Groundbreaking Ceremony at Little House
August 23, 2023
GIRL SCOUTS OF HISTORIC GEORGIA BREAK GROUND ON LITTLE HOUSE RESTORATION PROJECT
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA — Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia invites Columbus-area community leaders and citizens to join them at a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the public stage of a capital campaign to raise money to preserve and restore the historic Little House. The ceremony will be held on Thursday, August 31, 2023, at 10 am at the Little House, 1807 17th St. Columbus, GA 31901.
The Little House restoration project arose from a need to provide Columbus-area Girl Scouts with an updated facility to continue their Girl Scout Leadership Experience and have a safe, central meeting location for their programs and fellowship. Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia has partnered with builder Brock Jones, Inc. to complete a $650,000 expansion project, which will include an experience center for girls, a training facility for volunteers, offices for staff members, enhanced outdoor space, and spaces that members of the community can use for meetings or events. The project will also make the Little House ADA compliant, thereby increasing accessibility for Girl Scouts, volunteers, and visitors with disabilities. With these changes, the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia will be offering new programs related to the four pillars of Girl Scouting: STEM, Outdoors, Entrepreneurship, and Life Skills.
“We are excited to begin this venture to improve the Girl Scout Little House in Columbus. Our troops in the Columbus area will benefit greatly from the expansion and upgrades as we provide space for Girl Scout workshops and programming with our community partners. Our girls will have more opportunities than ever to learn new skills and change their community for the better,” says Sue Else, CEO of Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia. The Columbus Little House has been a staple in Columbus and to local Girl Scouts since 1949. It is one of very few of these historic meeting places still in existence today, so restoring and preserving it is especially important to the organization.
Thanks to many generous donors, Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia has already raised nearly $570,000 of the $650,000 project goal. They invite the public to help them raise the remaining $80,000 to finish the project. “The Little House represents Girl Scouts and the future of the girls in our local community! The Little House will serve as a place for volunteers, staff, and Girl Scouts from all twelve counties to discover, learn, build self-confidence and to strengthen leadership skills. Your support will help to brighten the future of our girls as they strive to make the world a better place,” says Dr. Billy Kendall, Chair of the Columbus Regional Advisory Board. For more information about the project or to donate, visit www.gshg.org/littlehouse. ❧
ABOUT GIRL SCOUTS OF HISTORIC GEORGIA: Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia is rich in heritage and purpose. The council extends from the North Georgia mountains to the Okefenokee and from theAtlantic coast to the Chattahoochee Valley. Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia serves more than 8,000 girls and 3,000 adults in 122 counties in Georgia, two counties in South Carolina and one county in Alabama. The council is also the home of our organization’s founder, Juliette Gordon Low, who founded Girl Scouts on March 12, 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, where her birthplace and the historic First Headquarters still welcome thousands of Girl Scouts every year. Girl Scouting gives girls a wide range of experiences to define leadership their way.
