THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603150206
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
With only $3,807 of her monthly income left in the bank, two cars to make payments on and the twins to feed, 9-year-old Casey Smith made a dollar decision. She made her brain surgeon husband take back the Corvette in favor of a more economical Cherokee Sport.
Smith was one of several Girl Scouts fast-forwarded to adulthood March 2 during an educational program held at A Place For Girls, the new Chesapeake center that will soon be a hub of Girl Scouting in Hampton Roads. The ``Reality Store'' program was the first in a series of special events to be held at A Place For Girls before its official opening May 5.
Sponsored by the Coastal Region of the Virginia Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs and the Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast, the Reality Store was designed to show the Scouts what it takes to make it in the real world.
``Women are traditionally raised to rear children,'' said June Childs, a retired financial analyst. ``Now, with smaller families, more women are entering the work force. Girls need to give some thought to their future. The steps we put them through (in the Reality Store) are thought-provoking.''
At the first of a series of tables, the girls established a lifestyle they aim to achieve by age 28. They fleshed out their futures at each following table, like stops on a room-size Monopoly board, adding details like health insurance, savings, car payments, food, utilities, marital status - even whether or not they smoke.
Through this, Lois Shafter said, the girls learned about the financial responsibilities adults face and how preparation can make a difference in achieving goals. They also asked the professional volunteers staffing the tables about their careers.
Shafter, who works in the marketing department at Chesapeake General Hospital, said the Business and Professional Womens' Club sponsored a similar event for both boys and girls two years ago, and the result ``was just wonderful.'' When the organization decided to get another event off the ground, they received a $250 grant from their state foundation and funded the rest of the project through donations and volunteer time. They found a fitting location at A Place For Girls.
``This was an opportunity to help these young girls develop a mentorship,'' said Shafter. ``We're the largest organization for working women in the state. It made sense to help our future working women.''
The Reality Store suggested the potential of A Place For Girls, according to Girl Scout media representative Anne Lester. ``This was one type of career-oriented event,'' she said, ``but there are other things, too.''
A Place For Girls features a performing arts room, a kitchen, a sleep-over room, a conference area and facilities for education, earning merit badges and physical fitness - including fitness and nature trails that will eventually wind through the 11 acres of wetland and woods surrounding the center. The fitness trail will feature 10 exercise stations and two stations where girls will be able to check their pulse rate. The area around the center will remain mostly untouched, said Lester, to allow environmental focus.
The $2 million center's construction was funded through private donations and Girl Scout fund-raising efforts. The center is still adding finishing touches, like the fitness and nature trails, and it plans to build an aquatic center with a year-round swimming pool.
``This center is a physical embodiment of Girl Scouting,'' said Lester. ``We now have a home where our girls can come and visit to see what's going on in Girls Scouting today.''
A Place For Girls will be available to Scouts throughout the council, which covers nearly 25,000 square miles, 16,000 Girl Scouts and 5,000 adult volunteers.
And the center makes life more convenient for volunteers. It is close to Interstate-64, and it features a drive-through window where they can pick up pre-ordered supplies to help support Scouting activities away from the center.
The girls at the first event were from an East Hampton troop that has pledged $3,500 toward A Place For Girls' expenses. Volunteer Valerie Cooke said the Hampton girls have raised over $800 toward that pledge. Cooke is a volunteer administrator for East Hampton with more than 30 years' involvement in scouting.
One of the 500 girls in Cooke's region, 10-year-old Andrea Taylor, learned a lesson many Americans encounter much later in life when her Reality Store salary was docked at a mock IRS table.
``I don't want to pay taxes,'' said the Girl Scout. Like most of the girls, Andrea spent too much of her wages early in the program and found herself lacking at later stages. She had to go back and re-calculate her finances.
``I didn't know it was going to be this hard,'' said Andrea. ``I'll tell my friends about this. It will help them realize about life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
``A Place for Girls'' in Chesapeake.
by CNB