I find the Save ___ Camp an interesting goal. Why? Let's look why the camp(s) are closing in the first place. Most, because of lack of participation. Troops are not going to the camp. Lefeber was probably open 8-10 weeks in the past. It was reduced to 4 weeks. What was the number of paid campers? I suspect 4 weeks was probably overkill and the camp could have functioned for 3 weeks. Lyle is another camp that was open for 8-10 weeks but was reduced to 2 weeks. Again it is attendance.
Ask the Troops why they are going out of council. Dining Hall seems to be a recurring theme. Not every Troop goes OOC because of the Dining Hall. Now ask why you left in the first place. Most answers come down to "we had a bad experience with the Staff or _____."
So if neither camp has a Dining Hall, how do you plan on bringing those Troops back?
If the reason the Troop left was bad experience, how do you reassure them it won't happen again?
Unfortunately these are the reasons Troops go OOC.
If you want to have a nice comparison on the Wisconsin camps look at this Market Analysis study that was done in 2013.
http://www.scouting.org/home/outdoorprogram/properties/region%20and%20area%20maps/wisconsin.aspxve
22 camps are listed for comparison. If the camps are getting graded C, D, or F, is there a wonder attendance is down. Rustic camps have a place, but some parents are afraid to undo the apron strings and let little Johnny get dirty for a week. For those of us who have survived rustic summer camps we can only tell stories about our adventures and hope parents will let their boys experience it.
Yes it is sad that camps are closing but look at the big picture.
