By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

A pair of displaced Alabaster Girl Scout troops now have a new place to meet after their former church home decided to end its affiliation with scouting organizations.

Girl Scout troops 761 and 146 are now meeting at First Presbyterian Church of Alabaster after they lost their former meeting place, Westwood Baptist Church.

In May, several local churches announced they would be ending their association with scouting organizations after the Boy Scouts of America voted to allow openly homosexual members. Included in the churches cutting ties with the BSA was Westwood Baptist Church, which chartered Boy Scout Troop 220, Cub Scout Pack 220 and Girl Scout troops 761 and 146.

As a result of the vote, Westwood Baptist ended its charter with the scout troops on July 31.

After learning of Westwood’s decision, the pair of Girl Scout troops began looking for a new meeting place, said First Presbyterian Church office administrator Denise Barnes.

“It was kind of a mutual thing,” Barnes said, noting her daughter is in Troop 146. “Our troop leaders were worried, because we had met at Westwood for four or five years. We wondered where we were going to meet.

“We started looking for a new home, and we asked the church if it would be OK and they said yes,” Barnes added.

With the addition of Girl Scout troops 146 and 761, First Presbyterian now hosts three Girl Scout troops, a Cub Scout pack and a Boy Scout troop.

“I have a chart right here that lays out everyone’s meeting dates,” Barnes said with a laugh, noting it can sometimes be a challenge to fit each troop’s meetings in each month. “Everyone seems to be happy.”