The Girl Scout Councils: Singing Sands to Northern Indiana–Michiana

Singing Sands was South Bend's council — merged in the national realignment voted in 2006

Singing Sands: For most of the twentieth century's second half, Girl Scouting in South Bend belonged to the Girl Scouts of Singing Sands Council — named for the singing sands of the Indiana Dunes lakeshore — headquartered at 3620 Deahl Court in South Bend. Its documented size at the century's turn, from the South Bend Tribune as preserved in the Michiana Memory newspaper database: ten counties, about 9,000 girls and 2,000 adults in 2001, with Mary Lauck as executive director. The council's own founding year is not established in the sources reached for this account.

The merger: On 26 August 2006 the national board of Girl Scouts of the USA voted the realignment that collapsed 312 councils into 109. Singing Sands merged into the new Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana–Michiana, together with the Indiana Lakeland, Limberlost and Tribal Trails councils — except for a part of Singing Sands' territory that went to the Heart of Michigan council — forming a council of 18,240 girls across twenty Indiana counties and two Michigan counties, in the Scouting in Indiana account. The merged council's first federal filings run from 2009; the merger's exact effective date is not pinned in the sources reached, and the vote and the filings bracket it here. The headquarters went to Fort Wayne. What remains in this county is the Michiana Service Center at 1218 East University Drive in Granger — that community's ground, at the boundary. The council's own 2023–24 guidebook counts about 4,500 girls and 2,500 volunteers across its twenty-two counties, dated figures printed as dated. Its camps stand on their own ground: Camp Ella J. Logan, founded in 1928 on Lake Dewart at Syracuse, Indiana; Camp Soni Springs at Three Oaks, Michigan; Camp McMillen at Huntertown; and Camp Wildwood at Logansport.

Sources:

1. South Bend Tribune, 2001, via the Michiana Memory newspaper database — Singing Sands Council: headquarters at 3620 Deahl Court; ten counties; about 9,000 girls and 2,000 adults; Mary Lauck, executive director.
2. Scouting in Indiana — the realignment vote of 26 August 2006; the merger of Indiana Lakeland, Limberlost, Singing Sands (in part to Heart of Michigan) and Tribal Trails; 18,240 girls at formation.
3. Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana–Michiana, guidebook 2023–24 and organizational materials — the Fort Wayne headquarters; the Michiana Service Center at Granger; about 4,500 girls and 2,500 volunteers; the four camps and their locations; Camp Ella J. Logan founded 1928.