recruiting ....

... event for Girl Scouts on Saturday. If I had not been in the shade, under a canopy to protect us a little from the blistering hot sun, I believe I would have perished from the heat. The event was held in a greenspace adjacent to the RiverWalk downtown, within rock throwing distance of the muddy Chattahoochee. I don't know how it has happened that most of the area I (mistakenly) thought was public, city-owned property has been sold and developed by private enterprise in recent years. But there is little left that provides the citizens an opportunity to picnic and socialize, play, walk dogs, enjoy the scenery - mostly owned by corporations that have limited public access.

The area where we were gathered, close to a street with a bridge that crosses the river, has been used and enjoyed in recent years by many organizations promoting events that would have a large attendance, in need of easy access for patrons and plenteous parking. The wide, open space is about the size of a football field - lots of room to run and play games. Various vendors had over dozen small canopies/tents set up, with chairs and tables for people to sit in the blessed shade.  A number are partners with Girl Scouts, people with an interest in helping publicize and promote the goal of Helping Girls Grow Strong. There were a number of young scouts there, members of organized troops with adult support, who had set up various attractions to show some of the fun things Girls do when they participate in Scouting/

I was invited to help a couple of life-long Adult scouts who have had a troop for years. Their focus was on showing girls things they would learn about the outdoors: camping, cooking, environmental safety. Plus, of course, when you go to camp, you know you have to do crafts, right? I spent the two hours I was there in the miserable heat cutting yarn, showing dozens of little people how to make friendship bracelets by braiding three different colored strings together with a knot at one end and a loop at the other. I was quite surprised at the number of girls who said they did not know how to braid: I was certain everyone had sat behind a girl with long hair in a school room, and sneakily practiced her braiding skills on friends and classmates. Amusing, entertaining and educational with lots of youngsters signed up to get connected to Girl Scout