DUMMERSTON — For years, Connie Burton, owner of Burton Car Wash & Detailing Services in Brattleboro, has asked her customers not to keep the change.
She's put out a collection jar at her two locations and her customers have emptied their pockets for various local causes.
This year, Burton decided to earmark the proceeds from the change jar to the Green Mountain Camp for Girls in West Dummerston. She recently delivered $941.75, collected since last September, for the camp's scholarship fund.
“A piece of my heart is definitely there,” said Burton. “I was a camper on a scholarship when I was a little girl, and I ended up being a director of the camp in the mid-1990s. It's a wonderful place.”
Like Burton, current Green Mountain Camp director Billie Slade also attended camp thanks to the scholarship fund.
“I never would have been able to go without it when I was girl,” Slade said.
The camp, established in 1917, is for girls 6 to 13. Slade said there are 41 girls attending camp on scholarships this year.
Slade grew up locally, and had lived and worked in Wisconsin for 36 years before returning to Windham County to run the camp, succeeding previous director Fran Lynngaard Hansen.
“I shadowed Fran last summer, and officially took the job on Jan. 1,” said Slade. “Fran gave me a good head start.“
The connections made at Green Mountain Camp run deep. Slade said that several of the campers who were there in the 1960s and 1970s, including her, are now back on the staff.
“My grandmother and mother went here, and I'm hoping my granddaughter gets to go here next year,” Slade said. “It's amazing how little the camp has changed in the last 40 years.”
Slade said there are still some spots available for campers later this summer. More information about the camp is available at www.greenmountaincamp.com.