Camp Fire councils take first steps to merging

A possible merger may be in the works between Camp Fire Northwest Ohio and Camp Fire Sandusky County. Camp Fire Northwest Ohio holds programs and camps along with retreats for over 1,000 area youth annually and serves Hancock, Seneca and Wood counties; while Camp Fire Sandusky County holds programs and camps for over 1,000 youth each year and serves Sandusky and Ottawa counties, according to a news release. Joining the two councils is seen as a way to increase efficiency, share resources, expand programming and cut expenses, said Jeff North, interim executive director of Camp Fire Northwest Ohio, who also serves as camp director. "I am stretched pretty thin with both of them, so I'm excited about the merger. And I think that will be a great, more efficient way of fulfilling the visions of Camp Glen and Camp Fire of Northwest Ohio," he said. The nonprofit organizations have been awarded a $20,000 grant to investigate the merger. Funds were awarded through the Strategic Alliance Partnership Fund, a funding alliance of the Greater Toledo Community Foundation and ProMedica. Each council will receive $10,000 to be used for consulting and legal representation fees, North said. "We look forward to exploring the opportunity to expand programming and impact additional youth in our combined areas and beyond," Tory Thompson, Camp Fire Sandusky County executive director/CEO, wrote in a news release. Both organizations are chartered through Camp Fire National Headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Their mission is to provide boys and girls, ages 6-18, with opportunities for personal growth that allow them to be assets to their own community as they gain leadership skills and grow in self-reliance. North said Camp Fire Northwest Ohio also maintains a strong focus on its camp program. Camp Glen was established in 1959 as the summer camp for the No-We-Oh Council of the Camp Fire Girls. It is named for Glenna Donnell, who had donated the land on the banks of the Sandusky River just south of Tiffin. Outside rentals provide income to help support the facility, said North. "The Northwest Ohio Trust has put in a lot of money this year in particular, as well the last two years, really fixing the infrastructure," he said. "We pretty much put in a brand new water system last year which was not cheap, just tens of thousands of dollars going into the camp right now for renovations." The merger is a topic officials for the two councils first broached prior to the coronavirus hitting the area, North said. "We were very serious about talking about it. We were looking at joining operations so maybe not joining the boards and making it official, but we definitely were looking to streamline our programs to kind of match up to each other and share staff and things like that," he explained. Following the pandemic, talks began again, said North. "We're both part of the American Camp Association which provides accreditation," he said. "To be a part of the American Camp Association, you pay your dues there as well, and so that would all go under one umbrella. Instead of having two executive directors, have one. We can consolidate." "And if we can cut our expenditures, come under some umbrellas where each of us are paying for individually, it actually makes all the sense in the world," he added. North said Thompson "has done a wonderful job of bringing back a council that was teetering." The two area councils along with Camp Fire Tayanoka in East Liverpool are the last active councils in Ohio, he noted. Even if the merger goes through, North said the Findlay office, located at at 305 W. Hardin St., will remain open. "We've got a great footprint there. We're not going to lose that and a presence in the community there," he said. There's no timeline for completing the merger, he added, but "it feels like the absolute best move and it's time to do it."