submitted to EFP
An 11-year-old Girl Guide from Kingsville has raised $400 to support Camp Bryerswood and is calling on Windsor and Essex County residents to help save the treasured campground.
Girl Guides of Canada announced its intention to sell off all of its 17 Ontario campgrounds by 2020 and the Bryerswood Youth Camp Optimist Club is appealing to the courts to allow Bryerswood to remain in local hands, catering to local kids and enriching the local community.
The local guiding community has supported the camp since its inception in 1992. The community came together and incorporated the BYC as a not-for-profit organization two months ago. They submitted a 15-year business plan to the court, showing the camp can be profitable. Those profits would be reinvested back into the camp and camp programming.
In an effort to do her part to help save the camp, Isabella Cowan-Rivera collected donations from her friends and neighbours and even donated her birthday money to the grassroots bid to save the beloved camp, which has been making memories of a lifetime for young girls for a quarter-century. She plans to raise more money by knocking on more doors.
“I have had so many positive and enriching experiences at Camp Bryerswood and I want the tradition to continue,” Isabella said. “I’m not just doing this for me but for all the present and future Sparks, Brownies, Girl Guides ,and Pathfinders.”
Isabella’s parents matched the $200 she collected because they believe in the positive benefits of Camp Bryerswood and the valuable life lessons their daughter has learned there.
The money Isabella collected will go into a Go Fund Me campaign that has raised $4,250 toward its $15,000 goal.
You can follow “Bryerswood Youth Camp Optimist Club” on Facebook and if you wish to donate to the Go Fund Me page visit: https://ca.gofundme.com/bryerswood-youth- camp.