Local couple looks to continue beloved Camp Sandy Pines Legacy

January 20, 2024

Leila Weah,

FRUITLAND, Md. – When she was a young girl, Gina Gargeu had a love for the outdoors.

“I started in girl scouts in the 70s,” Gargeu said. “I started off as a brownie and then worked my way up to juniors and cadets and seniors.”

And some of her most vivid memories were made at Camp Sandy Pines in Fruitland.

“We would come for the day and do all kinds of crafts and activities,” Gargeu said. “We would learn to build fires, archery, hike, and then on occasion, we would have overnight camps.”

When she got word that the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay planned to sell Camp Sandy Pines, back in 2022.

“I was really surprised,” Gargeu recalls. “I couldn’t imagine why they would sell a place like this.”

So, she had an idea to purchase the 48-acre campground, so kids in the area could experience all of those same precious memories that she did as a child.

“When she first looked at it, I wasn’t with her. She’s like, ‘I’m looking at a campground,’ and I’m like, ‘are you crazy?” Gargeu’s husband, Jim Yannatelli, said.

Yannatelli is no stranger to the elaborate business ventures Gargeu enjoys taking on. Once he stepped foot on the property, he knew why his wife was so passionate.

“I understood once I got here, and we walked around, and I saw the whole area, I’m like, ‘yeah, I get it.’ I’m proud of what she’s doing, it’s really nice,” Yannatelli said.

Since closing on the sale, January 12th, the two have already started thinking of ways to revamp the site, while still keeping some of those same structures that Gargeu grew up playing in.

“We could put pickle ball,” Yannatelli said.

With plans to have the camp group up and running by the Spring, Gargeu is hopeful the new generation of kids who come to Camp Sandy Pines will develop that same love for the outdoors, that she had as a kid.

“It gives children the chance to detach, come to nature, be with themselves, look at the person in front of them, instead of what’s on their computer screen. I think that’s really important,” Gargeu said.