I spent last week at Girl Scout camp. You may think I’m a bit old for that, and some mornings, climbing out of the wooden bunk bed with its plastic mattress, I might agree with you. However, this is my nineteenth year as director of Summer Roundup on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and there’s no other way I’d rather spend the last week of July. Not only is the campground a home away from home, the people I spend the week with are family, and the girls are the future I’m blessed to have a part in creating.

When my daughter wanted to join a local Girl Scout troop, I hesitated. I’d been a Campfire Girl when I was her age, but I wasn’t sure what was involved. I also knew her sister, Katie, would want to join, and then we’d be dragging them to different meetings on different nights with different girls. So I did what I normally do in this type of situation. Instead of signing Rebecca up for the existing troop, I started one of my own that would take girls of all ages.

That summer, Rebecca wanted to go to camp, something I’d never done as a child but always had a curiosity about what it was like. I found out Summer Roundup was an all-volunteer Girl Scout camp, took place less than an hour from home, and needed a few more volunteers. Not only would Rebecca get to experience camp, but so would I!

Accepting the Call

Three years in, I’d become close friends with the director and founder of the camp. One afternoon, as we walked along a trail talking about how the week was going, Cheryl stopped and said, “I’m giving up being director after twenty years. How would you like to take over?”

I was stunned, to say the least. I had never run anything that big (at the time, we had 36 campers, six teen program aids, and a dozen or so volunteers). I didn’t know how to plan a week of camp, ensure we had proper meals for all those people, or imagine a budget for running such a venture. Cheryl assured me she would stay on to help and that I would be fine. When we returned home at the end of the week, having made my decision, I shared the news with Ken. He was as shocked as I was.

The first year I was in charge was rough. There were several volunteers not happy Cheryl had turned over the reins to someone with so little experience. A few people actually staged a sort of coup, and I learned more about politics in that one week of camp than I did in the sixteen years my husband served our state as a legislator and cabinet head. While nothing seemed to have gone right with the volunteers, the girls had the time of their lives; and that remained my focus.

The Rewards of Saying Yes

It’s now twenty years later, and last week, we celebrated our 40^th anniversary. Our numbers have grown exponentially. This year, we had 100 campers—including fourteen in our Summer Roundup Leadership Academy to train future counselors—17 teen program aids, and 50 adult volunteers. Almost fifty percent of our volunteers are girls I watched grow up summer after summer, now in college or married, several with their own campers in tow.

Rebecca was a Brownie when she started going to camp. Katie Ann and Morgan were both Daisies. These days, Katie is certified in High Ropes and is the lead Zip Line facilitator,  helping girls overcome their fears. Morgan is a Unit Leader for Junior Girl Scouts who look up to her with awe, and is our camp mental health specialist. Rebecca is on hiatus with a baby at home and a thriving law practice, but next year she hopes to return for Evelyn’s first year as a Tagalong! They both attended our anniversary celebration.

The biggest question I’m asked in life is, why do you continue to do this year after year, especially with all you have going on in your own life?

In my real life, when I’m not writing books for children and women of all ages, I’m planning and leading pilgrimages and women’s retreats. My ministry has always been focused primarily on women, helping them discover who they are and what their purpose in life is. I think that’s a ministry that started when Rebecca was born, but I believe it grew into a lifelong mission after I took over camp.

Many of our girls come from cities throughout Delaware and across Maryland. For most of them, this is their only real outdoor experience. For too many—and one is too many—we are models of what they don’t have at home: encouragement, hope, and support. We groom our girls from their first day at camp to become future counselors, activity and program coordinators, and unit leaders of 30+ girls. We instill rules, values, and goals, sometimes in girls who have no other knowledge of any of these things. To put it bluntly, we teach them how to grow up in world devoid of rules, values, and worthy goals and set them on the course to be confident women leaders.

I know there are a lot of other things I could do with my time and many other worthy camps. However, this camp—with more girls from low-income families than prosperous ones, a number of girls who live in places that prevent them from playing outside their own front doors, and many girls who have no hope for the future—this camp is home. These people are family. This is where I see my ministry, my mission in life take wing.

Don’t ever question where God calls you in life. You may doubt yourself, but remember the adage, God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. Others may question why you continue to do what you feel is right, what you’ve been called to do to help others and spread hope in the world. Don’t let them sway you from answering, “Here I am, Lord. I come to do Your will” (Psalm 40:8, 9).

Someday, you will hear a voice coming from the clouds saying, “This is my beloved daughter, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 7:5).

Copyright 2026 Amy Schisler
Photos copyright 2026 Amy Schisler, all rights reserved.