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JANE MADDEN WELCHSummer at Wai Lani might come with air conditioning someday. Rapid growth in membership pushes the Girl Scouts to upgrade Suncoast Council camps.
PALM HARBOR - Twelve-year-old Stephanie Thompson spent nearly two weeks this summer without a phone, television, computer, CD player or air conditioning.
Voluntarily.
She traded high-tech comforts for 12 days of outdoor living at the Wai Lani Girl Scout Camp in Palm Harbor.
Nestled amid palmetto and pine trees on 48 acres on the Gulf of Mexico, Camp Wai Lani is a wildlife sanctuary with a marine biology lab, boathouse, crafts shelter and large swimming pool. It also includes sleeping units for 96 girls and 24 adults. Scouts can earn badges in activities such as ceramics, graphic prints, kayaking, swimming and water safety.
Wai Lani (pronounced Why LON-nie) is one of four camps operated by the Girl Scouts of Suncoast Council, which serves Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Hernando counties. Like its sister camps, it could be due for an expansion in coming years.
In April, a new master site plan was presented at the council's annual meeting, outlining a $23-million "facelift" for the camps over the next 20 years. It was the first time in the council's history that a consultant was hired to develop a blueprint for expansion.
"We've seen such a tremendous growth in membership," said Jody Johnston, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Suncoast Council.
There has been a 6 percent increase in membership nationwide and 24 percent increase in the four-county area in the past five years, Johnston said.
In Pinellas County there are 7,297 members, according to Carol Ihrig, chief operating officer.
Ihrig and Johnston attribute the rise in membership to the influx of people moving to the area as well as new outreach programs aimed at underserved girls.
"We needed to take a look at all our properties to make sure we're meeting the need of our girls today and for the future," Johnston said.
Camp Wai Lani first opened in October 1970.
"The original plan was for a conference center to be rented out on weekdays to outside groups," Ihrig said. "But there never was a marketing strategy devised to accomplish that."
That's what the new plan hopes to address.
Wai Lani is used primarily by the Girl Scouts with resident camps in May, June and July, and weekend use by various Scout troops during the rest of the year. There is very limited use by other organizations, although it is available for rental.
"We need to upgrade the facility to be competitive in the conference market," Johnston said.
One obvious need is for air conditioning. Other proposals are for an all-purpose program center, audiovisual facility, expanded food service, archery field and an increase of sleeping capacity by 48 beds.
"The new plans also call for units to be wheelchair-accessible with decks and ramps," Ihrig said. Because the camp is in a flood zone, all the units are raised off the ground with stairs as the only access.
It will take $3-million to get a conference center running, about $5-million overall to make the desired upgrades at Wai Lani, Johnston said.
The Girl Scouts of Suncoast Council recently hired a consulting firm to check on the feasibility of implementing a special fundraising program to meet the proposed budget.
"We'll get started the minute the money is available," Johnston said.
Fees for the summer resident camps range from $175 to $425. Camps last from four to 12 days, depending on the age group and activities. Girls 6 to 17 can attend.
Cheryl Warnock has been the resident camp director since 1997. She oversees a staff of 25.
"The campers come from all over the country, many returning from previous visits," Warnock said. "We've had girls from Mexico and Spain."
Stephanie, a seventh-grader at Tarpon Springs Middle School, has been in Girl Scouts for eight years. She began as a Daisy, the pre-Brownie level, and has been to at least six camps.
A day before packing up to go home, her cadet group of six girls and two counselors paddled 2 miles out to Sunset Beach for the afternoon.
"That was my favorite thing," Stephanie said. "Pulling onto the beach in our kayaks, knowing that we did it."
For more than 300 girls this summer, the camp provided that kind of experience, and that's the idea. The name, Wai Lani, is Polynesian for "water paradise."