This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. – The board of Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois has officially decided to sell their four campground sites due to financial struggles the organization has been facing since 2008.

Scouts and their leaders left the meeting at St. Matthews Church in tears after finding out The Board of Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois has finalized their decision to sell all four of their campgrounds, including Camp Butterfly, Camp Chan Ya Ta, Camp Wassatoga, and Camp Torqua.

“They are doing this not only just for our financial condition, but also ensuring that the girls will have the best girl scout experience, continue to have the best girl scout experience and to make sure that they have all the resources that when we surveyed them that they are asking for,” said Loretta Graham, CEO of Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois.

Girl Scouts prepare young girls for a lifetime of leadership, success, and adventure. A huge draw to the program is the camping trips. The board feels that their lack of funding has compromised their ability to steward the campsites and has already forced groups to seek the activities they desire at other locations. Scout leaders disagree, and without exclusive ownership of the campgrounds, they now fear of taking their scouts on trips.

“Your general public is [at other site] with people you don’t know. People could be drinking, who knows what; we have no control of it because it’s public,” said Jenny Palmer, a fourth-generation Girl Scout and current scout leader.

The board is convinced that selling the properties is the best move and will benefit the program in the long run. Selling the campgrounds could potentially create an investment of approximately $3.5 million. The board would like to use the profits to create an Experience Fund which would help cater to the interest of the girls in the program.