 The Girl Scout House, a fixture in Bishop since 1957, is at risk of losing funding and may have to close. The clubhouse is a meeting place and safe haven for girls to grow, learn and become responsible leaders. Bishop Girl Scouts are asking for community support through a letter-writing campaign. Top photo by Molly Peterson, bottom by Mike Bodine By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
6-30-2009 A meeting place, a safe house, a community center, these are some of the labels given to the Girl Scouts clubhouse in Bishop – the same house in jeopardy of closing as funding dries up.
The house, tucked away beneath large trees behind the Boy Scout house and Richard’s Furniture, has been the Girl Scouts’ place of meeting, parties and special events since 1957. In fact, the Bishop Girl Scout Unit was the third such chapter designated after the national Girl Scouts inception in 1912.
To try and save the house, local Girl Scouts and community members are being asked to write letters in support. The clubhouse is the only permanent structure serving scouts from Lone Pine to Reno.
The Girl Scouts in Bishop and Inyo County are under the auspices of the Reno District, said Bishop Service Unit Manager Theona Wasson. Wasson explained that in May 2009, the Reno office contacted her saying that it would be withdrawing any financial support to the house.
Wasson said the first thing the office representative told her on the phone was, “Don’t kill the messenger, but …”
Wasson, who has been involved in Girl Scouts for more than 35 years, explained that the Reno chapter’s decision was probably based on a recent incident in which Wasson had asked local contractors to donate some work on the house. She said that the Reno chapter must not have approved of Bishop’s way of doing business and the Reno chapter must have felt that if Bishop could handle some upgrades and maintenance, it did not need any more assistance.
Though scouting season doesn’t officially start until the beginning of the school year, the Bishop girls are already looking for new locales to hold meetings, asking churches and other businesses to open their doors. But, Wasson said, they have not had much luck as both room and money is tight for the scouts and the businesses and organizations.
Local schools can give some “temporary housing,” but Wasson explained that the scouts need a permanent facility for ongoing projects and storage.
She added she didn’t want to over-burden parents by having meetings of up to 18 girls at private homes.
Wasson is starting a letter writing campaign from all girl scouts, current and retired, to the Reno unit to show the dedicated following of scouts in the area.
She explained she is also trying to show the Reno district the amount of community involvement and support of the clubhouse. Wasson said several members of the community have already offered support. Some utilities and waste management businesses have offered to help with costs, too.
Wasson explained that with community support, all the Bishop unit really needs from the Reno district is more than $400 for insurance costs that will keep the doors of the house open.
The clubhouse is more than just a meeting place. “For some girls, it’s their only safe haven,” Wasson explained. “It’s a place where the girls can say or do things without fear of reprisal or being put down.”
Wasson said she’s heard from more than one scout (some who are scouts now and some who are adults) that “some of my best memories are from the house, it was a place where I knew no one would hurt me.”
Wasson told a story of two girls whose time spent in the scout house “is the only time these girls have been in a house that’s not filled with filth.”
Girl Scouts is also a way for girls to “expand their horizons” outside of their own communities and outside of themselves. Local Girl Scouts participate in parades, sponsor the Children’s Day to Explore the Arts and help out in other community minded activities.
And the annual cookie money raised each year goes toward field trips like attending the Teen Choice Awards in Hollywood, camping on the Channel Islands or going to Sea World to trips to the L.A. Museum of Science and Industry.
The house itself has a lengthy and interesting history. Wasson explained she still can’t find definitive proof of when the building was originally constructed, but believes it dates back to the early part of the 20th century.
Wasson explained the building was part of the Tonopah military facility, when the Forest Service moved the building to Laws and moved again soon after to be part of the Bishop Elementary School, now the site of City Hall. During World War II, the building was used for USO entertainment for locals.
In 1957, the Bishop Rotary Club moved the building, along with the Boy Scout house, to their current locations.
Wasson is asking letters of support to be addressed to Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada, c/o Donna Roelle, Director of Properties and Programs, 605 Washington St., Reno, NV 89503. E-mails can be sent to
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, or Roelle can be reached at (775) 322-0642.
For more information about the letter writing campaign or Girl Scouts, call Wasson at 873-8341.
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