Sale of southern Illinois camps reveals divide over Girl Scout mission
The Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois were embroiled in controversy at this time last year, with many troop leaders, volunteers, parents and girls upset about a sudden board decision to sell its four camps to solve financial problems that some didn’t know existed.
Then COVID-19 hit, canceling troop activities and requiring virtual meetups, but the property-divestment plan moved forward.
The council sold Camp Butterfly near Farmington, Missouri, in October and Camp Chan Ya Ta near Worden in February. It ended its 50-year lease of property for Camp Wassatoga near Effingham in August and later sold a 10-acre tract that had been attached to Wassatoga.
Now the board is “pausing” its plan to sell Camp Torqua near Edwardsville for three to five years.
“By doing three to five years, we will have a clear picture of how well camp is utilized to cover expenses,” CEO Loretta Graham told those who attended a Zoom meeting on March 8.
The pause represents a reversal of the board’s original position that it would be unfair to keep only one camp that is easily accessible to some Girl Scouts in southern Illinois, but not others.
A volunteer task force is looking for ways to make Camp Torqua sustainable, balancing the budget and performing needed maintenance.
In an interview Wednesday, Graham reiterated her goal of keeping the council in solid financial shape and offering diversified programs, not just those related to camping. She also expressed hope that Camp Torqua will be around for a “very, very long time.”
“I really think it’s going to be a success because our volunteers are linking arms with the board of directors and the staff,” Graham said. “Everyone is working together. I don’t think it will be that hard.”
But some troop leaders, volunteers, parents and girls aren’t ready to start singing “Kumbayah” just yet.
They say the year of upheaval has created trust issues with the council, caused sadness over the loss of three camps and revealed a divide between those who want to continue focusing on outdoor Girl Scout experiences and those who favor using more resources for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and other programming.
Proceeds higher than expected
The Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois board voted in February to take Camp Torqua off the market, Graham said.
One factor leading to the change of heart is that the council sold Camp Butterfly for $4.6 million and Camp Chan Ya Ta for nearly $900,000. Staff had originally estimated that the sale of those two properties plus Camp Torqua would bring in only $3.7 million.
“As you may know, the sale of Camp Butterfly brought proceeds far greater than what the Council and Board of Directors had anticipated,” according to a Jan. 11 letter to Girl Scouts. “Therefore, the Council is in a better financial position, and the Board of Directors is now able to give serious consideration to the viability of keeping and properly maintaining Camp Torqua.”
The council has promised to put sale proceeds in a Girl Scout Experience Fund, whose interest would provide grants for troop and individual projects and activities.
Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois was formed by the 2009 merger of the former River Bluffs and Shagbark councils. It’s headquartered in Glen Carbon and governed by a volunteer board with 19 members. It serves about 9,000 girls in 40 counties, down from 41.
Staunton-area Service Unit 107 switched to the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois last year due to the camp controversy, according to Belleville Troop 189 leader Jodie Herbstritt.
Herbstritt applauds the Southern Illinois board’s decision to change course on Camp Torqua, but she’s among those who believe it was a mistake to sell the other camps, fearing their natural beauty will be destroyed by developers.
Herbstritt, whose daughter, Elizabeth, is a Girl Scout, said a day trip to Camp Chan Ya Ta last fall was particularly important for her troop members, who were finally able to get out of the house and spend time in nature with their friends under loosened COVID-19 restrictions.
“You’re seeing a new generation of kids on phones and tablets, not doing outdoor activities, and you’re also seeing higher depression and obesity rates,” Herbstritt said.
“In general, I feel that it’s healthy for kids to be outdoors, and camps were safe environments for the girls to make memories and be with fellow Girl Scouts and move forward to their next steps in life, adventuring out into the world.”
‘Blindsided’ by announcement
Some troop leaders, volunteers, parents and girls felt “blindsided” on Feb. 27, 2020, when they received an email informing them that the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois board had decided to close all four of its camps.
Belleville Troop 1110 leader Theresa Wuebbels started a petition on Change.org called “Save Southern IL Girl Scout Camps!” More than 6,000 people signed in a week.
Opposition prompted the council to hold two “emergency town hall meetings,” one in Belleville and one in Golconda. Things got heated at times in the sanctuary of St. Matthew United Methodist Church, where about 150 people gathered on March 5, 2020.
“Our deficit has grown so large that we could do real damage to our council if we don’t do something now to get our financial house in order,” Graham told the crowd.
Chief Financial Officer Kelley Young noted that reserves had been used to cover 10 years of deficit spending.
Young spoke of declining membership and program revenues; reduced United Way funding and corporate contributions; poor cookie sales and rising prices charged by cookie suppliers; and higher maintenance and operating costs related to buildings, camps and vehicles.
“Usage numbers continue to decline (at camps),” Young said. “Camp Torqua is the only one with growth from fiscal year 2017-18 to 2018-19.”
It was costing about $375,000 a year to operate the four camps and provide services that troops could get at state parks or private facilities, according to the council’s Long Range Property Planning Update.
Several people at the meeting asked why they weren’t given a chance to help before the budget shortfall became a crisis. Others expressed concern that renting private facilities could increase individual costs or pose risks related to injury, abuse or exposure to people under the influence of alcohol or other drugs in less-controlled environments.
Wuebbels said Girl Scout camps have a “culture” that can’t be reproduced elsewhere.
Opponents of selling the camps planned to protest at the annual council meeting on March 28, 2020, at Bellecourt Manor in Belleville, but the meeting was canceled due to COVID-19.
Varied opinions among troops
Belleville Troop 530 leader Natalie Durbin, of Shiloh, wanted the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois to keep all its camps open and continue providing girls with opportunities to hike, canoe, sail, climb rocks, compete in archery, build campfires and make nature crafts.
Durbin, whose daughter, Bella, is a Girl Scout, has found that level of opposition to camp closures is directly related to the interests of girls in individual troops and service units.
“You have your troops who don’t like to camp, so they probably don’t care that the camps sold,” she said. “But then you have the troops that are very active in camping. They love it.
“I would say that the majority of the people in our service unit (Belleville and Swansea) were not happy with the sale of the camps.”
The loss of Camp Butterfly was particularly hard for Durbin, even though it was in Missouri, because its 961 acres had rock cliffs for rappelling and two lakes for boating and swimming. Camp Torqua is only 72 acres with no significant water features.
But Durbin still sees Camp Torqua as an important option for troops that don’t have easy access to other outdoor-recreation facilities or enough money for rental fees, and as a place for the council to store equipment.
Durbin admits being “biased” because Troop 530 built a sand-volleyball court at Camp Torqua in 2019 as a service project, and it turned out to be more difficult than the girls expected.
“I don’t know if they would have been so gung-ho about doing it if they had known (the camp) was going to be sold,” she said.
Debate over programming
After Camp Butterfly sold in October, Herbstritt said she was happy that higher-than-expected proceeds would help solve the Girls Scouts of Southern Illinois’ financial problems, and she thought the extra money could save Camp Chan Ya Ta and Camp Torqua.
She was only half right.
But Herbstritt feels that the board’s decision to keep Camp Torqua open was an acknowledgment of the strong support for outdoor experiences among troop leaders, volunteers, parents and girls.
“(Board members and staff are) pushing STEM activities because they know they can get grant money from different companies to support them,” she said. “So the outdoor program is the least thing on their minds.
“But they also saw that there were so many of us who fought for outdoor. ... Now I feel that they’re trying to pacify us. They’re like, ‘OK, we heard you. We want to help the outdoor program, so we’ve decided to go ahead and keep one camp.’”
Graham agrees that some Girl Scouts enjoy outdoor activities, but she points to a survey that the council conducted, showing many would like more diverse programming. People at last year’s town-hall meeting argued that the number of respondents was too small to make broad conclusions.
Troops that enjoy the outdoors can still go to state parks or rent facilities such as Camp Ondessonk in Ozark or Touch of Nature Environmental Center in Makanda, according to Graham.
The new Girl Scout Experience Fund was expected to yield $200,000 a year in interest based on the originally estimated $3.7 million in proceeds from camp sales. The idea is to provide troops and individuals with grants for everything from horseback-riding to robotics, dance lessons to out-of-state conferences.
“It’s not just for camp properties, but anything that a Girl Scout would want to experience,” Graham said.
The national Girl Scouts of the U.S.A also has addressed the changing interests and needs of girls in the 21st century. For years, it’s been moving from an organization focused on outdoor activities to one that provides programs in STEM education, life skills and entrepreneurship.
Auctioned to highest bidders
Both Camp Chan Ya Ta and Camp Butterfly were sold through online auctions.
The Tarrant & Harman real-estate listing described Camp Chan Ya Ta near Worden as 165 “gorgeous acres” with rolling timber, a lake, lodge, cabins, shower houses and other outbuildings. It was divided into two tracts for the sale.
“Several locations on each tract would make ideal custom home sites with ample road frontage for access,” the listing stated. “Enjoy the outdoors, the wildlife, and the privacy. Perfect for social distancing. Whether you are searching for a private recreational area, a corporate retreat or the perfect home site, this property offers so many opportunities.”
Much of the Camp Chan Ya Ta property had been owned by the Girl Scouts since 1965, according to the Madison County assessor’s office.
A new deed hadn’t yet been recorded as of Wednesday, so the buyers aren’t publicly known. Graham declined to name them, but said she had a brief conversation with one who was open to allowing Girl Scouts to rent the property for camping.
A LandLeader real-estate listing described Camp Butterfly near Farmington, Missouri, as a 961-acre “recreational paradise” with hundreds of acres of timber, two lakes, cabins, shower houses, a commissary, other outbuildings, camping areas and hiking trails.
It had been owned by the Girl Scouts for more than 40 years.
The property was purchased in October by Jakelwood Properties, according to the St. Geneview (Missouri) County assessor’s office. The OpenCorporates online database identifies that as a limited-liability company formed in September of 2020.
When asked what will become of the property, Graham said, “I have no idea,” noting that she hadn’t talked to the new owners.
The Girl Scouts operated Camp Wassatoga on Lake Sara near Effingham for 50 years before relinquishing control on Aug. 31, according to the Effingham Daily News. The council was leasing the property for $1 a year from Effingham Water Authority. Amenities include a heated lodge, several platform tents and a picnic shelter.
The lease is being taken over by a nonprofit organization known as Friends of Camp Wassatoga that will continue to operate it as a youth camp, the newspaper reported.
The organization has a Facebook page with 465 followers as of Thursday. Its founding board includes longtime Girl Scout Martha Stice and Dawn Quicksall, a former ranger at Camp Wassatoga.
“We did not want the camp to turn into something else,” Dawn’s husband, Larry Quicksall, was quoted as saying.
This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
