Donors come through for Boy Scouts

POLSON — Talk about coming down to the wire …

That's what happened last week as the sale of Melita Island on the deadline date of Dec. 31 assured its future as a Boy Scout camp.

With only nine hours to go, the Scouts were still $30,000 short of meeting the $1.5 million sale price. However, the Post Office was working on New Year's Eve and the mail brought in a total of $30,140 in cash and pledges to enable the Scouts to meet the deadline.

A $1 million donation earlier in December from an anonymous Western Montana couple provided the momentum for the final week of intensive efforts to raise the final $100,000.

The fund drive appeared to have been stalled before the million-dollar contribution.

The fundraising effort started with a professional firm being hired from Atlanta, but their representative suffered a heart attack 30 days into his tenure. The new agent "didn't know much and cost us a fortune that actually put the council in debt," said Doug Anderson, executive director of the fundraising effort.

Climbing out from their own debt was enough of an impediment to cause council leaders to shelve the Melita Island campaign, but the Phoenix Patrol, a group of men who spent summer camp on the island in the 1960s and 1970s, took control of the fundraising effort. Anderson has been in control of the project for the last five months.

Last Friday, Anderson said that the Scouts were now "committed to buying the island."

The Camp Melita web page described the history of the island:

"Melita Island is a 64-acre island on Flathead Lake, located about one-half mile off the west lakeshore. It is accessible by boat from Walstad Park, a state-maintained landing off Highway 93, approximately 20 minutes north of Polson.

"From the mid-1950s to the mid 1970s, the Western Montana Council of the Boy Scouts operated a summer camping program on Melita, which it leased from the Masonic Order. All meals were prepared and served in a large dining hall/lodge building. Troops camped in designated locations throughout the Island, and a summer staff provided instruction in boating, swimming, canoeing, archery, marksmanship, pioneering, nature study, and other Scouting skills.

"In 1974 the Masons terminated the lease and sold the island to developers who subdivided it into 17 lots. Later, the Pack River Company acquired all the separate lots, and in 1989 sold Melita to its current owners, Fred and Harriet Cox of Nevada.

"Despite its subdivision and sale, Melita has never been developed. It now has an underground power system connected to the mainland, but remains today in substantially the same condition it was in use as a Scout camp, though the docks, kitchen facilities, water system, and staff buildings have been removed. The main dining hall remains intact and serviceable, but in need of roof and window repairs and a kitchen."

Now with Scouts assured of a permanent island camp, those projects should be finished in the near future.