A 48-acre former Girl Scouts camp is now up for sale for about $800,000 on the Eastern Shore, as one local Girl Scouts chapter struggles to stay financially viable.
The Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay, which covers the Eastern Shore (including Cecil County) and Delaware, announced two months ago that they'll be selling four of their properties - three of which are in Maryland.
Among them is Camp Sandy Pines, a 48.36-acre "nature lover's dream" which could also be developed for residential use, according to the listing.
The Girl Scouts chapter says their two operations facilities and four camp properties "have contributed to rising operational costs and ongoing budget deficits in addition to deferred maintenance over the past decade." They'll put the proceeds from the properties' sales toward the 64-acre Camp Todd in Denton, as well as Camp Country Center in Delaware.
The other sites being sold are the 244-acre Camp Grove Point in Earleville, Peninsula Resource Center in Salisbury, and Northern Resource Center in Newark, Del.
Girl Scouts of the USA chapters have been struggling nationwide, as membership plunged in recent years - partly from the pandemic and partly from social trends, reported Associated Press last year. Girl Scouts membership nationwide fell by nearly 30 percent from 2019-2020 to 2021 - from about 1.4 million to just over 1 million.
Earlier this year, Girl Scouts of Central Maryland sold a 24-acre camp to Howard County for $6 million. Major philanthropist MacKenzie Scott also just donated $84.5 million to Girl Scouts of the USA.
