About eight years ago, we were preparing to move to Vashon Island from West Seattle. At the time, I didn’t know anyone over here and was nervous about making connections and leaving my full-time job in the city, let alone trying to make a living from home with kids who were 5, 3 and 9 months old.

So I decided to get my 5-year-old involved with Camp Fire and called the woman listed in The Beachcomber before I moved here.

A woman named Lisa Bruce answered the phone. Before you knew it, my daughter was in Camp Fire, and she started out her first-grade year at Chautauqua involved in Lisa’s group.

That was eight years ago. Since then, Camp Fire has been a huge part of my family’s life.  Emma is wrapping up her last year in Lisa’s group now as an eighth-grader. And I started my own group for my second child when she was in kindergarten. 

Now, six years after starting that Camp Fire group, I am headed into my last month as a Camp Fire leader. The girls are developing new interests and moving into middle school in the fall. So, I will be closing the group and sending the girls off into new things in June.

Man, talk about sentimental.

Camp Fire has been an amazing part of my girls’ lives  — my son, too, since he has attended every meeting with me as a “Camp Fire sibling” for the last eight years. My group has been as large as 13 girls and as small as five. We have met once a week every year from September until June. We have sold a lot of Camp Fire candy, planted trees, picked up garbage and learned from people. We have gone to the beach, spent a lot of time at Camp Sealth and run a float each year in the Strawberry Festival.

I think of my Camp Fire group and am reminded of all of those who have come through it over the years. Some 25 kids have gone through my Camp Fire group. Three of them have been with it since kindergarten.  When my daughter defines herself in writing or talks about her relationship with me, inevitably the words “Camp Fire leader” come up.

There are so many wonderful memories I have of these kids over the years. I think of Natalie running to the swing at the Presbyterian Church every week because it was our “tradition” that she would swing first. I think of Kaija getting into frequent bouts of crazy giggles. I think of Emily always cleaning and wanting to earn extra beads. I think of squirting people with water or giving out candy from our float every summer.

I think of Lisa Bruce and her endless advice and help for the last six years, in teaching me how to be a Camp Fire leader, let alone how to tie a knot or start a camp fire. I think of all of the contributions these kids have made to their community over the years, from collecting food for the food bank to collecting toys for the Toy Drive.

I look to the parents who have volunteered over the years, bringing snacks, helping in the parade, coming to overnight trips. I am grateful to all of the people who have bought candy again and again and again as my kids stand in the cold at Thriftway.

I think of doing skits, learning to cook and decorating vests with beads and emblems. What pride these girls have had in being in Camp Fire. What fun they have had.

Membership in organizations like Camp Fire and Girl Scouts is falling these days. Kids are busy with sports or music lessons. They have other demands on their time now. It is harder and harder to find parents who are willing to volunteer their time to lead Camp Fire groups.

For my business, in busier times over the years, my Camp Fire girls have sat by patiently as I frantically wrapped up cell phone calls.  It’s not easy being a Camp Fire leader. Maybe that’s part of why these organization are struggling. It takes time and work.

But I know this: I have done a lot of volunteering over the years with my kids. Nothing has given me as much pleasure as leading my Camp Fire group and watching these kids grow up. I know it has meant the world to my daughter.  And I often tell people that I can make myself cry instantly when I imagine how I will feel watching these kids receive diplomas in seven years.

I am sure it won’t take much work to imagine them standing there, grinning, wearing their vests covered with beads.

As I wind down my group, here is my wish: I hope there are new leaders coming behind me. I am here if you want to talk and am always happy to keep this wonderful tradition going, but it is time to move into other things.

Lisa Bruce, I hope you get some rest. I figure 15 years of being a Camp Fire leader gets you a vacation.

Kids, I hope you keep in touch. I hope you do great things in the world and remember all of the rainy afternoons doing Camp Fire or the sunny days at Camp Sealth or marching in the parade.

That only leaves one thing to say: Wo-He-Lo!

— Lauri Hennessey, a mother of three, is a public relations professional on Vashon.