Girl Scouts hosting open house Friday, Sept. 5

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

The Girl Scouts will be giving people a sneak peak of the intensive renovations on its Johnson Park troop house today, Friday, Sept. 5, at 5:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, renovations are continuing at a frenetic pace, the troop’s leader said last week.

“It’s been challenging, but it’ll come together,” said Golden Downing.

The Marble Falls Scout House is the first to see the improvements and repairs as part of a three-year-long Girl Scouts of Central Texas “Master Property Plan” to get all houses up to code and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.

“It’s not a young house to begin with, and it deteriorated over the years so we had to vacate last year,” Downing said.

It will cost around $25,000 to renovate the Marble Falls Girl Scout House, according to a fundraising letter by Lynelle McKay, CEO of Girl Scouts of Central Texas.

The Girl Scouts are seeking volunteers and people to donate toward the project. “We don’t see it as a hand-out, but a hand-up,” Downing said.

The house is leased from the City of Marble Falls.

“We’re not really sure when it became a Girl Scout house,” Downing said. “We’ve been finding things from 1998 as we’ve been cleaning it out.”

The house will get a fresh coat of paint, new windows and doors, shutters, an HVAC system (already donated by McIntosh Air Conditioning & Heating in Marble Falls), bathrooms and kitchens with ADA-compliant amenities and accessibility, “interior building enhancements,” and “structural upgrades,” according to the letter.

The Girl Scouts have had support from many local donors, individuals and businesses, but it still needs the help of volunteers and donations to finish the project.