Saturday, November 04, 2006

Camp

As has been predicted for the last 20 years, but has been only truly likely the last five, the Girl Scout Commonwealth Council decided to sell Camp Kittamaqund. One sign was that the Council has not put adequate money into maintenance for the last several years, and in the last 20 did not undertake the scale of construction that would have made the exquisite property appealing to not only modern girls, but also to their over-protective parents who cannot be bothered to drive more than 30 minutes for mere crafts and sailing. No money was put into the property because no money was available. Members, families, alumnae, and corporations failed to give the money it takes to sustain nearly 400 acres. The other sign of impending sale was the coming of gourmet food markets and public radio to the Northern Neck: rich Baby Boomers are flocking -- the time is right to sell.

Most readers will not be surprised that there is no timely posting of a press release on the PR page of the website nor on the homepage. The local council (31 counties and 6 cities in central Virginia, repsonisable to a national organization, as well as local membership) has a number of strengths: timeliness and use of technology are not among them.

I also don't see a posting for the meetings that were held this week at which Council President Tina Dickerson made the announcement. I heard about it only through the courtesy of my former co-workers, NOT as a lifetime member of the Council or trainer. When I heard was clear what it would be about, and, frankly, I didn't have the stomach to go. I made all the difference I could at CK from 1982 - 2002. Now, I choose to make a difference in the world in other ways.

Some links
Something I wrote on Kittamaqund history; I will try to do more
Draco's page, which allows current and recent CKers to keep up
Northern Neck tourism site (Use your favorite search engine to look for "Northern Neck VA" and notice the paid and unpaid hit are mostly "real estate")

****NEW**** PoeAnna's protest page; join in

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Chocolate..got your blog from Doots page..havent heard from you in awhile..congrats on your upcoming nuptials!! Myself I am living in California with my husband and daughter who just turned four and am expecting #2 Daughter next month. I always thought Kitty would be around for me to send my daughters to so they can meet people like you and Mitch who gratefully impacted so many of our lives as teenagers. I am so saddened by it. Feel free to check out our family website at www.thefamilypost.com/baintofamily. Hope you are well! Tabby

sarah said...

Thanks for the link, C. Hopefully, we'll get a lot of letters sent. At least they'll be heard, if not heeded.
-fw

Anonymous said...

breaks my heart to know it will be gone