Girl Scout Simonson volunteering to fix up Camp Kiwanis cabins

Havre High School senior Emily Simonson hopes to be the first Havre Girl Scout in at least a decade to earn the Gold Award, Girl Scout's highest honor.

She has organized an effort to repair two badly battered cabins at Camp Kiwanis in Beaver Creek Park.

Lions Club members and other Girl Scouts will help out, she said.

Shes has been working on the project for some time, and it will come to fruition in the next month.

Saturday, April 23, Emily and other volunteers will start the massive restoration project by with tearing down the walls.

Emily and her mother and coach, Sherri Simonson, said they hope they can complete the project by the following Saturday.

Emily's work began when she got approval from the Girl Scouts for the project.

Then came the task of securing donations. Northwest Farm Credit Service came forward with a donation, and Tillie Patterson, as she had so many times, came forward with a donation, before she died at age 102 in February.

"She was a big supporter of Girl Scouts," said Sherri Simonson.

Havre Hardware and Home and Bear Paw Lumber Co. provided materials free or at a discount. North Sky Renovation will work with the Lions Club members to tear down the walls.

Emily said she hopes her community service will help people understand the good things that Girl Scouts do.

Girl Scouts is very popular with younger children, she said, but often girls tend to drop out at the middle school level.

She hopes her work will show girls that there is a lot to achieve for high school girls as well.

"I want to give back to Girl Scouts for all they have done for me," she said.

As a Girl Scout, she has been involved in many projects and had the opportunity to travel.

In 2012, the centennial of the Girls Scouts, she travelled to Washington, D.C. Later, she took a Girl Scout trip to San Francisco, where Girl Scouts volunteered at a large soup kitchen serving meals for a homeless center.