CARSTAIRS - Scouts Canada is considering closing down the Carstairs Scout Hall, say officials.
Doug Smith, operations manager for Scouts Canada, Western Canada, told the Gazette that there are currently no kids registered in Scouts in the town.
"There isn't an impetus or want to get out of the hall but if we don't have kids and we don't have leaders, it's hard to run a hall," said Smith.
Smith said that official registration for Scouts began on Sept. 1 and he isn't aware of anyone, kids or volunteers, signing up. Scouts runs programs for children and young adults starting at ages five to seven with Beaver Scouts going right up to age 26 with the Rover Scouts.
"In the end our volunteers end up managing a property and not having any capacity to do other things such as support the youth and have good programs," he said.
"It's unfortunate because we really want to have our programs in the community, but if there are no kids and no volunteers, I'm not sure how we keep a building."
Smith said the town leases the land, while the Scouts built and own the building.
"It's very hard (on the volunteers)," he said. "We wouldn't make the decision lightly to move away from the hall. It would be primarily to alleviate the burden on the volunteers that have a building but no one using it."
Didsbury, Olds and Sundre all have Scout programs. Anyone interested in joining or for more information go to Scouts Canada's website at scouts.ca.
