In addition to random write-ups about Camp WaBak here and there through the years, I’ve been detailing its history in a series of posts. The first two were Camp WaBak’s Beginnings and Camp WaBak’s Opening. This one will discuss what camp life was like at its beginning!

A year after the successful inaugural summer of 1949, Camp WaBak expanded so that it could host 40 girls a week instead of only 30. In 1950, a May 18th article in The Greenville News noted camp improvements included an expanded staff area, an enlarged dining porch, new campfire areas for outdoor cooking, a paved road leading from the main road to the camp, and a bridge over Gap Creek. Continue reading

Death Spiral

National Operations, Opinions 5 Comments councils, gsusa, leader issues, service unit, volunteers

You might remember a storm from this past winter named Grayson that caused quite a bit of concern. I live in South Carolina, so we weren’t really affected by it like they were up north. To be honest, I doubt I would have even paid much mind to all of the attention it was getting on the news. Except this wasn’t just any ole winter storm – it was a BOMB CYCLONE! I guess naming winter storms a la hurricanes wasn’t sensational enough, so we’ve got to come up with attention-grabbing terms like BOMB CYCLONES! Next thing you know, we’ll have SHARKNADOS!

A friend of mine and I were chatting during that time about the upcoming bomb cyclone. We both agreed that it would be an awesome name for a band. And a thrash metal one at that! So what does all of this have to do with the title of this blog post? Nothing really except I think Death Spiral would also be great thrash metal band name. Continue reading

June 22 2018

Camp WaBak’s Opening

Traditional Stuff No Comments camp wabak, greenville sc, history, OFFICIAL scarf

In my first post about Camp WaBak’s beginnings, I highlighted how WaBak came to be with one exception – how did it get its name?

In May of 1948, Clyde Brooks sold ten acres to the Greenville Girl Scout council which included a five room lodge and an outdoor cooking shed. What had his family called the lodge before he sold it? Why, WaBak of course! Because it was “way back” in the woods. I’m not sure why it was abbreviated that way, but we’ll go with it. I haven’t seen documentation as to when the lodge was built, but I did find evidence of the WaBak name prior to the camp. Before Facebook status updates, newspapers way back in the day (see what I did there? 😀 ) published gossip – I mean – society news. I guess people submitted their comings and goings to the newspaper, like the Brooks did to let everyone know that Miss Mary Lee Mies visited them back in May of 1936: Continue reading

May 31 2018

The Yates Lodge at Camp WaBak

Traditional Stuff 3 Comments camp wabak, greenville sc, history, old 96 council

The Yates Lodge after a fresh load of mulch and newly planted irises

In one of my previous blog posts, I talked about visiting the Greenville (SC) Library in the hopes of finding out information about Charles H. Yates. One of the lodges at Camp WaBak is named after him, and there’s a very interesting item in the lodge itself that has always piqued my curiosity. When I arrived at the library, I found out that The Greenville News archives are not indexed, so my researching hopes went out the window. The library staff did find Mr. Yates’ death certificate. I didn’t ask for it nor did I really want it, but the woman who gave it to me seemed very excited to have found it, so I just smiled and said thank you even though it was a little morbid. I ended up discovering articles about the purchase of WaBak instead, which was just as exciting to me if not moreso than what I had originally intended for my visit. Continue reading

May 23 2018

A Timely Facebook Memory

Opinions 3 Comments delegate, facebook, governance, leadership, national delegate

You know how Facebook randomly shows timeline photos or posts from however many years ago? This one came up from an image I shared from the GSUSA Are You Listening? Facebook page two years ago, and it’s still relevant. I suppose it always will be!

May 16 2018

The Customer is Always Right?

National Operations, Opinions 10 Comments blue book, cei, councils, dead horses, democratic process, farthest north council, gsusa, j-low, membership dues, national board, national council, national delegate, strongly worded letter, volunteers, vtk

This is a topic that’s been beaten to death everywhere else, but I’ve never gotten around to it here on the GSWAC (not a council) blog.* And that is the word…

Customer.

Yes, the dreaded and hated word of volunteers and GS alumnae everywhere. And as featured in the title of the ubiquitous Customer Engagement Initiative (CEI). If you aren’t sure what CEI is all about, it’s basically a web-based technology developed by GSUSA. The components we see as volunteers are the website framework, the online membership registration system known as MyGS, an Opportunity Catalog in which parents can search to see what troops are available and have openings in their area, and a troop management system called Volunteer Toolkit (as featured in many inane videos on this blog). Almost every council in the United States including Overseas is on CEI at this point with the exception of the rogue councils Farthest North and Middle Tennessee.

When GSUSA and councils began to use the word customer a few years ago, volunteers everywhere got a strange look on their face and thought, “Huh? Who are they referring to?” Later on we realized, “Wait… WE’RE the customers?” Continue reading

May 11 2018

Cats and Badges

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me No Comments badges we don't need no stinkin badges, cats, history, the 80s

A friend of mine the other day sent me a picture of a retired badge and said she thought of me when she saw it:

I told her, “I earned that badge growing up!” and took a picture of it on my patch blanket:

May 7 2018

GSUSA Claims To See Russia From Alaska

National Governance 9 Comments farthest north council, governance, gsusa, membership dues, national board, national convention, national council

Well, there is no Judge Judy Sheindlin in Fairbanks, AK, but there is a Judge Bethany Harbison, and she ruled in favor of GSUSA rather than the Farthest North council on May 1st, 2018:

April 27 2018

Delegate Tips: Q&A

Delegate Duties 1 Comment board of directors, councils, delegate, governance, roberts rules

So say you’re a delegate, and you’re pretty frustrated because you feel like all you do at annual meetings is sit and listen to presentations given by the board and your council leadership. You have complained many times about the lack of delegate input but to no avail. Q&A sessions, if you even have one, are short and are cut off due to “running out of time.” You might even have to submit your questions ahead of time. How unfair is that? What if you have a question about one of the presentations?

You can find a more thorough explanation and more in-depth articles about council governance on the Council Delegate Primer found on GirlScoutGovernance.com.

April 24 2018

National Center West Map, Patch, and Cartoon

Reminiscing No Comments backpacking, history, jenny, national center west, patches, trip out west, troop 20

A few months ago, fellow Troop 20 member Jenny and I reconnected and went through a lot of her scrapbook stuff from our time together. I took some of it back home in order to document it. She even saved permission slips!

First is a copy of the smaller National Center West map that each of us received when we got there. Of course I lost mine, but Jenny to the rescue! A few years ago, I was able to track down a copy of the larger and more detailed topo map on ebay and pieced it together in one graphic but I was hoping to find a copy of the smaller map too. Continue reading

Girl Scout with a Cause

A 1950 Camp WaBak Kind of Day