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5th Annual 1000 Woman Hike raises more than $60,000 for Jockey Hollow Girl Scout Camp renovations
MAY 8, 2004
RANDOLPH – Some walked. Some ran. Some even pushed strollers carrying their children, grandchildren and future Girl Scouts, in their efforts to support Morris Area Girl Scout Council’s 5th Annual 1000 Woman Hike held Saturday.
More than 1,032 hikers attended the event, mostly in 51 teams representing local corporations, businesses and Girl Scout communities, making the event the biggest hike ever. Many sang songs and talked along the scenic 3-mile route from Villa Walsh Academy to the Morristown National Historical Park. More than $60,000 was raised for improvements to Jockey Hollow Girl Scout Camp.
“We’ve had tremendous support from the community for the past five years. It’s wonderful to see so many women and their families turn out to show their support of our Girl Scouts and celebrate our 80th anniversary,” “We’ve had tremendous support from the community for the past five years. It’s wonderful to see so many women and their families turn out to show their support of our Girl Scouts and celebrate our 80th anniversary,” said Helen Wronski, chief executive officer.
At the kickoff celebration, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, the honorary chairman of the Girl Scouts’ Capital Campaign for Jockey Hollow Girl Scout Camp, congratulated the Girl Scouts for it 80-year stewardship of the camp, which is part of the Highlands of New Jersey, a resource state officials are hoping to preserve for future generations.
The council is currently undergoing a Capital Campaign to raise $4 million to expand the overnight camping program, build a new swimming pool, add composting toilets and make camp handicapped accessible. .Many of the prominent women, representing a myriad of career fields, joined Frelinghuysen in cheering on hikers and sharing their positive experiences as former Girl Scouts and campers.
“With your support, many future generations of Girl Scouts will be able to enjoy camp and experience the Girl Scout program,” Hike chairwoman Maryellen Wente said to hikers and hike VIPs.
Honeywell and Pfizer were primary sponsors of the event. PSE&G and New Jersey Natural Gas joined in PS&S/Keyspan as significant sponsors this year. All sponsors who provided $1,000 toward the event had their corporate logo on the event T-shirt.
Shortly before the hike began, participants gathered for a group photo forming the number “1000” on the hills of Villa Walsh Academy. Then runners and walkers, as teams and individually, began their walk to the Morristown National Historic Park at Jockey Hollow. Along the way, Girl Scout troops from Montville, Hopatcong, Chester and Mendham cheered hikers and runners with signs, music and noise makers.
Many of the hikers came out as teams and made the hike an annual tradition including Ladies of Lake of the Landing – Mount Arlington service unit, Jefferson Jubilee of Jefferson, Shongum Lake Moms of Randolph, the Hopatcong Girl Scout Association, the Valley Girls of Washington Township and the St. Virgil’s Moms Club of Morris Plains.
In celebration of the council’s 80th anniversary, troops also depicted the Girl Scout ideals of character, conduct, patriotism and service and the council’s evolution over the past eight decades with various activities and demonstrations. Community service, a cornerstone of the Girl Scout program, was illustrated by a display of the councilwide service projects, including Keeping America’s Promise, an initiative in which Morris Area Girl Scouts performed 75,000 hours of community service, another display on a seed ball project to reintroduce native plants to eroded areas, and a food drive held during the hike in response to the statewide initiative to fight hunger in New Jersey. The council aimed to collect 1,000 cans of food in honor of the 1000 Woman Hike for the Interfaith Food Pantry and Statewide Emergency Food and Anti-Hunger Network.
The Girl Scouts’ commitment to patriotism was evident with red, white and blue tents at the starting point, patriotic songs played by troops along the hike route and the Hackettstown Colonial Musketeers Fife and Drum Corps, which greeted hikers at the finish line.
Hikers experienced a little history with troops depicting Girl Scout activities throughout the past 80 years. Cadette Girl Scout Troops 564 and 1279 of Par-Troy West represented Girl Scouts of today with a hip hop dance routine to kick off the hike. Girl Scouts from Montville celebrated significant dates in the council’s history by passing out bookmarks detailing the history of Camp Mogisca, another camp run by the council. Troop 945 of Chester celebrated the international sisterhood of Girl Scouts by dressing in clothes from Mexico, where Our Cabana, one of the Girl Scout world centers, is located.
To rejuvenate hikers at the finish line, participants prepared s’mores, a traditional camp favorite, over an open campfire, and tasted Girl Scout cookies. Hikers compared the taste of Trefoils, one of the eight varieties of Girl Scout cookies currently sold, to cookies made from a recipe first used in the 1920s when Girl Scouts baked their own cookies.
“It’s a little taste of history with a whole lot of fun mixed in,” said Wente of the hike.
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