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Myth: Kids aren’t interested in Scout camp anymore

In the video below, SaveCamps.org friend and scout parent Dan Poole answers the question:

Many people use the excuse that kids aren’t interested in camp anymore. They want to validate selling the scout camp with this excuse. In your experience with your two children, do kids like camp?

Dan tell us his kids love Girl Scout summer camp. In fact, when I was visiting Dan I took a walk with one of his daughters along the neighborhood sidewalk and she just blurted out “I LOVE Camp Y-Noah! I can’t wait to go back!” and she scooted by on her push scooter.

Dan talks about how his girls love week long Girl Scout camps, and YMCA Adventure Princesses.

The problem with scout and camp councils that have low occupancy rates is, in most cases, not a “kids don’t want to camp” problem, but a fundraising, public relations and marketing problem.

Video Link
http://youtu.be/nTOKgN_Micc

Please Comment
Please let us know what you think by clicking on the “Comments” link located on the left hand top side of this article: Do kids still enjoy going to Girl Scout, Boy Scout, YMCA or other camps?

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2010 08 27 Kirt Manecke Girl Scout Camps
Tips to Save Camps
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Help conserve camps! Join SaveCamps.org on Facebook

SaveCamps.org-on-facebook Our new Facebook page is live. Please visit us on Facebook and click on the “Like” button near the top of the page to join like minded people working to save camps for kids.

We created this page to give you a place to easily voice your thoughts and spread your message about your camp. Please share your success stories and ideas that are increasing attendance and revenue at your camp by posting on our wall.

Let visitors know how they can help save your camp. Post a link to your camp’s Facebook page or website on our wall.

Please invite your Facebook friends to become fans of SaveCamps.org by sharing our SaveCamps.org Facebook link on your wall on your Facebook page. This will help get more people involved to help save Boy Scout, Girl Scout and outdoor camps for kids.

We want to hear from you.

Thank you!

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2010 08 23 Kirt Manecke Announcements Comments (0) Permalink

Help us save scout camps for just $10 per month, and feel good doing it!

240611 the last day of holiday Help us save scout camps for just $10 per month, and feel good doing it!

Photo courtesy stock.xchng

You can help save scout camps and outdoor camps for kids for just $10 per month. We can’t do this important work without you!

Your secure online contribution is tax-deductible and supports our work to save camps for kids. Please donate now by credit or debit card to become a monthly donor to save camps, natural areas and clean water for future generations.
donate to savecamps Help us save scout camps for just $10 per month, and feel good doing it!

SaveCamps.org is a project of LandChoices, an all volunteer 501c3 national nonprofit land conservation organization based in Milford, Michigan.

Why Save Camps?
Camps connect children with nature, provide the opportunity for them to participate in human powered activities, and help kids benefit from personal and primary relationships. Saving camps preserves irreplaceable natural areas, wildlife and clean water.

In the News
“Anti Sprawl LandChoices founder Kirt Manecke is setting a conservation landmark in his quest to save thousands of acres of Boy Scout owned open space from pavement…It is a cause all conservationists should enlist in.”
The North Woods Call, “The NEWSpaper for people who love the North”

About SaveCamps.org
SaveCamps.org is part of LandChoices’ Big Camps program to save camps for kids. SaveCamps.org was established to provide information about how Scout and other outdoor camps can be saved from being sold for development. 

The goal of SaveCamps.org is to be the premiere resource for information to save camps and to ultimately protect camps permanently with conservation easements. The camp experience increases confidence, helping kids become future leaders, conservation heroes, and successful adults and contributing members of society.

Your tax-deductible contributions help us save camps for kids and cover our ongoing costs of this project. Your support also helps us spread the word with targeted advertising and outreach (Facebook ads, etc.) to increase visibility to get others involved to save as many camps as possible .

Prefer to Donate By Check?
Donate by Mail (please make checks payable to “LandChoices”)
LandChoices
PO Box 181
Milford, MI 48381

SaveCamps.org is a project of LandChoices, an all volunteer 501c3 national non-profit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

LandChoices is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization listed with Guidestar, the on-line standard for nonprofit accountability.

Other ways to give.

Thank You for Your Support!

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2010 08 18 Kirt Manecke Announcements Comments (0) Permalink

Girl Scouts fight to save Camp Rolling Ridges and more

The Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys announced the sale of Camp Rolling Ridges and other camps to be closed. KSTP TV – Minneapolis and St. Paul filmed this story in the short video below.

Friends of Rolling Ridges Girl Scout Camp thinks the Girl Scouts should seek alternate, innovative ways to address budget problems. A meeting was held on Saturday, August 14, between the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valley’s (MWRV) voting members and its board of directors.

Friends of Rolling Ridges has partnered with Friends of Camp Greenwood to save all the camps. I salute our friends at Friends of Rolling Ridges and Friends of Camp Greenwood for their hard work to save these precious camps.

Learn More
Friends of Rolling Ridges and Camp Greenwood

Please comment: What do you think about the possible sale of these Girl Scout camps?

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2010 08 16 Kirt Manecke Girl Scout Camps Comments (0) Permalink

Group fights to save camps in Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys

camp greenwood

Photo courtesy Friends of Camp Greenwood - Minnesota on Facebook

The Girl Scouts day camp in Hudson, Wisconsin is slated to be sold, according to the article, “Group fights to save Girl Scouts camp in Hudson, Wis.” .

The Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys announced the sale of Camp Rolling Ridges — and two Minnesota camps — earlier this year, according to the article.

Friends of Rolling Ridges thinks the Girl Scouts should seek alternate, innovative ways to address budget problems. A meeting is being held on Saturday, August 14, between the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valley’s (MWRV) voting members and its board of directors.

There will be two votes Saturday. The first will clarify the ability of the group’s voting members to give the board of directors broad direction in decision-making. The second will call for the board to put a hold on the sale of the camps and form a committee to investigate alternatives.

“We believe the membership should have some ability and some say in steering the organization,” Friends of Rolling Ridges spokeswoman Lorrie Beaulieu said in the article.

In January, the Girl Scouts of MWRV announced the sale of Camp Rolling Ridges, Camp Greenwood in Buffalo, Minn., and Camp Piper Hill in Medford, Minn. They also announced plans to transfer Camp Sanderson in Spicer, Minn., to another Girl Scouts council.

Friends of Rolling Ridges has partnered with Friends of Camp Greenwood to save all the camps.

“Our group believes they should reconsider all four of the properties,” she said.

“All the property decisions that they made back in January, they’ve revisited,” said Lisa Hiebert, director of marketing and communications for the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys council. “The board has reaffirmed its decisions.”

View entire article.

Attend the Meeting
Learn more at Friends of Rolling Ridges & Camp Greenwood.

Learn More
Friends of Camp Greenwood – Minnesota on Facebook.

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2010 08 13 Kirt Manecke Girl Scout Camps Comments (0) Permalink

How we saved Camp Wyandot: You can save your camp!

Jenny Morgan, founder of The Leave No Child INSIDE Central Ohio Collaborative, loved going to Camp Wyandot, a Campfire USA Camp, in Ohio as a child. When she later learned the camp was going to be put up for sale, she gathered alumni and saved it!

Jenny offers expert advice on putting together a team of fundraisers, marketers, and more to save camps in this short video clip I took of her.

Jenny, myself and a small group of advocates and experts met in Cleveland to discuss ways to save camps in July, 2010. Jenny was kind enough to share her expert advice on video to help others save nature camps for kids.

Because of Jenny, her good friend Sara, and others, Camp Wyandot, in the beautiful Hocking Hills of southern Ohio, has been reuniting children with nature since 1928. Kids spend time in the great outdoors swimming, canoeing, doing arts and crafts, cooking over an open fire and exploring nature on several hundred acres of rolling forests.

Stay tuned for more short video clips about how to save your Camp Fire USA Camp, Girl Scout Camp, Boy Scout Camp or other summer camp for kids by continuing to visit this blog.

Please share this video, comment, and and help spread the word.

We thank our new good friend Jenny Morgan for her passion and expert advice to help protect camps for children and our environment.

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2010 08 12 Kirt Manecke Camps Saved
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Creating a new Boy Scout camp: What a concept!

Whoever said scouting is declining wasn’t talking about Columbia County Georgia. According to a recent article. “Local Scouts raising funds to meet growth“, the Georgia-Carolina Council is actually growing.

“The number of Columbia County Boy Scouts ages 11 to 17 grew from 290 in 2009 to 411 this year, Daffin said. That figure doesn’t count the boys in Cub Scouts (first- through third-graders) and Webelos (fourth- and fifth-graders).”

They are even planning to buy and develop a new camp, Camp Blackstone, a proposed Boy Scout camp on Blackstone Camp Road in Evans.

Great job and good luck with your fundraising efforts from SaveCamps.org! Anyone wishing to make a donation can send checks, made out to the Georgia-Carolina Council, BSA, to: Zack Daffin, 3530 Wheeler Road, Augusta, GA 30907.

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2010 08 11 Ken Jacobsen Boy Scout Camps
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Scout encampment in Times Square raises awareness of efforts to save Camp Pouch

Boy Scouts of America celebrated the organization’s centennial with mountain climbing and canoeing at Times Square. They also are trying to raise awareness of the efforts to Save Camp Pouch.

Visit NY1 to view TV spot and read the story.

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2010 08 07 Ken Jacobsen Boy Scout Camps Comments (0) Permalink

Perseids Meteor Shower to peak August 12th

On Wednesday August 12th’s morning after 12:01 am (Tuesday stay up till after midnight), you can see one of the best meteor showers of the year. It is estimated that at its peak Wednesday morning, the Perseids Meteor Shower could have as many as 100 meteors per hour.

Many scout camps and other outdoor camps would be a great place to see it, but anywhere with few street lights should afford an excellent view of the meteor shower in the northeast portion of the sky. Any clear night right now through the 24th of August will afford lots of meteors. Visit http://www.meteorblog.com for more details.

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2010 08 05 Ken Jacobsen Announcements Comments (0) Permalink

Friends of Camp Rolling Ridges and Friends of Camp Greenwood update

 
rolling ridges camp

Photo courtesy Friends of Rolling Ridges and Friends of Camp Greenwood website: http://friendsofrollingridges.weebly.com/

We received this Facebook update from Friends of Camp Rolling Ridges:

“Hi Friends! In cooperation with Friends of Camp Greenwood, we succeeded in calling a Special Meeting of the Members. Our job now is to make sure we get as *many* delegates and alternates as possible to attend on Saturday morning, August 14th.

Please please please, look over the information on Rolling Ridges Girl Scout Camp on Facebook and visit Friends of Rolling Ridges & Friends of Camp Greenwood website and do everything you can to get to the meeting. Also please make sure all the delegates and alternates come too, and that everybody has a way to get there- many of our delegates are girl members, and we need their voices heard!

If you are not a delegate or alternate, we need your voices too! Come join the rally at the St Paul Service Center on Saturday morning!

Thank you for caring about our camps and girls!

Terri (on behalf of Friends of Camps Rolling Ridges & Greenwood – possibly soon to be renamed FRIENDS OF ALL RV CAMPS!)”

Note/Update: Thank you Kim for your comment on this post explaining that “RV” in “Friends of All RV Camps!” is a reference to Girl Scouts of Minnesota & Wisconsin River Valleys (RV).

Thank you Terri for the update! Learn more on the Friends of Rolling Ridges & Friends of Camp Greenwood website and scroll down the page to read the five motions.

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2010 08 05 Kirt Manecke Girl Scout Camps
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