Girl Scout leaders launch campaign to save Camp Cherokee Ridge

Area Girl Scout leaders plan to file complaints with the scouting group�s national office and launch a letter-writing campaign in an effort to keep Camp Cherokee Ridge open.

The board of directors of Missouri Heartland Girl Scouts voted last month to close the Southeast Missouri camp Dec. 16 and sell the property.

�We were blindsided,� said Karen Hann of Fruitland, who has been active in the Girl Scout program.

Anne Soots, CEO of the Springfield, Missouri-based council, said in a news release late last month �we have tried for 10 years to find a sustainable solution to maintaining our property portfolio while maintaining our fiscal responsibility.�

Soots recently informed employees of Heartland Girl Scouts the council ended its fiscal year $500,000 in the red and expects a similar deficit next year, said Vicki McLemore, a longtime Scout leader who serves as treasurer of the Girl Scouts service unit office in Cape Girardeau.

Hann and McLemore questioned Tuesday how the financial situation became so severe.

They said the Cherokee Ridge camp, located on 1,100 acres in Wayne County near Sam A. Baker State Park, has not been a financial drain on the council.

�It is self sustaining,� Hann said, explaining the camp generates money through the sale of timber on the land.

�Why would you get rid of a camp that pays for itself?� she asked.

According to the council�s news release, fewer than 10 percent of its girl members attend resident camps.

But Hann and McLemore said Cherokee Ridge is well used.

Resident camps are held only three weeks during the summer, according to Hann. But troops and service units regularly hold outings at the camp, she said.

McLemore said supporters of the camp plan to submit online complaints through an �infringement process.� The complaints will focus on the need for the board to have adequate representation from Southeast Missouri.

Board members decided to close Cherokee Ridge after receiving the recommendations of a task force established to review council properties. The Southeast Missouri area was not represented on the task force, McLemore said.

She added council leaders denied her request to see a copy of the task force report.

Supporters of Camp Cherokee Ridge believe the needs of Southeast Missouri Girl Scouts have been ignored.

Only one member of the 23-member board is from Southeast Missouri. That board member, Lenell Hahn, who is employed at Southeast Missouri State University, did not respond to an email from the Southeast Missourian.

Hann said about 40 area Girl Scout leaders and members held a meeting Monday night at the Elks Lodge in Cape Girardeau to launch an effort to save the camp.

The group has a Facebook page titled �Cherokee Ridge ... Save Our Camp Not Just the Memories.�

As of Monday, the group had about 600 members.

Cherokee Ridge was once operated by the Otahki Girl Scouts Council. In an email to the Southeast Missourian, Hann said the Otahki Council operated an office in Cape Girardeau, Camp Sacajawea near Cape Girardeau and Camp Cherokee Ridge.

The council operated in the black. A week of camp cost $125 per girl.

But 10 years ago, the area council was merged with other councils to create the Missouri Heartland Council, based in Springfield.

The newly organized council sold the Otahki Council office in Cape Girardeau and sold Camp Sacajawea, Hann said.

Today, the cost of a week of camp is $250, and the council has financial problems, she said.

The council is spread across 68 counties in central and southern Missouri, southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma, according to the organization�s website.

The council has about 9,500 members, council spokeswoman Lori Enyart said recently.

On Monday, the Southeast Missouri emailed a list of questions to Enyart. She did not directly respond to the questions, but wrote the decision to close the camp was made �after a thorough review and due diligence by the board of directors.�

mbliss@semissourian.com

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