3 Girl Scout camps to stay open next summer

Responding to strong and passionate support for Camp Tweedale in southern Chester County, the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania have delayed the closing of three camps through next summer.

"Everybody is so thrilled," Karen D'Agusto, a leader of the campaign to save Tweedale, said Wednesday. "Now we can find out what they [the Girl Scouts Property Committee] want and reach out to members of the community to provide those things."

The committee's decision last week to "continue to run outdoor program[s] at all camps through Sept. 30, 2012," posted on the council's blog, also means a four-month reprieve for 235-acre Camp Tohikane in Haycock and East Rockhill townships in upper Bucks County and Hidden Falls in the Poconos. The three camps were scheduled to close as early as June, based on a two-year study of the council's six largest camps.

Those closings would leave the Philadelphia area, which accounts for 73 percent of the council's 41,195 Girl Scouts, with only one overnight, year-round camp — Camp Laughing Waters in Gilbertsville, Montgomery County. The other two camps are Wood Haven in Schuylkill County and Mosey Wood in Carbon County.

Of the council's nine counties, Chester ranked second in membership last year with 6,519, followed by Bucks with 6,410. Those scouts and their parents would have to drive two to three hours to camp, opponents of the closings said, challenging a council report that "all camps are about an hour travel distance from membership."

At a community meeting on Aug. 24, Tweedale supporters presented petitions with more than 2,000 signatures.

"Having camp next summer was the first thing we asked for," D'Agusto said, "so we can do a better, more accurate analysis of what is needed to keep it open."

Community support was one of the factors for keeping the camps opened, said Kim Fraites-Dow, senior director of development. Other factors were "scheduling for the year and what makes sense logistically."