Troop of mostly homeless Scouts gets chances for good experiences

Kris Hill

Friday, Feb. 16, 2001 | 11:11 a.m.

More than 20 girls from 5 to 10 years old sat quietly on a cafeteria floor, knee to knee, in a circle surrounding a pair of week-old piglets.

When one of the animals in its excitement relieved itself, suddenly every girl was squealing as loudly as the baby pigs.

Clint Combs of R.C. Farms brought the pigs for a Thursday evening Girl Scout meeting in January. The theme was the environment, and Combs told the girls the role his pigs play: They eat leftover food from local hotel-casinos.

It was a special lesson for the young scouts of Troop 595, most of whom are homeless girls staying at MASH Village. The troop's leaders hope this kind of activity will help provide something the girls haven't had: a normal childhood.

MASH Village's troop started a year and a half ago after the council's executive director asked leaders of another troop, Edie Labor and Sandy Edwards, to bring the program to the village. Labor now leads the troop with another friend, Gayle Oade.

The Girl Scout organization is trying to bring the program to girls who might not otherwise have an opportunity to get involved, spokesman Juergen Barbusca said.

"Those kids have a need, too," he said.

The troop at MASH Village is one of the council's many outreach efforts, Barbusca said.

The number of girls in the troop rises and falls as the population of the village changes, Leslie Steckler, supervisor of children's programs, said.

Ten girls showed up for the first meeting. Sometimes girls go to one meeting and never come back, and other girls are at every meeting during their stay, Labor said. Two of the regulars are neighbors of Labor's who didn't have a troop.

The MASH Village group has three age levels of scouts: Daisies, who are 5-year-olds, Brownies and Juniors, who are elementary-age. Occasionally it has middle-school girls, also know as Cadettes, but the troop doesn't have any now.

New residents are delighted to hear that an activity like Girl Scouts is offered at the village, Steckler said.

"They're getting to do things in the community they may not have otherwise been able to do," Steckler said. For example, the troop recently went to a tennis tournament at Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.

"When the girls get to do activities like that, their self-esteem soars," she said.

Labor said she keeps the troop busy with such activities and trips.

Troop meetings often include craft activities such as painting and jewelry making.

"We get messy a lot," Labor said.

Other times they learn how to cook or go on outings to places like Wet 'N Wild.

"The trip to Wet 'N Wild made me a little nervous," Labor said. She was concerned about the girls' safety at the park, which wasn't the most secure place for a field trip, she said. But the troop enjoyed it without problems.

Oade, the troop's co-leader, observed that the girls in the MASH Village troop seem to appreciate the experience more than other troops she's worked with.

The girls even like doing community service projects. Once a month Labor takes her MASH Village scouts to houses of senior citizens as part of the North Las Vegas Steering Committee's cleanup efforts.

"After the first cleanup we did, the girls asked me when we got to do the next one," Labor said.

Labor also takes them to plays and out for pizza and ice cream, often paying for things out of her own pocket, because the troop doesn't have the ability to generate funds the way others do, she said.

But she doesn't seem to mind the extra effort, because the impact the program has on the girls makes it worth it.

"A lot of them are shy when they come to us," Labor said. But as girls get more involved, they become more confident in who they are and she can see each girl's self-esteem rise.

One way Labor and Oade can see the impact of the program is when girls with leadership potential begin to take charge within the troop, Labor said.

Toward the end of the recent meeting, for example, the girls were treated to pizza. While they were eating, 10-year-old Cesley Box brought around thank-you cards for the evening's speakers.

"You have to sign all three cards, OK?" Box gently reminded some of the younger girls who had missed the third card.

Box is 10 going on 30, Labor said.

"Cesley is just the one I rely on. She just walked in there and took over," she said.

Box also helps plan badge requirement activities for each meeting as well as lead them.

Labor has been so pleased with the success of the MASH Village troop, she and her Oade have submitted a proposal to the Shade Tree, a women's shelter down the street from MASH Village, to start a troop there, as well.

The proposal is on a back burner, but Labor wants to get a troop established there, because she has seen many families move from Shade Tree to the village. Girls involved in a group at Shade Tree would be able to transition easily to the troop at MASH Village, Labor said.

Labor also helps girls who want to continue in scouts after leaving the village to find troops near their new homes.

While Labor waits for word on the proposed Shade Tree troop, she is concentrating on getting camping gear for the troop's first big overnight trip in April.

She hopes to find someone to donate 20 or more sleeping bags, tents, Dutch ovens and any other type of camping gear.

It's important to Labor that she can take the girls on a camping trip after bringing so many other types of experiences to them, because she wants to continue providing some stability and normalcy to their lives.

"It's all about Girl Scouts being for every girl everywhere," Labor said.

Anyone interested in donating to Troop 595 can contact the Frontier Council at 385-3677.