On June 30, 1911, nine years before women even had the right to vote, six girlfriends met at the Oakland Mills Club House in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, with the intention of starting their own club. Finding the doors to the clubhouse locked, they instead sat on front steps to discuss what their new club would look like.

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“Some plans were discussed as to just what line our work would take, for we all agreed we didn’t want a club just to sit and look at each other,” recalled Gladys Steward Walters in her story of "The Founding of T.T.T. “ The friends didn’t decide much that day and adjourned to eat their picnic lunch. “Not a very outstanding piece of work, this beginning of a society which will in time reach from one end of our country to the other,” Gladys concluded.

 

However, Gladys and her five friends, Bess, Mabel, Ethel, Mary and Myrl, eventually established the T.T.T. Project, later to become the National T.T.T. Society, with the goal of gathering women to raise funds to help young girls attend summer camp. That initial club has now endured for more than 100 years with hundreds of members gathering in chapters across the nation. 

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The founders of the National T.T.T. Society, now doing business as Camping4Girls, knew that girls — being as naturally smart, curious and adventurous as boys — could gain lifelong benefits from a camp experience. There, they could stretch their abilities, build self-confidence and learn to see the wider world alongside newfound friends.

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Through their original bonds of friendship, the Camping4Girls founders have since brought together thousands of women across the country with the mission of empowering new generations of girls. As we like to say, once a young girl is chosen, they become a lifelong part of the Camping4Girls family.

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What our founders knew then still rings true today: A week away in the woods, meadows, streams and lakes is a complete immersion in healthy living through connections, discovery and belonging that can truly make a difference in the life of a girl.