How to Help

Below is a list of various ways you can help to save camps in your area. Please note, contact links are specific to our council (GSEIWI). These links may be helpful to use as a framework if you are working on setting up contact lists for your own area. 



News/Media
  • Write Letters to the Editor explaining why these camps are important and why they need to be invested in and saved. Recruit former and current campers, volunteers, Girl Scouts, and concerned community members to write letters as well.  Click here for a list of media contacts for GSEIWI.
  • Like our Facebook page to stay up to date on news and other important info concerning the camps. Click here for our FB page.
  • Share our website, Facebook page, newspaper articles, and council news on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc)  to help spread awareness and keep the community informed. 
  • Contact local newspapers and television stations with story ideas and news releases related to the camps. Click here for a list of media contacts for GSEIWI.
  • Contact local radio stations for their support, especially call-in talk shows, and line up several callers.
  • Display ads in local newspapers. Advertising needs to be repeated to be effective. Display ads are expensive, yet we control what is printed and when, something we don’t have with news releases. Don’t forget to check with free, community weekly newspapers as well. 
  • Make a video or slide show and post to You Tube, Facebook, and other social media sites. Try to get a local community TV channel to air it as well.

Raising Local Awareness
  • Post SOS Camps! flyers at community kiosks, churches, libraries, employee break room bulletin boards, gas stations, malls, grocery store boards, restaurants, campuses, union buildings, recreation centers, and anywhere else where large groups of people will see them. Print the flyers on light green paper with black ink if possible. 
  • Marquee signs at businesses along busy streets. Contact businesses, ask if they have connections to Girl Scouts, and ask if they will put Save Our Girl Scout Camps on their outdoor marquee.
  • Church and school bulletins and newsletters, if they sponsor troops, they may put a small notice in their publications.
  • Store window painting by troops with drawings of camp and key phrases like, “57% of our girl scouts use our camps!” or “Divest = Sell. Don’t sell our camps!”
  • Imprint buttons with SOS Camps! for people to wear around town.
  • Flash mobs wearing T-shirts. If we had flash mobs wearing SOS Camps! shirts (or camp shirts) at a mall singing camp songs, it would be effective.

Community Groups and VIP endorsements
  • Secure VIP endorsements, such as Women of Achievement, business leaders, Athena award winners who were Girl Scouts or campers, etc.
  • Contact local groups like Rotary, Kiwanis, PTA, Women’s clubs and organizations like Wa Tan Ye to see if you could speak at one of their meetings. There may be leaders and members of those organizations who are former Girl Scouts and interested in helping.
  • Contact groups that may be willing to work with the council on programming and conservation initiatives to help promote and save our camps. 

Educating Community Leaders and Legislators
  • Talk to local community leaders, such as mayors, city council members, county board of supervisors, conservation board members, etc. about the issues facing our camps. They need to be aware that girl scout camps are in danger of being lost as they make decisions that affect the youth of our communities in terms of programs and funding. Ask them to write letters of support for the camps to your council leaders and board members. Click here for links to GSEIWI council contacts. 
  • Contact state representatives to educate them about the situation facing our camps and how that will impact the girls in our communities. Ask them to write letters of support for the camps to your council leaders and board members. Click here for contact information for state and US legislators (Iowa and Illinois). 
  • Contact your US senators and representative in Congress. A bill has been introduced in the House to provide pension relief for charities, including GSUSA. Our representatives need to hear from their constituents in Iowa what is happening on the ground here in our council. (This bill was passed in 2014.)