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Girls Scouts Break Out The Elbow Grease

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST

Summer O'Regan was one of Girl Scouts who turned out last Saturday for an annual cleanup at Camp Wai Lani. Summer, 9, is a member of Troop 1002, in Palm Harbor.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: January 23, 2009

Updated:

PALM HARBOR - Summer O'Regan was unfazed by the task confronting her: washing windows in a lodge at Camp Wai Lani, in the Palm Harbor area.

"I washed windows at my church with my dad," the 9-year-old Girl Scout noted. "It was fun."

Summer was one of about 50 girls, ages 8 - 14, who took sponges, cloths and paintbrushes in hand last Saturday to spruce up the venerable Girl Scout camp. Their work included painting, cleaning, burning brush piles and changing fire alarm batteries and light bulbs.

The girls braved a chilly Florida winter day to participate in "A Day On, Not a Day Off," part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Initiative.

Girl Scouts at camps in Hudson, Riverview, Odessa and Wildwood also participated in the annual project.

According to Barbara Wilson, Camp Wai Lani public relations liaison, the service day teaches girls leadership, community service and responsibility for ownership of their camps. It also gives them a chance to participate in a vision of what they want their camps to be.

In addition, the camp allows the girls to see Florida wildlife at its best. Foxes, gopher tortoises, wood storks, bald eagles and roseate spoonbills are among the animals that live on Camp Wai Lani's 40 waterfront acres.

For Girl Scout Ranger Allen Gardner, who lives on the camp, it's a day to get some help. "There's tremendous work to be done," he noted.

"You guys ready to work? That's the only way you're going to stay warm," Gardner greeted Girls Scout and leaders from a visiting troop.

By mid-day, the girls were painting living quarters, changing light bulbs and burning brush piles under adult supervision.

In Hudson, about 56 girls showed up at the 160-acre Camp Indian Echo, in rural northwestern Pasco, to lend a little elbow grease to cleaning projects. Plummeting temperatures on Friday and Saturday nights didn't deter girls from staying overnight in log cabins, platform tents, and tree houses.

The clean-up day is popular with the Girl Scouts, noted Ranger Deb D'Elia. "They love it. It's improving the camps. They can see a difference."

Girls from St. Petersburg, Plant City, Hernando County and Clearwater, as well as West Pasco, signed up to work at Indian Echo, said D'Elia. Because all the camps are different, Girl Scouts often visit camps outside of their geographical areas.

The Camp Indian Echo is special because the Girl Scouts only use 50 of its 160 acres. The rest is a wilderness that is home to a wide variety of animal and plant life.

In honor of the day's connection with King, D'Elia asked the girls for their dreams about the camp. Answers varied from getting a swimming pool to building a place to sleep with heat.

The day provided a life lesson for the girls, she observed. "We teach them to leave things better than the way you found it. We were certainly doing that."

Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 or cbentley@suncoastnews.com.

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