Acceptance and participation
Acceptance and participation in summer programs is the same for everyone without regard to race, color or national origin. As an equal opportunity organization, Girl Scouts is dedicated to diversity and fully supports the right of equal access for girl and adult members with disabilities. Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington makes every reasonable effort to ensure this access.
Closed Gate
Mountaindale West is a closed gate camp. In order to follow Girl Scout guidelines, all adults must be registered, background checked, and complete required training. We do not allow any individuals up to our camp without our prior knowledge.
For the safety of all campers, we only allow Mountaindale West Day Camp registered adults, campers, PAs and siblings to be at our camp. The only exception to this rule is our planned visitors such as firefighters, special events personnel, and health inspectors. These visitors wear a scarf to signal to campers that they are approved to be on the property. Drop-in visitors are not allowed.
We ask that all appointments be made either during another week or after camper pickup hours. If you must go to an appointment during the camp day, we ask that you keep the camper home for the day. Trying to find a camper on the 50 acre camp is challenging and can take time and we may not be able to provide someone to find your camper's unit and your camper at the needed time.
Program Goals & Safety
All staff members of Mountaindale West Day Camp are registered members of Girl Scouts of the United States of America and have been background checked by the Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington.
All adult staff members are non-paid volunteers and are not certified day care providers. Please contact Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington for any tax information. Our camp will not sign or give out any tax ID information.
The goal of Mountaindale West Day Camp is to provide campers with an opportunity to experience an outdoor camp while still providing a safe and nurturing environment. Each of the camper units has at least two adults and two Program Aides, known as PAs (PAs are trained older teen Girl Scouts), assigned to the unit. Units range in size per their safety number set by Girl Scouts, which is dependent on the age of the girl campers. Our camp follows all safety standards and regulations set forth by Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington and Girl Scouts of the USA.
First Aid and Medication
Mountaindale West Day Camp typically has two First Aiders on staff. These are volunteers that are at least CPR and First Aid trained, and often are nurses or medical professionals.
Any medication that is brought to camp is required to be in it's original packaging with the camper's name on it. You must fill out a Day Camp Medication Permission form in order for our Health Supervisor to give medication to any camper. Medication and forms will be collected at the bus before campers get on. Medication must stay with the Health Supervisor with the exception of Epi-pens and inhalers.
Campers are welcome to bring their own sunscreen and / or bug spray to camp. This needs to be kept in their bag and not shared with other campers, due to the possibility of allergies. Ideally, please apply these items to your campers before they arrive at the buses.
Allergies
It is HIGHLY recommended that any allergies, intolerance, or sensitivities be listed in the provided areas of our online registration under the medical questions section. This includes, but not limited to, peanuts, gluten, soy, dairy or any other food related issues that we should know about.
Mountaindale West Day Camp is staffed by volunteers. We do recognize that some campers coming to camp, may be allergic to peanut and nut products. Our goal is to provide campers with an outdoor experience, even in the foods that we offer at camp. We want you to be aware that we cannot state that we can make provision to be peanut-free due to the sheer number of campers. While we attempt to not serve peanut products, there is always the possibility of cross contamination. Additionally, other campers and adults may bring peanut or nut related products to camp. We strongly encourage campers, and their parents, to take all necessary medical precautions to be prepared for the possibility of peanut or nut product exposure. EPI-Pens are allowed to be carried by campers that have a medically recognized need. While we cannot guarantee that we will be 100% nut free, we do make every attempt to be certain that campers are safe. Please feel free to contact our Health Supervisor with any questions.
Dietary Concerns
Food allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities should be noted in the medical sections of the online registration. Please be aware that due to the size of the camp, we cannot customize our food program for all the individual food issues. We will make an effort to provide choices, but cannot guarantee that all campers will be provided with a full, balanced meal if they have allergies, intolerances and sensitivities to any foods. We do publish our menus in advance for the overnight so that if your camper has special dietary needs, you can know in advance if you should send specialized foods with your camper. These should be the kind of foods that they can keep in their backpack for their personal meal needs; unfortunately we often don't have enough room to refrigerate camper’s personal food.
Dress Code
We suggest that campers wear long pants or shorts that are mid-thigh or longer. The campers will be sitting on tarps, in the dirt or on logs at times. There are also bugs and bees at camp. There is also stinging nettle along the trails.
Sturdy tennis shoes or hiking boots are REQUIRED at camp. DO NOT wear sandals, flip-flops, water socks, clogs, shoes with any kind of heel, shoes with no backs, shoes with any kind of hole designs. DO NOT wear Keens, Teva's, hiking sandals or the like. We cannot stress the importance of having your feet protected. Camp is in a wooded setting and there are sharp sticks, rocks, bugs and other hazards that naturally occur with being in the woods.
*Please note, we will call you about inappropriate shoes and not allow your camper to participate in the day with their unit until tennis shoes or hiking boots are brought to camp.
A t-shirt is provided to all campers and staff members. This t-shirt is to be worn for unit pictures and it is highly encouraged that everyone wear it the entire week of camp.
Transportation
Campers are required to ride the buses to and from camp unless they are children of a full-time staff member and then they are required to ride with that staff member. No other campers can ride with a staff member. The only traffic allowed up to the camp are the buses and the staff cars.
The bus pickup and drop off point is at Westview High School on 185th Avenue between West Union and Hwy 26. Buses pick up campers at 8:45 AM and drop them off at 4:00 PM.
Each camper will need to meet up with all the other campers that they want to be on the bus with prior to loading on the bus on Monday. Once your camper has met up with friends, those campers will load on the same bus at the same time.
Each girl is given a colored wristband to wear all week. Please make sure this wristband stays on all week. The color of the wristband is the same color of the bus (indicated by the color block paper hung in the window of the buses) that they will ride all week.
If the buses have already begun moving or have departed, please do not stop the buses. Once the buses are moving, it is too late to come to camp. You will need to e-mail the camp registrar that your child missed the bus and will not be coming to camp that day.
Bus Late Fee
Camper pick-up time is 4:00 pm at Westview High School. Bus arrival times may vary due to traffic on Hwy 26. A $5 fee will be assessed for every 15 minutes past pick-up time or the time the bus arrives at its location, whichever is latest. Late fees are due at the time of pick-up or the very next morning before your child(ren) will be allowed to board the bus.
Gold and Platinum PAs
Whether a girl is a PA or an adult volunteer is dependent on their age and graduation status. Our Golden PAs are entering their senior year of high school. Typically the Golden year is the last year that a PA is eligible to come to camp as a PA. Once the PA has graduated high school and turned 18, they are welcome to come to camp as an adult volunteer. However, if a girl has graduated high school but will not be 18 during camp, they are able to come to camp as a PA for one final year as a Platinum PA.