Camp Grants Success

I just heard back from Melissa Riley Smith in registration. The camps are "mostly filled" for February and March. She estimates that about 90% of the troops have accepted our grants. In other words -- it's working!

We are accomplishing two of the three things we hoped to do.

1. More girls have the experience of being at our beautiful camp.

2.  We are showing that a lower price tag CAN draw in more people. This has implications for the future. The council may want to think about offering discounts of its own. Especially during winter months which is a slower time at camp. Yes, it's more expensive to heat the buildings in winter, but you provide more programming when people can afford to go.

3.  The third goal is showing the board of directors and the office administration that FoCH members support the camp. It's not just a lot of talk. This is where we want the impact of a LOT of individual donors all contributing what they can. The "Miracle on 34th Street" Effect where they open the envelope from us and a huge pile of checks spring out! The NUMBER OF DONORS is as IMPORTANT as the amount of donation.

So far, contributions have been coming in s-l-o-w-l-y. If you have already given -- your generosity is deeply appreciated.

If you have been waiting to see if anyone would accept the grants, you have your answer.

If you can send $10 or $25 ( or more, if you are able ) AND get a couple of friends or relatives to contribute $5 each - that would help so much. If we receive enough support, we can extend the program into April.

We will need to discuss how much money to grant troops using the adirondacks.

And think how awesome it will be to say to BZ - "we have overwhelming support, we want to open it up to the Far Away Pines unit, too"

Lynn