The Girl Scouts have gone public with a $2 million capital campaign and its leadership to build a new multi-purpose center on 11 acres along Interstate 75 in Erlanger, Ky.
The governing council of Girl Scouts that includes Northern Kentucky has named two leaders for the campaign – Meghan Sandfoss and Rhonda Ritzi. Both women have been heavily involved in the Kentucky Girl Scouts program and share a passion for the positive impact it has on girls and young women.
To date, the Girl Scouts of Kentucky’s Wilderness Road, which serves 8,000 girls and young women in 67 counties, has raised $836,000 towards the $2 million goal. A billboard will soon be erected on the site facing I-75 to help raise awareness and promote the benefits of the campus to the Northern Kentucky community.
The campus will be developed in three phases. Phase one of the campaign seeks $2 million to build a campus that will include a command center, retail center and entrepreneurship center. This phase will provide modern, accessible space for over 2,400 staff and volunteers to conduct training, planning and mentorship opportunities that are critical to supporting the council’s operations.
It will also allow for additional Erlanger community engagement by providing access to space for events, team-building and corporate events once the campus is complete. And through the entrepreneurship and retail centers, it will facilitate access to experiences in leadership, STEM, and health and wellness for girls, as well as allow for the Girl Scout’s famed cookie entrepreneurs to work as teams to accomplish goals.
Another goal of the campus is to increase the number of volunteers by nearly 60% by 2024 and the number of Northern Kentucky Girl Scout members by 52%.
Sandfoss is a resident of Covington and Ritzi is from Crescent Springs.
Sandfoss is the executive director in the Office of Broadband Development for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Previously, she has held positions with the Northern Kentucky Area Development where she was an associate director of community planning and community development planner.
Ritzi is the recreation programs coordinator at Kenton County Parks and Recreation. For the past six years, she has planned and implemented high-quality, diverse recreational programs, while enhancing her community by building partnerships throughout Northern Kentucky. Ritzi’s passion for recreation can be traced back to Girl Scouts, having over 30 years of experience in outdoor programming, membership recruitment, leadership training and project management. Ritzi is also a board member with the Kenton Conservancy and the Northern Kentucky Urban & Community Forestry Council and chair of Reforest NKY.
For more details about the “Challenge A Girl to Change Our World” campaign, or to contribute, visit https://www.gskentucky.org/changeourworld or contact capital campaign director Deidra Fajack at 513-325-3211 or dfajack@gswrc.org