Girl Scout Troops Look To Sell Real Estate

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Let's move now to another group of young tech savvy folks - the Girl Scouts. The organization now offers merit badges for things like website design and digital movie making.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Still, they do place value on the great outdoors - like always - offering camping and hiking badges. And that brings us to today's last word in business: unhappy campers.

MONTAGNE: As we head into summer, many young Brownie and Junior Scouts are signing up for the Girl Scout camp.

(SOUNDBITE OF GIRL SCOUT AD)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Whether it's sailing, swimming, horseback riding or trying something new, you can do it all the Girl Scout camp.

GREENE: You can do it all. That's an ad for Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa. Like other regional groups, they've had to make a difficult decision. They're proposing selling some of their camps. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The regional group that proposed the selling of Girl Scout camps was the Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. The Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa has not proposed selling any of its camps.]

Citing lower attendance and increased maintenance costs, Girl Scout groups across the country say that the camps have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

MONTAGNE: And the proposed closures have outraged many Girl Scouts and troop leaders, who say the camps have been around for decades and are a central part of the Scouting experience. One camp in Texas was closed last year.

GREENE: But Girl Scouts in New York and Ohio are not going down without a fight. In both places camping fans are involved in lawsuits to block sales of the camps.

MONTAGNE: Their protests include a boycott of cookie sales and what else? Campouts, staged outside Girl Scout Council offices.

And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

GREENE: And I'm David Greene.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.