The Melita miracle came to pass

It once seemed so hopeless: a well-intentioned effort to acquire a Flathead Lake island for a Boy Scout camp, apparently destined for a disappointing end.

That was in mid-December, when the campaign to purchase Melita Island was a long, long way from its $1.5 million goal.

At that point, the fund-raiser was still almost $1.2 million short of the money it needed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to seal the deal or lose access to the island forever for Scouts.

Back on Dec. 18, we wrote, "The benefits are so plentiful that Melita Island backers have not given up hope on the camp. This Christmas season, they deserve a miracle."

Consider that miracle delivered.

Midafternoon on Friday - just nine hours before the midnight deadline - paperwork was signed giving the Montana Council of Boy Scouts ownership of Melita Island.

The closing of the deal for this once-impossible dream is a testament to the generosity of donors and tenacity of the volunteers who were determined to save the island for young Scouts.

Publicity about the fund-raiser's plight helped bring the foundering effort to public attention.

Then a $1 million donation from an anonymous couple (thank you, whoever you are), put the fund drive into overdrive.

That huge measure of largesse helped open the floodgates for dozens of donations. From $5 to $50,000, the checks came rolling in.

With three days to go there was $150,000 left to raise. But one day's mail alone contained $67,000 in checks.

By the morning of the final day the gap was down to $30,000.

And Friday's mail brought in 55 checks - for a total of $30,140.

Wow.

With that final flourish, Melita Island will forever be a place for special summers for Scouts. And more money is needed to turn the island into the camp it can and should be, so don't hold off just because you didn't send your check in yet. You can still be part of the miracle.

Credit for this achievement is due first to the Phoenix Patrol, a group of middle-aged men who spent summers at Melita when they were young Scouts.

The Phoenix volunteers didn't give up on their dream, even when the financially strapped state council withdrew its organizational support for the Melita campaign.

Credit also is due to Fred Cox, the island's owner who was willing to give the Scouts a shot and forgo a much bigger sales price for the island if it were to be subdivided and developed.

Last but certainly not least, gratitude should be extended to all those donors, large and small, who pitched in when the Scouts needed it most.

This was a community effort that will pay off for years to come.