Camping Committee & Summer Camp
Ed Henderson (BigEdBSA@AOL.COM)
Wed, 29 Nov 1995 10:58:07 -0500
My appologies if you have received two copies of this, it apparently bounced
back
Having been on Summer Camp staffs for 16 years and in five different councils
I can say with regard to Tim Falend's request for Camping Committee info that
I understand his concern. At all of the other councils I have been in the
Camping Committee Chairman was some nice but obviously clueless bank
executive put there either by the Scout Executive or the Council's Executive
Committee to look nice on paper. This Chairman might be trotted out once a
year to go on a 30 minute tour of camp and then proclaim to the executive
board that they had a "fine camp!"
If your council has a weak summer camp program it probably also has a weak or
non existant camping committee. The cold hard facts are this: The Boy
Scouts of America is rapidly moving in the right direction with increased
requirements for the operation of a Boy Scout Long Term Summer Camp. All of
the sudden these councils that serve up the same warmed over stuff in a camp
that is falling apart are going to be forced into shutting down their
organized summer programs and encourage their units to go out of council.
Councils with a small 2- 5 week summer program will find the costs of hiring
an EMT, complying with health & environmental requirements, and adding high
adventure programs well beyond their means.
Fifteen years ago the Flint River Council of Central Georgia was in this very
position. We were (and still are) Geographically a very small council (our
headquarters city of Griffin Georgia is the largest municipality in the
council with only 24,000 people). We were surrounded by huge welthy councils
(Atlanta, Central GA (Macon) and Chattahoochee (Columbus GA). Our camp was a
hell hole dump with a three week unimagenative program, several counties were
filled with scouters demanding to be moved into Atlanta Council, our summer
camp Director in those years was a Vietnam Veteran (and wonderful scouter)
who I remembered was chewed out by our Scout Executive at that time for the
unforgivasble act of spending $9.95 on a smoke detector in order to pass the
National Camp Inspection, that was the big camp improvement of 1983. Our
council was dead in the water, financially and membership wise were were on
our deathbed, as the vultures circled (neighbouring councils) waiting to grab
our 2200 camp and our counties after we closed shop.
At this time however, what can only be described as a Miracle Happened. We
had two really dynamic Scout Executives over the past 10 years who understood
the value of a strong camping committee and in what our little council could
do. David Allen (Currently SE in Gastonia NC got the ball rolling by getting
a small town Citgo Oil distributor and Eagle Scout interested in camp, this
man, Gerald Lawhorn was our first legitimate Camping Committee Chairman. As
Gerald's fledeling business took root he and other volunteeers saw our
council for what it could be. Even though we had three miles of prime river
front on our camp, there was nothing there but beer cans from weekend ruffins
from nearby towns. They turned this into the Lawhorn Canoe Base, raised the
money to bring in a ranger and put our camp on the map. As our second Scout
Executive, Les Baron came in back in 1989 (he just left last month for a big
promotion as SE in Tampa, probably the finest SE in America - one day he will
probably be the Chief Scout Executive) he got our current Camping Committee
Chairman (Roy Garner) involved and camp really exploded. More than 3 million
dollars has been sunk into the main camp, the volunteers raised money for ads
in Scouting Magazine, Videos, two full time rangers, a full time Camp
Director & a full time Marketing Manager. Today we ARE ALREADY TOTALLY
BOOKED FOR 1996! All nine weeks, every site, and we had to turn down dozens
of troops. Troops come back year after year as we serve 70% out of council
units. Our council is a financial powerhouse among councils in our state
with very healthy increases in FOS, United Way, etc. As our camp grew so did
everything else. Scouting Magazine did a story in 1993 about how we were the
top council in the nation for two years running in number of adult leaders
trained (we are still near the top) - that was the result of our Training
Committee. Our membership has had monthly increases every month now for 15
years with never a drop, and they are not paper units either!!! We have
aggressivly marketed our camp and it is used by Moutain Bikers, Colleges,
etc.
Our camping committee chairman is there, weekend & week out getting his hands
dirty, building buildings, listening to leaders every week of camp along with
our SE. Camp Thunder & The Gerald I Lawhorn Canoe Base of the Flint River
Council is the Crown Jewel of Southern Region Scouting. Our leaders guide
was out October 1st, we recruit our staff from across the country, we train
year round, we have legitimate committees like Relationships, Training, NESA,
OA, Health & Safety, Risk Management, etc. As our camp grew, neighbouring
councils have allowed their programs to weaken, even colapse. Chattahoochee
Council has not even operated a camp for two years, even though they have
three summer camp properties with facilities for running a camp. Macon
council along with Albany, Augusta, Savannah, and Waycross Georgia will all
operate small 3 - 5 week camps. Even the giant Atlanta Area Council is
having problems filling up their northern Camp Woodruff (and they are only
going to attempt to run it for six weeks) while their southern camp, slated
to run four weeks is used for Olympic events.
It starts with a SE who is not intimidated by a strong Camping Committee. It
starts with a Camping Committee of dedicated volunteers who can organize,
raise money, see five years in the future, write and execute a plan. A
Summer Camp program not ran by a pair of hapless DE's who are forced to
neglect district activities as they rush around at the last minute to throw
camp together. Camp Thunder literally saved Flint River Council, it is the
keystone that turned things around for us. We go the extra mile in so many
ways. We believe in training of our staff - even to the point of flying our
full time summer camp Chaplain out to Denver Colorado in 1994 to go to BSA
Camp School BECAUSE WE WERE THE ONLY COUNCIL IN THE ENTIRE SOUTHEASTERN
UNITED STATES TO EVEN SIGN UP A STAFF MEMBER FOR THIS CAMP SCHOOL SECTION.
With a class size of one, our region cancelled its session but we would do
whatever it takes to have everything we could for our campers
Most camp directors are happy to follow the dictates of BSA Supply Division,
where they mindlessly order every overpriced trinket presented to them. Our
Camping Committee saw that so much more could be done and thus supported a
major expansion of our operations, unshackeled the manager to aggressivly
order and manage the operation, and last year the Trading Post grossed over
$8,000.00 A WEEK (that is more than some camps do all summer). Even now the
camp generates hundreds of dollars every week off season since the camp is
booked year round, and the "Virtual Country Store - Online:" the Camp's
Internet store, serves the needs of a worldwide scouting audience with
hundreds of items NOT AVAILABLE FROM SUPPLY DIVISION.
Still more? Every week we have not one or two, but DOZENS of activities to
keep campers busy. Chess, Mountain Biking, even our RADICAL OUTDOOR
CHALLENGE TV SHOW which is seen by millions every week on ESPN!
Last year over a dozen councils sent professional and volunteer staff to
visit our camp and see what works. We will soon open a new council/camp/oa
WWW Home Page which I will announce to Rec.Scouting, & Scouts-L. We always
welcome visits.
If your council views summer camp as a ball & chain, a necessary evil, or a
black hole of disapearing cash that drains the council coffers, if your
camping committee is some phony bunch of geezers on paper that only sets foot
in camp once a year, if your DE's are trying to juggle the impossible demands
of running district day camps, FOS, and membership while also trying to
aggressively market and manage their summer camp year round (unsuccessfully),
or if your professional staff tries to run everything while supressing or
ignoring volunteers on dead committees and scoutmasters better seen than
heard, then it is time for you to set in and save your council.
We have a super Professional Staff, we were very careful in selecting a new
Scout Executive back in September to get one that would continue to move us
forward (Jack Sears out of Central Florida Council - Orlando) and he appears
to be exactly the kind of SE that could pick up the ball our last SE left and
continue to run and score for our scouts & leaders. Our committees remain
active and strong. Camp is now well in the black financially and, as very
few councils have been able to achieve, it is not a financial liability for
our council but part of our strength. We will not rest on our laurels. Right
now we are well along in the process of Cub World, Family Camping, Expanded
Mountain Biking, Campmaster Program, and our exciting new cooperative
development in the inauguration in 1996 of the FDR/American Heritage
Disability Trails Program. In 1996 we will be up on the Web, we will produce
our new camp video, we will expand our Camp Radio Station - WBSA & our
Publishing Company (Dripping Rock Publishing Company & Thundering Press). We
will probably be among a small handful of BSA camps to be a fully accredited
American Camping Association site, and oh yes, we will expand our contacts
with then more than 120 outside experts, organizations, and guests that make
our summer camp program what it is. We will have everything from the C-SPAN
school bus (hopefully) to an even larger Space Exploration / NSS / Nat'l
Assoc. of Rocketry demonstration site.
Last year our new BSA summer camp management software which was developed and
beta tested by our volunteers was the rage of every scoutmaster. Summer Camp
class sign up was a pleasure, not a pain. It even interfaced with popular
troop management software like Troopmaster. Imagine a Troop from Texas with
more than 65 scouts coming 1000 miles to our camp and being able to register
every scout, in every class and transmit data on everything from religous
preferences of each scout to their parents emergency number instantly.
Some of our innovations are so unique that we attract some of the best
scouters in the country. We welcome in 1996 Scoutmaster Ray Harriott of
Maryland, author of the run away best seller hit "Stories Around the
Campfire" who is coming to Camp Thunder because of our programs and our
aggressive efforts in networking with scouters on the Internet. Many of our
professional scouting staff & volunteers are on America On Line, E-Mail me
for a complete list of addresses at BIGEDBSA@aol.com. To reach our Virtual
Country Store write us at BSAstore@aol.com.
YIS,
Ed Henderson
District Advnacement Chairman, Scoutleader, Explorer Advisor
Camp Thunder Business Manager, Chaplain & 16 year staff Veteran
Flint River Council # 95
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
