CHULUOTA, Fla. – U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy joined World Housing Solution and the Mah-Kah-Wee Girl Scouts Monday morning in Chuluota, Florida to give a donated shelter to the scouts who lost their old home to the wildfires.
Starting at 10:30 a.m., the Democratic Florida congresswoman with residents of the community also on hand, cut the ribbon for the new, "fully-constructed, expeditionary structure," that will allow the troop to continue its operations throughout the summer.
The ceremony at Camp Mah-Kah-Wee also included a speech by World Housing Solution founder Ron Ben-Zeev on the durability of this structure, which is similar to ones built to house members of the military when deployed throughout the world.
"The Girl Scouts contacted us a couple of weeks ago after as they were realizing they weren't going to have enough structures set up on time to accommodate the summer camp," Ben-Zeev said. "Someone reached out to our office and said, 'Hey do you have any structures they could use?' and just by luck, we had just received back a structure that the Air Force had been testing in Tyndall. So we had a unit and were glad to be able to provide it to them for the summer."
Murphy talked about the special opportunity as well.
"I'm grateful to see neighbors being kind to neighbors," she said. "This was a small business in this area who saw a need when the Girls Scouts had a fire and it burned down on the cabins. They provided this new, temporary housing which will allow these girls to have summer camp again and I'm grateful to see that."
Girl Scouts Elisabeth Silver, Emma Fitzgerald, Danielle Jacobs and Jessica Barauskas all see the opportunity as a way to get closer with each other and to expand their relationships with more campers rather than a select few.
"I love how they had the idea to have these (larger) cots so more people can fit in one cabin and they don't need to build so many cabins," Barauskas said. "I'm glad they made this temporary fix to actually get girls in camp. We just kind of play games and have fun get to know each other and we have tons of room to do what we want during free time."
Fitzgerald said the more room to her, means more opportunities to be creative and innovative with their activities.
"Before, I feel like you could only hold like seven or eight people in a cabin, but that would mean you would have close friends," she said. "What's different is that of course there is more room for more people. It looks much more modern instead of like a wooden cabin and It's still similar to camp and it can give everyone a new experience and memory."
Before the Scouts received the new living arrangement, wildfires from around a month ago damaged some of the property, creating a big issue.
"Right now, there are six cots, two each obviously. It's a bunk system so 12 girls will be staying in there and they could actually add a few more if they wanted to," Ben-Zeev said. "The other previous structures did not accommodate all the girls so now the entire troop is able to stay in one structure and be able to continue the bonding experience."
Zandra Washington, part of the Girl Scouts of Citrus Council, said the camp will serve 725 girls over the course of the summer. A lightning strike hit caused the initial wildfire that damaged the camp. There were no girls on the property when the strike had hit. Seven structures were damaged.
"I hope they walk away (with) an understanding of how special this place is," Murphy said. "(It's) important for neighbors to be kind to neighbors and when you see someone that needs help, to step up and to offer that."