By Madeline Jackson, GSGCF Property Manager

Chippy, our new GSGCF camp mascot, is back with more camp updates! Last week, we shared a list of improvements made to Camp Caloosa. This week, we’re highlighting what’s new at Camp Honi Hanta. Chippy also has a few general tips and reminders for all campers. Let’s get started!

A number of Girl Scout troops and individual girl members worked with adult volunteers on a wide variety of service and highest award projects, including:

• Painting picnic tables in the screen houses 
• Painting G.I.R.L.-themed benches
• Painting the Equipment Depot exterior (Troop 267)
• Painting the Eagles Nest Bathhouse exterior (Troop 408)
• Painting the Weavers Nest Bathhouse exterior, deep cleaning and organizing the Manatee House kitchen cabinets, deep cleaning the carpeting, and trimming the front entrance (Troop 149)
• Painting the Weavers Nest Bathhouse flooring (Troop 489)
• Weeding fire circles and adding crushed shell to raise them
• Designing and constructing an elevated fire pit with benches for large-group campfires (Mia Haynes)
• Decorating the Manatee House leader bedroom and bathroom (Troop 361)
• Installing a pollinator garden and eliminating some of the invasive Brazilian pepper trees (Troop 140)
• Assembling and installing bat houses with informational flyers in the screen rooms (Troop 86)
• Designing, assembling, and installing campfire wood sheds for three of the fire circles (Troop 607)

Have you noticed how amazing the Manatee House exterior looks?

Adult volunteers also did a wonderful job with projects including:

• Clearing paths for additional camp exploration and back roadways for emergency egress and first responder access
• Scraping camp roadways and installing new shell for greater stability
• Building a climbing wall mulch containment area to prepare for belay bench installation
• Repairing nozzles in the Rain Forest and repainting the wood frame
• Chopping wood left from Hurricane Irma for use in fire circles (stored at ranger garage)
• Replacing stairs and ramps at Armadillo Alley Cabin #2 and painting the interior walls of all campsite bathhouses (thank you, Publix/United Way Suncoast volunteers!)
• Installing two standard beds in Armadillo Alley Cabin #2 for campers with disabilities
• Building and installing new archery stands

Publix volunteers rebuilt the ramp at Armadillo Alley cabin #2 as part of the 2018 United Way Day of Caring.

In addition, our council staff has been hard at work to provide the following:

• A coffee maker, new dishwashing bin, and new Coleman stove for each screen house, and a broom for each cabin
• Organized storage with added shelving in the lodge kitchen
• A “Rainy Day” room in the Lodge with board games
• New keypad front-gate entry access for a higher degree of safety
• Deadbolt locks in the majority of the bathhouses, to serve as true “lock-down” areas
• New PFD vests at the boathouse (some in larger sizes) for kayaking and canoeing (thanks to a grant from the Norman and Phyllis Siskel Donor Advised Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County)
• Additional kayaks and paddles so larger groups can kayak together
• New lifeguard board, portable pool umbrellas, and chairs
• Refurbished “Spider Web” low ropes course element
• Lightweight plastic tables and chairs in the Roundhouse
• New, low-maintenance, reinforced benches and tables, thanks to a generous grant from the Bradenton Kiwanis Foundation
• New stairs and decks for the Weaver’s Nest cabins

The new firewood stations are so handy!

A few camp reminders:

• Please turn over all your ash buckets once you’ve cleaned your fire circle. We don’t want them to collect water, which helps breed mosquitos and rust out the buckets.
• Check for all your belongings. There is a lost and found bin in each camp’s Lodge.
• Don’t forget to leave a fresh 35 gallon+ trash bag in all the garbage cans in your campsite.
• Each lodge has the following supplies available: wasp spray, D batteries for smoke detectors, and extra light bulbs.
• Nobody should wear sandals or flip flops. ONLY closed-toe shoes are proper footwear for camp.

If you worked on a project not listed here, please let us know so we can give you a shout out next time! Don’t forget, there is a Honi Hanta Hero patch that the girls can earn for doing a service project at camp. There is always something to do to improve camp and leave it better than we found it.

Subscribe to the GSGCF blog and watch for quarterly camp updates. There will also be tips for troops to make their camp stays fun and safe, along with some potential service project ideas.