Service Unit/Volunteer-Led Events Comments
Respondents were given the opportunity to provide any additional comments about service unit/volunteer-led events hosted at council owned outdoor properties. Responses are listed below "as is" from the survey. They have not been edited for spelling or grammar.
- But everything is on YOU - the volunteer. Council people have never camped - no one has as much training as the volunteers - and WE PAY FOR THE TRAINING and they expect us to run the council for them.
- Getting a flyer out through Council is difficult because the review process for designing it properly is so slow
- These are usually better planned & executed and more sensitive to the needs of the community.
- Not enough volunteers to help run SU events. I helped plan and run an overnight event and a day event and got little help from fellow leaders. I was exhausted after planning and running those events plus running my own troop. Now that I am involved in my son's Cub Scout pack I don't have enough time to do both groups and plan SU events.
- We are working to add more of these as a service unit but using local recreational parks or boy scouts camps that are closer or more cost effective.
- I have helped with or planned many service unit/volunteer-led events. These events are by far the best programming happening at our camps currently, and we have gotten great numbers for these events! Yet the council does not help with promoting (other than listing them in the camp booklet), and has even hindered the progress of a few of our programs. Camp is not always prepared for us the same way it would be for another group, despite the fact that we are paying the same price to rent it. The council puts too much on their volunteers in general, and now camp programming is being left to them, too? This is not okay.
- My troop voted to host a camp this year. We will not be using council properties due to cost & lack of facilities.
- All activities are provided and funded by service unit. Huge hassle to rent a council owned property.
- We rented a local Christian camp because Laughing Waters was too expensive.
- Volunteer led events are virtually the only outdoor events available to girls in our council.
- Our Council Office Facility does offer a beautiful outdoor area with grass, sand and camping friendly areas for troops who desire to do an overnight or weekend camp. However, our local rural troops usually opt for a closer venue to camp instead due to travel drive times and costs.
- Occasionally staff does attend/help during the day Saturday, which is nice. We can SU camp for less than $25 per person for the weekend including food, supplies, and patch. Cost for council events is $50 per person. They should set up an event and ask for volunteers so they don't have to pay staff members and charge so much....and they could use their work day to plan and schedule and just ask for volunteers to do each session they plan. Make it easier on us and they wouldn't need to attend....just plan.
- Our Service Unit (and a nearby SU that hosted an Encampment my troop participated in) does not use GS camps, we go to non-GS facilities. We do this largely because of the amount of work required by the volunteers if we go to a GS Camps is not feasible and the camps that are enjoyable to all levels are too far away. We receive a better "bang for our buck" at non-GS facilities. It seems to me that Girl Scouts makes it as difficult as possible to go camping.
- We get lots of feedback form local leaders about when and where to have camp. Then no one signs up for camp or responds to inquiries about why they won't be attending.
- Again, this is another area where we have NOTHING.
- Our service unit is having our annual campout at a GS Camp this year (vs local county park). We were told at the leader meeting it is much cheaper. I don't know how much cheaper.
- Older Daughter use to host STEM- Girls in Space Astronomy events. she no longer hosts these events.
- There are no volunteer led events at our outdoor properties. Property is no longer available year round, only May and September.
- We have always taken care of everything ourselves.
- Our service unit currently hosts NO events as we really have no service team left.
- We are fortunate to have a core group of volunteers who used to be leaders who plan and staff these events. This includes kitchen staff, program staff, nurse, lifeguard, etc.
- Volunteer sponsored events can be listed in the regional biweekly email newsletter.
- Our SU plans one camp weekend each August at a privately-owned camp (that has horses and a climbing wall), for about $160 per person for the weekend which covers everything.
- We use a non girl scout site
- If its open to more than one service unit, it gets posted on the calendar. If it's only one SU, then it isnt'.
- Many people in the SU have coordinated various types of events - from renting the entire camp or to the one building as I have done. Attendance has varied from year to year and more events have had to be canceled in recent years due to low attendance.
- Do not often see volunteer events on our COMAR
- Need more
- Our SU encampment is a favorite activity of our unit. Due to our size and the number of Council sponsored overnights it is difficult to get a camp as the weather gets nicer.
- I am not involved with the service unit. They are too far away and NEVER do events - so my town troops do our own thing.
- Our SUM arranges a district camp weekend but it is not usually at a Girl Scout owned camp. They choose a YMCA camp because there are a wide range of choices of activities. Usually the only outdoor activities we attend as a troop are the ones organized by our local district. There are just not enough offered by council.
- We seldom use Council properties for Service Unit events, as they are difficult to reserve.
- Are able to do these events because we know safety will not be a concern at council-owned properties. Also know we have the backing of the council maintenance staff if anything goes wrong with the facility.
- Getting leaders to help plan/lead can be a challenge due to the lack of council assisting in the planning
- We normally hold events at local parks and churches because they don't charge rental fees. Only SA weekends and day camp is held at camp
- Because council properties are distant, we use many local, state and national park spaces for our outdoor events.
- Our council has a committee run outdoor education and relaxation weekend for adult volunteers that has been going on for at least 70 years. It seems our council is always putting up barriers to this event.
- The council will help us promote, but we choose not to use them because we fill up with people from our own area. We cannot open our events up to other areas because of this.
- having been the main organizer of a volunteer run resident camp, I think I have a pretty good understanding of the finances involved and I think the council's price for resident camp is ridiculous, even considering paid staff.
- I don't think our SU has done an event at one of the camps. The camp outs are held at a more local camp site :(
- Because our SU is in the area of one of 3 of our Council Service Centers, we often have blurred lines between Council and SU events. For instance, we did a Campfire & Carols at Camp Saki over the summer. Our Manager of Community Cultivation got the cost of camp waived by marketing it as a recruitment event and being there to sign up any new girls. Similar circumstances are happening in October for a JGL b-day party with a Haunted Walk. Wrapping in Council recruitment to waive fees of camp.
- We had to change our Day Camp, due to lack of availability as camps closed. We've also had to change from Spring to Fall Encampment, as no Spring weekends work. We COMPLETELY fill our high adventure camp in January - and as cabins decay, we lose beds and can bring fewer girls.
- So many encampments and all want the close locations (so younger girls can attend) and often the same dates. This can make it tricky to reserve but GSEM tries really hard!
- I am SU Events and trying to promote.
- We had a service unit event at our local camp a couple of weeks ago. It was a huge success!!! It was an overnight with many outdoor classes for all ages of the girls to take part in! The girls loved it. Between a third and a half of the girls in the service unit took part in this camp. The girls were amazed. This was the first time our service unit ever did anything like this!!!
- We never use council camps for these reasons - difficult to book, expensive, far away etc.
- Because it is a 2 to 3 hour drive to all of council owned camp properties we try to do an encampment twice a year but sometimes troops are not available on the weekend we are given in the lottery.
- At the last volunteer event, we tried to offer various activities and were force to cancel soe due the the inability to find certified personal, after the council promise it to us. One activity was canceled because the required equipment was not on-site even after requesting 2 months in advanced
- Council will help promote if we open the event to troops outside of our service unit.
- Since we do not have a Girl Scout camp, we use the local Boy Scout Camp. It's very nice, clean, and reasonably priced.
- We do SU events at camps other than GS properties
- Since the closure of the two closest camps to our SU, it has been extremely hard to plan and put on our traditional fall camporee. very difficult and expensive to use the camp kitchen and hard to transport the girls to the camp. distance and travel time limits the amount of time we can enjoy camp activities. Layout of the closest camp is not conducive to large camp-wide camporee. Very hard to get dates due to competition for limited camp space
- Wish we could get use of camps more often and first choice like before. One month before troops
- If we do a service unit event is for our s/u alone
- Most of our Service Unit/Volunteer-Led events are not at Council properties due to cost. We rent campgrounds at SRA's for much less. Our annual camporee is less than $15 per girl for the whole weekend and includes all activities. The only other cost is that troops provide their own food. This helps them keep their food costs down as well. Troops report that they are spending an average of $15-20 per girl for the entire weekend. That brings the total cost of the weekend to $30-35 per girl versus $200-400 per girl for a similar camp through our Council.
- Occasionally council has scheduled a conflicting program the same day....actually alot this past year....never informing us of another activity.....
- Because our council camps are so far away we tend to NOT utalize them for our SA events/camps. Instead we use local parks, churches, schools, community buildings. These events do get posted on the council event schedule/calendar so they are open to anyone in the council.
- The scheduling process is infuriating. Leaders won't commit without dates, while the council wants several date options to choose from. We have to call to see if our dates we want are available then quickly turn in paperwork. We need an interactive reservation system where we can select and hold a date instead of going back and forth, especially when we have to request a check from council staff to use SU funds to pay the SU deposit for the campout. There is a disconnect between the council staff and volunteers at the SU level. The above mentioned reservation system would be helpful at the troop level as well.
- New to community leadership, previous leadership never planned community events
- I have not organized the SU event but like to attend.
- We have an annual Citywide Encampment. We used to have Daisy/Brownie camp and a Junior camp. CSA plan something different. Our weekend is always Mother's Day or in the cold weather which doesn't help with volunteers or outdoor activities.
- Council has a little better idea of the needs/wants of the older girls than council
- Due to the costs of using our council camps, we have had to go to non Girl Scout camps. Cost is always an issue.
- We have hosted many SU outdoor events, but never at a GS camp. they are all too far away.
- Not a fan of Service Unit Encampments. Love the idea, but they fall short. I would rather book adventure weekends from Council, but they fill up very quickly.
- My SU doesn't plan anything but encampment every other year. No interim outdoor activities or campouts. Other SUs or communities do, so I sometimes go with them instead.
- I have lead a SU event and had trouble being paid back. The SU expected us to do it out of our own money.
- I have only been a participating member, not on planning committee
- The biggest obstacle we have for running events is lack of outdoor training for our volunteers. Either they don't have the time or inclination for the training or it hasn't been offered at the right time.
- I have not helped plan an event, but I have helped be a trainer at events.
- We often held service unit and multi service unit events when we had a camp, but council has closed it and wants to sell it. They refuse to look at the statistics that show the poorest segment of our girl population was with less than an hour's ride from our old camp. These parents do not have transportation or the ability to take off work for a half day trip to get their daughter to the current camp.
- Council program advisers told me the council farms out all its program sessions to other nonprofits, and farms out the summer established camp mini-sessions to a group of GS alumnae.
- Many/most of the events are run by volunteers and/or by volunteers trying to earn funds for their girls/troops to travel to a WAGGGS center of Savannah. So because of that we are lucky to have a wide range of activites. However, most of these activities are not outdoors and camping - but the last few years a few have been and with our new council wide outdoor C/S/A troop hopefully this will be an area of growth in our council.
- Biggest problem is getting adult volunteers.
- We are a smaller SU and we don't have a local camp in our city. So much of this doesn't apply. Council will include event information on their website if you tell them about it far enough in advance.
- Our service unit is in its 15 year of hosting a camp and have been able to keep the cost affordable by opening the camp up to 100+ people for the weekend. If we didn't fill the camp to capacity I don't think we could afford it
- Have tried to volunteer like I did in 1983, '84, '85....they are not interested.
- Our service unit typically doesn't do any outdoor activities. Aside from one or two troops, they are very much indoors type leaders.
- I'm not involved in planning our SU's annual encampment, but I do know that they have difficulty finding a camp to accommodate our large SU (lots of troop participation) as we have to rent the entire camp.
- I've never been involved in planning these. I did attend a Service Unit encampment last Spring and assisted with planning on a local level. The SU chose to NOT use a Council camp because they could camp locally for 1/2 the cost, including food, lodging and all their supplies.
- SU events tend to be more reasonably priced than council events. Adventure weekend at Council is $60/perons. SU camping trips are $40-45/person, oftentimes with a discount for the required adults.
- Most in my Service unit are not outdoor trained and their is little interest in traditional outdoor programs. The co diction of our local amp drives people away. This is not the case for all camps in our council, but has a significant effect on our local camp, Camp Tanglewood.
- Our service unit does not receive adequate information regarding any support programs available to help with volunteer led events
- I have attended service unit led events and they have been highly successful. I have also attended events at Camp Amahami which were led by volunteers. The events led by the volunteers are favorites of the girls in our troop because the volunteers love their camp and know it very well. I feel that the volunteer led events ran smoother and seemed to be better planned than the council led events at camp.
- Not ample facilitators to run areas for troop SU events
- The ones in our local area a poorly attended and sometimes promoted also.
- We don't have many activities at any of the council owned properties because they are too far away from our community. We usually use locations in our city.
- Due to the cost and unavailability of our camps, we plan our events at local group camps through the metro parks and state parks.
- Service Units are often left on their own to plan events. Council should be more available to help the volunteers with planning and safety.
- They will help promote but only if you know the process to follow and who to ask and this is not often explained to leaders so they don't even know it is an option. Then the end result for a camp event might be to be included in a email of events or if you specifically ask possibly the online calendar. Unless the local membership person is good any active marketing is really up to the volunteers.
- We find other camps that are closer. Our Council camp is too far for our parents.
- Our SU usually holds an encampment every year but participation has dropped so much that we're just doing a day event this year. The girls love but the leaders don't want to be bothered and they don't put the info out there for the girls.
- Too expensive,
- We run them as Community events, the only extra fees we have are for canoe rental and archery equipment for the day. Other than that we pay for the whole camp for the weekend.
- Council should support and advertise all events. All of it benefits the girls, camps and the council or the community we live in.
- Closest council "house" is an hour away for some of our girls & costs too much. We use local facilities with little to no cost.
- The service unit events are generally much more affordable and easier to get to. They are rarely held at Council owned property.
- We are often blocked out by non-girl scout groups.
- These program are what hold us together as a unit. Volunteers do all the planning, shopping, cooking, leading the programs. The girls (all ages) always have a great time. It's sometimes very difficult to new people to volunteer because it's a lot of work. Council should be doing this.
- I was told I could not get a camp for free to hold a Daisy Brownie camp day to promote the camps and to earn money for the annual family giving fund. Our SU would have been glad to pay a partial fee, but not even that was offered. Sad that the camp properties manager could not see the value in such a negotiation.
- Communities are supposed to get preference for camp rental but when we try to get a date for camporees we find that things are booked up already...9 months in advance.
- More accessibility to gs properties
- Certain weekends are set aside for Service Unit events at certain camps at my Council,so we have to plan accordingly. We have been merged into a very large Community, and we will not all fit into one camp for the next Community-wide campout. That's a problem, as we want to offer the opportunity to everyone!
- Our service unit does NOTHING, and they SEVERELY lack in communication and are somewhat rude!!
- Our own Service Unit does great supporting and promoting. The council does not.
- Our service unit never considers council owned outdoor properties for events. There's too much paperwork and families are unwilling to travel that far.
- My girls have attended a few if these and have been disappointed.
- Service Unit/Volunteer-Led events could use more support from council. At times, we will need volunteers to teach in a certain area. Council might have this information, connection to help us fill this position. Also, knowing equipment council has to offer to help support these events. For example, at a camped trained event, we needed a microphone. By having a conversation with a council rep, found out they have a microphone we can borrow. If we didn't talk about it we would have expenses this items which may cost a lot of money. Council needs to help out when and where they can.
- I would say that the neverending list of trainings, rules, paperwork may deter some people from attempting an SU camp.
- We have a volunteer from a neighboring county that organizes day trips and such. She "self promotes" her programs. Our county also offers the ONLY STEM program for robotics in GSEP. GSEP will advertise it in Spark, but does not offer ANY financial assistance for the program. This is an oxymoron when they are trying to promote STEM programs, and our all girl team is a unique find at these competitions.
- Very few SU's in my area are able to host day camps. For years, the next largest SU in the area hosted a day camp at a local state park instead of the council's camp.
- There is little or no assistance with planning event content. The outdoor staff who run the camps are typically friendly but are busy planning their own events.
- Held a leader-daughter campout last June. Reserved units online, paid one office, questions to another office. had terrible time getting info or facilitators for additional activities for swimming and kayaking. Had to hire my own lifeguards but price not reduced.
- i have never tried to host a camp activity cost to much to rent the camp
- Most SU events in my area are held locally (schools, churches) as opposed to camp properties. Camp/council properties are not an option. Certain properties are more available than the camp closest to me which is one of the resident camps that is routinely rented out for weddings and SU's cannot use it.
- Was hard to get camp for community camping. Council would not h I've us a date in Sept until July
- We had to stop doing our annual SU camp. It was too expensive to rent the camp for the weekend. It pushed the overall cost to attend too high.
- We used to do a camp at our local fairgrounds - lack of volunteers for a week has caused our Service Unit to drop this
- Our SU hasn't offered any outdoor camping or events. I suggested it 4 months ago and at out meeting lasting another leader said because her and a few others did their outdoor camping training they want to have a camporee. Very upset and they are forming a click and these few continue to take on all the jobs and not spread them out
- To get them to promote volunteer led events, you really have to bully or nag the membership managers. Now, that may just be my particular membership manager. When I ran a SU bus trip to DC for the 100th, that MM really helped me get the word out.
- We usually have to go to a Boy Scout Camp to hold our Service Unit Camp Out - local camp is not big enough and the next closest camp is over an 1 and 1/2 hours away and they would not let us book all the lodges which would give us enough room for our event....
- Our SU has many facilitators as members. SU Camp is a big part of our SU. we are currently planning our camp and have 7 or more "directors" We try to keep the cost as low as possible. we also have a grant from a deceased member of our service team that we use to keep the cost down for the girls. we are also planning programs that will earn badges for the BJ, and will almost be the entire badge for CSA. those girls will have to assess the program and finish the badge on their own. newer troops will be paired with more experienced troops at campsites so that the older girls can help the newer members of scouting.
- All council camps too far away for this type of event
- We have had a Staff run event called WOW for the past 6 years. Workshops run by volunteers for volunteers to attend to learn things to bring back to their troops and to network with other volunteers from all over our council. This year it was kicked to the volunteers to run with a month to go before the scheduled date. We moved it out one more month and have planned and promoted at every opportunity. I have checked all council offices and have been able to locate one flier. They mentioned it once in our message to leaders email. Registration is still very low. I hope we can pull it out to continue it in the coming years.
- Council has been very supportive of volunteer-led events so that the camps will be used and not stay empty on the weekends.
- I help run our annual SU camporee. We don't even try to get a GS property. We use a YMCA camp instead.
- We have a lodge not council owned we can all stay in as a troop and we center it around psyches and badges.
- My service unit hosts one event just for our local service area and then our regional service unit offers a council wide event geared towards outdoor skill rotations for leaders and girls to come out and experience the outdoors. They do prepare their own meals for this event and some who are not outdoor trained mentor or join other troops to help. This is a mentoring campout geared to get those leaders out who need an helping hand in adjusting to the outdoor programs but are not comfortable doing it on their own. My goal is to get all those leaders outdoor skill trained and the girls to start learning. We do rotations in outdoor skills and ecology along with archery and canoeing.
- More encouragement and mentoring is needed to get Service Units to be comfortable hosting outdoor events.
- Council properties are too far for most events of won't work to hold the crowd. We squeezed 40 in for WTD Glad we said no parents.
- Our largest problem: our SU is not very active in SU Events.
- This is the only type of event I have seen offered
- Sorry - no su events held at gs camps
- We hold a yearly su Campout at a local campground
- When our service unit has planned these events they have chose to use non-Girl Scout owned properties because the cost is cheaper and they provide access to life guards, etc. Our council is not helpful in finding additional staff or volunteers (I.e. Lifeguards, etc). Since we travel to get to the camps, it would be helpful if the council would provide a list of possible people to contact to hire.
- There is a request form for extra activities to be taught by a trained member of council. ex: canoeing, Archery, Lifeguard. I have made the request 5 times & all 5 times, I have not received services.
- We haven't used council property for our camporee since we have a town owned property we can use. Our camporee is typically for first time tent campers so we keep it local.
- Have lots of trouble getting adult help with events. Everybody wants the events but no one wants to have to plan or work them.
- Our council tried to do community camps run by older scouts, but they expected the girls to do several camp trips a year which is difficult for their schedules and for them to pay to attend even though they work it. Encampments became difficult to coordinate and to get girls to work. How the funds were collected also was an issue as council wanted to collect the money, but the event planners need funds available to purchase supplies.
- The service unit put on a nice day camp. The only negative was they awarded daisies brownie badges.
- Some service units sponsor local day camps in the county, but as a working parent, I've never been able to get my daughter there. Our service unit hasn't used the council camp for an event. This year we are trying our first service unit camp out at the local state beach....trying to get more leaders/girls interested in camping.
- Many of our local volunteer units run either day or "minicamps" in the summer (where girls can sign up individually and weekend camporees (where girls sign up as troops) during the school year. Both types of camp are very popular in most cases and quite reasonably priced. Both types of camps serve as excellent ways to get girls out to do camping. . .and camporees (where other volunteers serve as the "certified" campers) are also effective in convincing new leaders that they might want to take camp trainings.
- We do not havea local service unit
- Volteers in our town try to plan things. Some do a good job od picking a date 3-4 months before and sticking with it. Some instruct troops to set aside 1-3 dates for over 2-4 months, then dont give a final date until a month before. Normally this is too late for most families, troops, to participate.
- I have not planned a SU camp event at a GS property. Our SU Camporee is held at a private camp, because it has more activities at a more affordable price. I did plan a multi-troop tent camping trip at another location.
- Our SU chooses to host them as low cost as possible so every girl will have a chance to attend
- We used to do service unit encampments (10 years ago?) but lately we cannot get enough troops interested.
- Council used to have every camp as a volunteer led, now out of 4 camps, only 1 camp will have a volunteer led Camp for 1 week in the summer. Service units have a hard time getting the camp when they want it
- We currently have an event that has been going for close to 50 years & is highly subsidized by the council with Adult Grants to attend. Because of this the council is considering not letting the volunteers host another weekend.
- Our service unit NEVER hold events at council owned properties.
- We have community camps held at our outdoor properties that are planned and staffed by volunteers.
- We have withdrawn from most SU events due to disorganization and poor site choices. The SU we are in now has never had an event at a council site, they use regional and state parks (which are either too small for us, or too difficult to use). This is not fair and not fun for our troops.
- I do not know on the above. But it seems that we often have trouble with location and are not able to get same camp two years in a row.
- Service unit does not plan camping events. There seems to be a disconnect between council and the service unit and the service unit does more activities. We are satisfied with the work our service unit does
- Our SU weekend is a highlight of each year. In addition several service units team up each year to offer an inexpensive week long day camp.
- In my experience, the best programs our troop has participated in, both from a cost/value perspective, and from the perspe give of being well organized and providing the girls with an enjoyable outdoor experience, have been SU/volunteer led events.
- We do not do our volunteer camp at a GS location, it is too far from us, and for the size of the closest it's not big enough for our area camp. We have over 150 come to ours.
- Our service unit gets to camp once every 18 months due to the number of SUs in the larger council. It used to be every year.
- I understand allowing non GS participants to enroll in day camp, but it seems to me there should be targeted maximums (10-20%) so registered Girl Scouts, who sell cookies to support council activities, don't get blanked out of participation.
- In our area, pretty much all camps are volunteer led. The local office does help out with them though.
- They are way too strict on if the event is a fund raiser or not.
- This is one area that our camps fall short on. They charge a ton of money for Service Unit sponsored events. They don't lower the rates because of the volume of people, they do not promote them except for the summer camps hosted by Service Units.
- Way too expensive!
- We don't have them. It costs us about the same amount to rent as a service unit as we do a troop so most do it individually or not at all. There's no incentive to get our schedules coordinated. Even if we volunteer to lead a girl scout event open to all girls in council for free we still have to pay the same prices. This isn't feasible so we end up hosting our birthday bash recruiting event at a church instead. Council looses another opportunity to expose girls to camp.
- Our rangers are very different people; one is difficult, one is helpful for only short bursts of time, and the third is "aggressively helpful." Rangers should be happy people are using the camp, help open buildings, and support the volunteers. One of them (at our "flagship camp") is consistently irritated that people are in his home & is less than helpful. So much so that you need to call his boss to get him to do his job (his boss is also a Ranger, who hosts drunken parties on GS property and does not upkeep his camp).
- We have never been encouraged to host any events at a girl scout facility. I didn't even know it was an option
- We need lifeguards--so much water around here and lack of lifeguards is a pain.
- We use our own venues or state parks or private camp sites near our city.
- Our preferred camps fill up faster. Ones that are farther away from us don't fill up as fast. They closed the one the service unit preferred as it was the "least valuable" with limited indoor space but our SU liked tent camping and we at least had flush toilets so it wasn't really primitive.
- Our service unit led camps and activities usually have more girls attend than the Council events! However, it is expensive to rent the camps and to hire facilitators. Some of our SU volunteers are certified so that we do not have to get facilitators from the Council. When we do get council facilitators, they are expensive and difficult to obtain!!
- Same as troop camping service units should work together to fill the csmp
- The price for our local camp was jacked up every year until it became more financially feasible to rent a different camp (a local Jewish camp).
- Camp is usually closed so it's very hard to rent the facilities for any kind of short term program. This wasn't always the case, until after the realignment.
- We don't have enough
- We have a great Service Unit Leader. If it wasn't for her, we would not have the outdoor activities we recently have.
- Our biggest obstacle is reserving a space. Calendar indicates camp is booked but we often hear that it's under utilized. How can that be? I personally think bookings are bogus.
- It is difficult to plan these events. help would be appreciated in finding the correct resources.
- Our volunteer led events are never held at council camps. It is way too expensive.
- We have only had 1 outdoor SU led event since I became a leader. Unfortunately, that was "weathered out/low participation" cancelled. I hope the SU is able to offer more events in the future.
- We have had to go to non Scout camps for encampments and Older Girl weekends because of the costs.
- Most of our events in our community/service unit are socials, like a movie night, mini-golf, etc. or Thinking Day. They do not do badge or level workshops.
- We have events at the SU level, or larger district level, and also at council wide level.
- We have not done service unit activities at our camp. Usually something closer to home.
- We always get our date because we book it 1 year in advance and it's not a GS camp. We use the YMCA camp.
- I don't know what it takes to host a SU event at a Council property.
- We do not choose to have any.
- Other than the volunteer day camp mentioned above, there are no other camps I know about!
- I'm not sure on the SU-led encampments other than they tried this Fall and the only date they could get was Halloween. The SU had to cancel because the girls and the parents did not want to camp over Halloween. I was told there were no other dates available (and this was booked back in August).
- The council typically helps to promote our event if it's to help raise money for a council-sponsored project such as when an older troop helped to remodel a cabin out at camp and several money-earning projects went on to help this effort.
- I have a compass and maps event coming up this weekend. Council has supported this program for over 25 years. We have a full camp of girls and adults.
- Not that easy to find volunteers to lead these activities
- Our SU provides 90% of the local programs offered to girls, and at lower cost and better attendance than council events. For that reason we get little support from council. Kind of like the A student doesn't get additional help to excel.
- Love our service unit day camp but don't know the answers to the questions being asked about costs/rentals. Only that a week of SU Day Camp, with transportation to and from, costs $140 for a week - very affordable.
- We love doing journey related camps because we can get most of the requirements done in a weekend instead of 10 meetings. And journeys take so much prep and are generally speaking a pain to plan on our own. So labor intensive
- We had to cancel a prepaid activity as council organizers were un able to get someone to run it.
- Little to no support from council. when it is given it is late or wrong.
- Sometimes reservations get misconstrued and we don't get the area we requested and have to regroup to another location.
- These are our favorite ways to experience GS camps. We are very lucky and have multiple overnight camps: Piper Valley for 5-12th, PYN for 4th-6th, Tanadoona for K-12th. Our day camps are really popular, too, but we hold those at non-council properties that are closer. Our volunteer led overnight camps are $20-25 for a 2-night weekend camp, so they are very affordable for troops.
- Our service unit uses the local Boy Scout camp we can never get our local camp reserved
- Our volunteer led event is amazing because we have many involved at the local level.
- SU camp or 3 or more troops that would like to came can not get space. Camps make you pay per$15 bed no safety wise adults, camps space is saved for first time troop campers. And the every day hint we use has a fee building space $200 kitchen $200. Then a hav to pay staff and food. So camp for a large group run's $$ each and I thats not include any camp active horses ropes course. The grounds buildings and tent are a mess
- Not directly involved but I've heard the chair of our encampment complain about costs. Each activity is extra.
- There are a group of volunteers who run an adult volunteer weekend every year for about 70 years and lately it seems like they have faced a lot of difficulty from our council regarding. Location, dates, and spreading the word around.
- We are given out encampment dates 1 year prior, 1st choice & 2nd choice so we always know well in advance when encampment is going to be.
- We do our own town encampment for the weekend
- Council provides no support to volunteers when planning outdoor events.
- If the fee's were reduced, we would use the council properties more often. The fee's are a bit high, so we use other facilities so our girls can afford to attend.
- None of our Service Unit Volunteer outdoor events would be described as using the council's facilities.
- We have a local Girl Scout Hut with property available to use that does not cost us anything.
- I love leading outdoor events. However, many of the other leaders do not have enough training in order to participate or don't want to participate. I wish there a blog for Girl Scouts who like the camping and outdoor life and we could camp together. I just don't know any other troops like mine.
- Regardless of who is running the event council should publicize all equally. We all do this for the girls' benefit.
- Last time we did a SU event we signed up for and paid for archery and no instructor with last minute notification from Council. Had to change on the fly and manage disappointment from the girls. I feel like Council does not support us w/ programming help.
- Our Service Unit handles promoting the event within or out of our Service unit as needed.
- Have not had good participation in camp events - not sure if lack of interest from girls or if parents are the block.
- Our Service Unit rents all of Mountaindale for our summer day camp. We rent all of Arrowhead for our fall weekend camp. When I was fund development coordinator, the Council would offer a prize of a weekend Council property rental for the top fund development Service units. Our Service Unit took fund development very seriously as we wanted to earn use of a property for a Service Unit event. We no longer have a Council staff in fund development so this program and incentive no longer is available.
- Because of cost of council property and distance, we plan our own events locally.
- There is no staff support for planning SU events and you must book so early that troops cannot commit.