A Plea to Save Beloved Girls Scout Camp in Summit County

Submitted by Leader Staff on August 13, 2009 - 8:39am.

The following editorial is written by Barbara Starr who is attempting to save the Crowell/Hilaka Girls Scout camp in Summit County.

There is a Girl Scout Camp in Summit County that a group of us, a rather large group, don’t want to be mothballed October 1, 2009. We fear that this will mean it will never reopen. If you google/bing/yahoo Crowell/Hilaka you will find out many interesting things about the camp.

Girl Scouts Of Northeast Ohio (GSNEO) is the owner of this camp. GSNEO was formed when 5 councils merged. From the day the councils merged, no repairs besides the bare minimum were done to Crowell/Hilaka.

GSNEO sent a letter to troops that had recently camped there about their idea of mothballing the camp to save the $125,000.00 it takes to run the camp for a year. My grouped rallied and organized and came up with a proposal to keep the camp opened and committed ourselves to try to raise money to fix the couple of major issues, such as the dam and waste water treatment. We have some members that could write grants, etc. The first meeting we had with them was June20th, 2009 and we were just told yesterday that we are not allowed to try to help. We are not allowed to get lists of professionals willing to help and we are not allowed to try to raise money until they decide what they want to do.

I feel that there is something underhanded here. That they have a developer whispering in someone’s ear. I cannot tell you how different this camp is from the nearby camps as far as housing and scenery. By the way, in this same time period, they purchased a new HQ for $2.97 million.. Please visit our website www.friendsofcrowellhilaka.org We want to continue the fight-for the Girls.

Comments

saving home

Yes, it is a home to me. I graduated from all thirteen years of Girl Scouting. As an avid camper, I also spent time in Boy Scouts and camping out with the family. Above all else, Crowell/Hilaka is the ONLY place I think of as "home". When I learned of the closing, I was very hurt. I understand budget concerns, but it has been part of my life for so long, that the decision seemed a betrayal. I only hope it is not lost to my daughters.

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on August 13, 2009 - 4:18pm.

A terrible loss for girls of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County

As a long-time Girl Scout from Cuyahoga County, I feel that to close this camp, even "temporarily" is a huge disservice to the girls in the area.

Camp Crowell/Hilaka has several impressive, unique qualities that none of the other camps have. First, there are several significant Historical buildings on the camp property. There are reports, that the farm was a part of the Underground Railroad. Later, the Kirby House was built, it and other buildings on the property were formerly part of the estate of the Kirby (vacuum) family. Kirby designed a Mill that utilized ball bearings which only requires a trickle of water to work. The mill and the building are still there, the building is used as a museum of Girl Scout artifacts. Kirby also designed and patented a dam/drain system for the Lake. Probably one of the only patented Lakes in the US! For his daughter, Kirby built a state of the art dance/recreation hall. Girls today can still go to Garfield Hall and bounce on the springy floor, built on railcar springs that was extremely advanced for its time. Finally, Crowell/Hilaka is also one of the most secure facilities owned by GSNEO as it has a perimeter fence around the entire property.

When I was a girl, there were great opportunities for girls from lower income areas to come out and enjoy that camp. The GSNEO council thinks that those girls can instead go to one of the other council owned camps, but yet they do not advertise the fact that the other camps are more expensive and farther away. Likely, several Girl Scouts in the city may never see the inside of any of the council's remaining camps.

Girls today already have so much pressure to act older than they are and with the constant stress of bad news in the media, their childhood is cut way too short. Add that to the fact that there is little opportunity for girls in Cleveland to get away and just be girls enjoying and learning about nature and the outdoors. Leadership (the current focus of Girl Scouting in the US) is important, but so is just getting an opportunity to BE a girl.

Yes, I am upset because many of my most cherished childhood memories revolve around this place, but I am more upset for the girls at that age now and in the future who will miss out on making their own memories in such a special place.

Submitted by Amanda (not verified) on August 13, 2009 - 4:52pm.