Published: September 28, 2008 11:47 pm         

Girl Scouts’ Victory Days goes back to organization’s 1940s roots

Salvage drive shows what war efforts were like

TERRE HAUTE — Area Girl Scouts will get an idea of what it was like for their counterparts during World War II this weekend as they take part in a salvage drive at Victory Days.

Girl Scouts of Central Indiana from 11 different service areas will be on hand throughout the weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) picking up aluminum, paper and plastic to be recycled.

Victory Days is a weekend-long living history museum featuring the vehicles, entertainment, military mementos and lifestyles of the days of World War II. Connie Hinsenkamp, a volunteer with the Girl Scout effort, said the salvage drive is a reminder of what Girl Scouts did during the 1940s.

“In the 1940s, the Girl Scouts were real involved with collecting for the war effort,” Hinsenkamp said Sunday. “They collected rubber, nylon and rags, and they collected metal of all sorts. The rubber was for tires, the nylon and rags were for making parachutes, and the metal was for the helmets.”Each Scout service unit participating through the weekend will take the money raised through recycling back to their groups to help pay for programming all year long, Hinsenkamp said.

Scouts of all ages will be working in two-hour shifts each day of Victory Days. They will be in uniform, pulling wagons and helping clean up while collecting recyclable material. Adult volunteers will be on hand to supervise.

Becky Buse, the director of advocacy for Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, said, “The history of it is that this is what the Girl Scouts did during World War II and we thought it was a clever thing for them to do out there … I think it’s a wonderful project.

“We’re always looking for things that girls can do and that they understand why they’re doing it,” she added.

Hinsenkamp said the organization will be using local recyclers, although not all the details have been sorted out yet.

“One of the companies that has really stepped up to the plate is Gurman Container [& Supply Corp. of Terre Haute],” Hinsenkamp said. “They’ve been involved with aluminum cans, they’ve helped with bags. Gurman will take the aluminum. We’re not sure yet about the paper and plastic,” she added.

“The girls will be very much involved in collecting and cleaning and preparing things for recycling,” Hinsenkamp said. “They’re not just throwing them in a bag … we need to have the girls understand that cleaning up the community is not just picking up a piece of paper here and there.”

Victory Days will run from Friday through Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day at the Terre Haute International Airport at Hulman Field.

Linda Sparks, promotions coordinator for Victory Days, said Sunday that ticket sales are going well, and that they are still available online at www.victorydays.org, at all Old National Bank locations and at the gate.

Sparks added that tickets for the Hangar Dance will only be available online or at the gate.

For more information about the Girl Scouts salvage drive, call Erin Hinsenkamp, membership development manager for Girl Scouts of Central Indiana, at 1-877-474-2248, ext. 6890.

To volunteer for Victory Days, call April Christle at (812) 201-4491.

Deb Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.kelly@tribstar.com.