage.

Our proposal: Give us 18 months. Keep the camp open that long, and we can put programming in place that supports the GSUSA mission of girl leadership , bring the camp usage up, and, as word spreads, may well increase overall membership . These are outline below.

The most immediate questions we have for you are these:

Can an open House for Crowell Hilaka be held either the last weekend of September or the first weekend of October?

We can tie it in with the various events going on in the village of Richfield which is celebrating its bicentennial this year. IF we stress the GSUSA program "Girls Go Tech" and tie it in with the heritage of inventor James Kirby ( see attached FAQs) we have a program that will raise regional interest on several levels. We would especially like to involve the Inventor's Museum & Hall of Fame in Akron.

With a target date to "show off" the camp, all the girls who have been clamoring to go out and help save the camp will have the opportunity to clean, paint, trim trails, etc. Teams of older girls can function as tour guides, hike leaders, and historical interpreters.

FoCH would like to request permission to hold its Kick-off meeting at camp on that same weekend. We would of course pay rental on whatever site we use.

Re: the proposed council fund for FoCH - who would have access to the money and/ or records ? Would designated FoCH members be able to view the account at will? Would we be notified of deposits ? Would the council send an acknowledgement letter to the donor or would we?

The Hard Hatted Women group continues to express interest in making repairs/ showing our members how to do the repairs. However, they need to have the membership issue addressed; and they need to know that the work they do will benefit Girl Scouts for a long while to come.

Proposed FoCH initiatives;

Marketing - we are very pleased that the GSNEO website now features the camps. We have noted a major increase in the helpfulness of the registration staff when calling to check on site availability. a 100% improvement!

- we are compiling a PDF on Camp Tips available to leaders free on the FoCH website. This initiative is being led by Gold Awardee & doctoral student Rachel Oppenheimer and certified archivalist Niki Krause.

- developing a resource bank of experienced adult campers that can help troops plan their campout and then accompany them on the weekend. This is already started - we expect to expand.

- FoCH members are prepared to visit SU meetings to promote camping.

- just from within our own group we can generate enough funding to pay for some advertising for the proposed tech /historical open house. We would not have to dip into GSNEOs budget for that. A small committee has formed to research venues & costs.

Program - available immediately : letterbox/geocache hybrid based on the extremely successful "Treasure Hunt" feature of the first two Cadette/Senior Summits which were held at CrowellHilaka. With permission of the council, FoCH can easily underwrite the costs of a permanent, professionally done display which explains the GPS and compass navigational systems. As increased funding becomes available we could even provide GPS devices to be borrowed while at camp.

- as mentioned above, the proposed Open House event. Granted there is only a short time to pull off a large event. I myself organized the first Cadette/Senior Summit - a more complex program - in only slightly more time. The key is getting capable volunteer help. One of the main benefits to the event would be to give the girls some way of helping at camp. As word is spreading, troop leaders are joining FoCH - not just volunteering, but begging and demanding to be allowed to help save the camp. Energy is very high.

- there are more ideas in the pipeline - backed up by experienced leaders - but these are the most immediate or time-sensitive.

Repairs & Expenses-

-The first consideration is safety. The list provided did not prioritize, but it did look to us as though the lower dam and the water treatment would need to be tackled first. We believe the projected costs of the listed repairs to be very low. Based on a comparable plans at BSA camps, an overhaul of the water treatment system may be closer to $ 1,000,000 than to $ 10,000. Given the go-ahead, we would be pleased to begin soliciting donations, but naturally, donors would want some assurance that the property would stay in possession of Girl Scouts.

-Unless there are restrictions in the original funding of the Beaumont Pool complex, the feeling among our group is that we can live without the pool indefinitely.

- we understand from the ODNR report that the dam classification is likely to be downgraded to Class II. Even so, it may be necessary to work with ODNR to effect an emergency, temporary lake drainage; if it was deemed that the first priority would be water treatment.

Long Term - 3 & 5 year plans: There are many wide ranging ideas within FoCH. Some themes:

Allow each camp to focus/promote its unique aspects instead of every camp providing every experience

Developing ways to bring inner city and / or low income girls out to Crowell Hilaka

Develop short, i.e. afternoon length, programs at camp at favorable costs

Investigating "Green" architecture for any new construction

Bring girls more into the council decision making process

Respectfully submitted via e-mail ,

Lynn Richardson, interim president FoCH

Correction and Update

The meeting at Camp Crowell-Hilaka will take place on August 5th, and the board meeting as well.

I was unable to attend the FOCH meeting this Sunday, but they came up with a fabulous proposal for GSNEO involving keeping the camp open for a trial period, and this proposal will be sent to council tomorrow morning. Besides fundraising and fixing the structural problems, the main focus is going to be utilizing Hilaka the way it should be and we will introduce several programs that will bring girls to camp. Part of the problem with Hilaka over the past few years was that it was not being used to its full potential. There is also a plan to come up with a collection of "camp tips" that will be available online for troops looking to camp, who are less experienced or just looking for something to switch up their normal camp routine. There will be ideas for games, meals, songs, activities, and all the other things that make the camp planning experience a bit daunting to the newer troops.

A senior girl scout in the area got word of our cause and posted in our forum the other day. She was absolutely devastated that Hilaka was in danger of being shut down, and didn't understand how they could let such a wonderful place slip through the cracks. She compared the other camps in the council as "luxury camps" and suggested that she would rather just stay in a hotel because those places aren't "real camping." The other camps in the council, such as Timberlane, are very nice but they just aren't what a lot of troops are looking for. I hope that other girls like her will voice their opinions are write to council about how they feel.

All in all, we are going to make sure that GSNEO is aware of what a treasure Hilaka really is because it seems like they may not truly realize it at this point. That's all for now! Hopefully I will have another update soon.