Friends of Timbercrest Award

The Friends of Timbercrest Award is given annually by an anonymous donor to a Girl Scout who
  • is a graduating high school senior (or recent graduate),
  • has been involved with Camp Timbercrest, and
  • loves Camp Timbercrest the way we do!

The award is a Lifetime Membership to Girl Scouts.
2021

Aniyiah Harris of Buffalo, New York is the 2021 winner of the Friends of Timbercrest Award. When notified of her selection as this year's recipient, Aniyiah said, "I love Girl Scouts and this just made my day! Thank you so much!!"​

Aniyiah attended Timbercrest in 2019 as a CIT.

If her name sounds familiar to you, it might be because you heard about her 2020 Gold Award. Her  project, Let’s Get School Supplies!, involved distributing school supplies to children in need in her community. You can read more about her project by clicking here.

​Aniyiah will receive her lifetime membership in June upon graduation. Congratulations!
2020

​Danielle Fisk is the 2020 winner of the Friends of Timbercrest Award.

From her email: 

"Wow! Thank you! This is such an honor! Thank you so much for this gift! 

"I love Timbercrest so much and it will forever hold some of my most treasured memories. I'm so happy to hear that I might've made an impact on it, as it made such an important impact on me. Thank you so much!"

​Danielle will receive her Lifetime Membership right after her October 2020 birthday when she turns 18.
2019

When the donor was presented with three equally qualified candidates, she went to the Friends group to request additional funds. Members donated enough to award all three girls! The 2019 awardees are:

Katelyn Grodecki
Olivia Booth
Natalie Vinton

The Lifetime Membership cannot be awarded until a girl's 18th birthday, so it will be a few months before they all have their awards in hand. Many thanks to the Friends whose generosity makes this award possible.



​Dear Friends of Timbercrest,

It was an honor to be one of the awardees of the Friends of Timbercrest Award this year. Timbercrest holds a very special place in my heart, a place where I always felt free and accepted. Singing at meals, camping out on Gypsies' Point, hiking to Dracula's Tomb, Kayaking in Beaver Bay, and being exhausted after the Buffalo Swim are some of my most precious memories.

​But this Camp is more than a fun place that I spent my summers, it's my home away from home. It's where I learned to be an empowered young woman, as well as a top-notch fire builder. Again, thank you so much for this distinction, I'll always remember that I am a part of Timbercrest.

Sincerely,
Natalie "Sparrow" Vinton
2018

​Megan Wilson, Mount Morris, New York

At the time of her award, Megan had been 11 years in Girl Scouting and had attended Timbercrest for five consecutive years (2013-2017). She is a dedicated and active volunteer with the Friends of Timbercrest.
2017

​Genevieve Ruhland, North Chili, New York
2016

Allegany County resident Grace Carls was the first recipient of the the FOT Award.  Her first program at Timbercrest was Day Camp when she was going into kindergarten.  After that she spent the next 12 summers at residence camp. In 2015, Grace was a Counselor in Training and in 2016 she was Junior Riding Instructor.

Excerpts from her thank you note:

Thank you for my nomination and award of the Girl Scout lifetime membership.  It means a great deal to me to not only be a life long camper and Scout, but now an employee of Girl Scouts at Camp Timbercrest...

As a first year staff member, there have often times been tough moments.  And then, seeing my campers happy and learning new skills makes me stop and remember why I always continued - because at one point, I was that little girl who looked up to her leaders and counselors.  They helped me become a better version of me...

I owe that all to the Girl Scout adults and employees that inspired me to be just like them.

~ Grace A. Carls (Camp name: Jalapeño)