by Elsie Mooers
The Cuyuna Range Girl Scouts is the largest youth group on the range. At this writing (ca. 2003), there are 115 girls registered and about twenty volunteer leaders and helpers. While troops have their own individual program, all the troops meet together at times for special Girl Scout events. One of these events is Girl Scout Sunday when all the girls go to church together. A different denomination is chosen each year and after the service, a luncheon is provided with a time of fun and fellowship. Girl Scouts on the range have been going to church together on Girl Scout Sunday for over fifty years. Since the advent of the Food Shelf, the girls contribute to that at this time also. In the past, there have been many Mother-Daughter banquets, usually held in conjunction with an awards ceremony. As the organization grew, the awards ceremony became too large to be meaningful. At the present time, each troop conducts its own awards night.
I have spent most of my adult life with the Girl Scouts. I have been a leader for most of those years, a trainer, the area coordinator, member of the Board of Directors. I have loved every minute of it. I would not have had any of it changed. In 2002, I was greatly honored when Land of Lakes Council established the Elsie Mooers Award. The award was established to celebrate the longevity of active, exceptional service to Girl Scouts and to honor my fifty-three years as an active Girl Scout volunteer.
My History with Girl Scouts
The early years of Girl Scouting on the Cuyuna Range have been chronicled in Cuyuna Country Volume 11; I now write about the years from 1950 to the present, 2003. I write from my own experiences of these past 54 years for that is how long I have been actively involved in the Girl Scout Program here on the Range.
I had never been a Girl Scout; I didn’t know anything about the program to speak of, but I was asked by Betty Mathews to be her assistant leader for troop 76, a group of 22 fifth grade girls. I agreed, never realizing I would spend most of the rest of my life working with girls in a program that would, as the Preamble to their Constitution states: “inspire girls in the highest ideals of character, conduct, patriotism and service so that they may become happy and resourceful citizens”. I felt it to be a worthwhile program then and I feel so now, all these many years later. I have enjoyed the girls and leaders more than I can ever say.
There have been many changes in these years that I write about. That first troop met in the Franklin Grade School and at that first meeting, we taught about compass reading, the trail being blazed through the Franklin basement. It was a maze of boilers, a huge furnace, coal bins, nooks and crannies of all kinds. We learned how to make a bed roll; sleeping bags had not become popular at that time. I mention meeting in the school because that is where most of the troops met at that time, in the Franklin, the Deerwood Elementary, the Ironton Elementary. Troops were organized by grades and there were about 200 girls registered. Most of the program dealt with skills that could be learned in those school buildings such as Homemaking, Cooking, Sewing, Craftwork and working on Service projects.
The Girl Scouts had three levels of scouting, Brownies, Intermediates and Seniors. They usually met once a week, dues were five cents. As the years went by and times changed, meeting times also changed. Today, some troops still meet weekly but some troops meet bi-weekly and some even meet once a month for a day-long meeting. Some troops still meet in the school but other troops meet in a home environment, the Library, or some other public building.
Where girls used to wear her uniform proudly on Girl Scout meeting day, the uniform now is much more relaxed and informal and seldom worn to troop meetings. Sashes and vests are designed to hold insignia, patches and pins and they are worn instead of a uniform.
Over the years, Service to the Community has been an integral part of the G. S. program in our range area of Crosby, Ironton, Deerwood and Emily. Some of the service projects have been in existence for over fifty years and I mention some of those here. The girls have made tray favors for the hospital and nursing homes for every Holiday. When Cedarbrook became a nursing home, some of the troops provided curtains and furniture to help furnish the rooms. The troops took turns to visit Cedarbrook, especially in March, the Girl Scout Birthday month. They brought cupcakes and ice cream and helped to serve the residents for all the years Cedarbrook was a nursing home. In the 1950’s a clothing drive was sponsored by the Girl Scouts for a Korean Orphanage. The girls collected forty boxes of good clothing which was shipped to the orphanage. They received photos back showing children in the clothing they had collected.
Each year the girls place Cap and Mitten Trees in various locations to collect caps and mittens for needy children. In later years, the caps and mittens have gone to Kinship Partners. They have participated in several G.S. sponsored service projects such as H.U.G.S. Each troop has participated in Community clean-up Day. The Girl Scouts counted that a service project long before the community became involved. They put up community Christmas trees in the town Post Offices, decorating them with hand-made ornaments. They made name tags for their sponsoring group, The Cuyuna Range Womens’ Club for over fifty years as well as serving at luncheons, teas and various other events. Individual troops, of course, have had many varied service projects over the years.
Outdoor activities have always played an integral part of the Girl Scout Program. In the early days, there was backyard camping, a trip to the park or near-by woods, troop cook-outs. Now, troops can go to the Science Museum and “Sleep with the sharks” on an overnight. Day camping was conducted every year in the park. Stell Waby and her daughters, Jody and Sheila were Day Camp Directors for many years.
Troops could go to an established camp for a week, usually a camp owned by another Council for we had none of our own. In 1964, five smaller Councils, including our own Lakes Area Council, became the Land of Lakes Council. This also included Brainerd, Bemidji, Princeton , and Alexandria-Glenwood. I was proud to be named the first President of this new Council. And it wasn’t long before we started to think about having a camp of our own. Some property near Hackensack came up for sale and it was my privilege to call on Mr. Hallett, along with our Executive Director, and ask for a donation to help buy the property. The cost of the property was $100,000.00. Mr. Hallett offered to give us $25,000 and said he would double that, if we could raise the other fifty thousand. We were able to do that and Mr. Hallett gave us the fifty thousand dollars so the property could be purchased. We were on our way. In the meantime, the Council had been putting aside a certain portion of the cookie proceeds each year towards the camp fund. When I started in Scouting, cookies were $1.00 per box. Each troop bought as many cookies as they thought they could sell. The girls went from door to door selling the cookies. However, as the years went by, the safety issue forbade the girls from going door to door and the cookie sale took on a whole new aspect. Now, the girls take orders and parents and friends are also allowed to help sell cookies. It is a much larger venture with troops earning more money to use for troop activities and individual girls can earn money to go to camp. When the camp was finally built, Shingobee Timbers, we called it the camp that cookie money built. For it was all Girl Scout Cookie money, with the exception of Mr. Hallett’s contribution, that built it. Shingobee Timers is a year-round Program Center and provides many different and varied programs for all ages.
I would be remiss if I did not say something about cookie sale managers. Each community has a manager for her area; she receives the cookies and counts out the boxes for the various troops and girls. One of my cookie managers was Donalda Seavey. She kept the job for twenty-five years! A huge van would drop off the cookies in her garage and, with her husband, Ed, helping, the cookies would be counted out for the troops and girls. When Donalda retired, Helen Oman, who had helped Donalda for some years, took over the job. She kept it for seventeen years! How lucky can a Neighborhood Chairman be? By the way, I had the job of Neighborhood Chairman, later called Area Coordinator, for almost fifty years until I retired in 2002.
In the 1960’s, there was a program change. There now would be Brownies (grades 1, 2 and 3), Juniors (grades 4, 5 and 6), Cadettes (7, 8 and 9), and Seniors (grades 10, 11, and 12). Some years ago, they also included Kindergarten age girls, called Daisies.
As I think back over these many years, I must also commend Chuck Kraemer for his help with the Cuyuna Range Fund Drive each year. This year of 2003 is our fiftieth year working together on the Fund Drive. As I said before, how lucky can I get?
In 2002, The Elsie Mooers award was established by Girl Scouts, Land of Lakes Council to honor Elsie Mooers of Crosby.