Scouting out a new home

By Ryan Percy

After 60 years the Scouts in Windsor and Essex County have to find a new home.

On Saturday, Oct. 13 the cash register at the Scout Shop on Marentette Avenue took its last sale. The Scouts moved into the building in 1958. It was used originally for administrative purposes but became a place for Scouts to gather for events.

Counsel Commissioner for Tri-Shores Sandi Burns, 55, attended the final day of the Scout Shop. She said she came so people would be able direct their angst at her instead of local Scouters who had nothing to do with the decision.

“We are all sad the building is being sold,” Burns said. “However, we have to be economically reasonable with all of our resources and this building was costing money which could be better spent in programming and other properties in the area.”

The Scout Shop and the administrative building it resided in were kept as two separate entities when it came to monetary gain or expenditure. While the Scout Shop operated at a profit every year the opposite was true of the building. Burns said the decision was made after it was shown that the building operated at a $219,000 loss over the last decade.

Scouter Judi Wijngaarden has spent 45 of her 75 years as a beaver leader in the area and in fact, brought the Beaver Scout program to Essex County. She said she believes the impact will be felt throughout the Windsor-Essex area.

“I think initially membership is going to go down,” Wijngaarden said. “I’m hoping with groups getting on board with the new program, the Canadian Path, we will see an increase in membership. I think time is ripe to get back into dealing with the outdoor skills and all of the things that were part of the original scout program under Baden Powell.”

Besides administrative uses, the building was also used by various local scout groups. Some used it for indoor camps on weekends, others for cub car races and sometimes it was used when they did not have their own meeting place available.

Sophia Bechard, 15, is an area youth commissioner with Scouts Canada in Windsor-Essex along with her sister Rita-Marie, 17. Bechard has been in scouting for 11 years and said many of her scouting memories are tied to the building.

“We could buy all our stuff here. We could get badges, we could get the stuff we needed for camping, now we’re going to have to go to other places for it,” said Bechard. “Normally when I would need camping stuff I’d come to the Scout Shop. I knew I would be able to get things I needed for camping.”

While the Scout Shop closing limits the Scouts it also hampers anyone looking to purchase outdoor activity equipment. The next closest Scout Shop in Canada is in London, Ont.

No new similar location for the almost 800 Windsor-Essex Scout members to meet as a whole has been decided yet but both Wijngaarden and Bechard said they are still looking for a suitable replacement.