Beyond Frustrated

I work for a girl scout summer camp as a college student and I'm beyond frustrated. I've gone to this camp my entire life, poured my heart into it over the past few years, and no matter what, there's always something going wrong.

I only make 40 dollars a day, for starters. I don't do it for the money, but I have bills just like everyone else. They need people over 18 to be able to run the camp, but we don't get compensated like we're adults. I get it, camp is 500 dollars per week per girl, and we don't have the numbers to pay us more, but 40 dollars a day is only 800 a month before taxes. I have to commute to the camp every weekend because I live an hour away, so I'm already loosing at least a hundred dollars in gas per month just to drive up there. I have to pay for my car, which is 400 a month, so I'm already down to just 200 a month. That doesn't include my car insurance, my phone bill, saving for an apartment, student loan payments, or anything.

Because of this, we're understaffed. Which leads to low registration, or camps being outright cancelled due to low registration or being understaffed. I was supposed to do a weekend camp this weekend, but can't because only one girl signed up. I've already taken time off of work, so I'm loosing at LEAST 300 dollars off of my check (my weekend pay was going to be 125 before taxes for the camp), and now I don't know if I'll be able to afford my car payment this month. I will have to resort to door dashing.

I work 22 hour days. We only get one two hour break, and the rest of the day we have to be ready for anything. Bedwetting, throw up, girls attacking each other in their sleep, crying, homesickness, girls having prohibited items like medication, vapes (older girls), and secret phones that they use to bully others. I work 22 hours, for 40 dollars a day.

In addition to this, more and more girls are coming in with behavior issues. I understand that some of these girls don't have the best homes, or the best support systems, but there is not reason to have a child that refuses to shower for the whole summer, a child who refuses to wear pads or tampons, a child who #2's in a trashcan, a child who grabs fish from the water and tries to kill them, or a child that screams slurs at other girls. The bullying is also SUCH a problem. And if we contact the parents, we either get a door to the face, or told they want their money back.

We can't give them their money back. The council has cut our funding so many times that we were over budget for most of the summer, and we were running bare bones. It's a self fulfilling prophecy that we cannot get away from.

I'm just so upset that I want to be there for these girls, but we don't have the staff, the girls have behavior issues, the council seems to hate us, and I can't even afford to work there. I have 200 dollars in my checking account and was supposed to get paid next Friday. I was going to have enough money between my two checks and now I won't. I don't think I'll be returning next summer, I can't afford to.

To any parents out there who want to see if camp is right for their child, please do it. We need the girls. Camp is nothing without them there. Literally. If we don't get the "numbers up", then staff get laid off, camps get cancelled, and camp closes.

Sorry for dumping this here, I don't know where else to put it. I just think that when people think of girl scouts, they forget the staff at camp and how hard they work. Please be nice to your summer camps, they're going through a lot right now.