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WAKWIB

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Everything posted by WAKWIB

  1. Really looking forward to this weekend. It will be the traditional big party that kicks off the summer at my Scout Camp! This was nixed last year by the pandemic, but it looks like we will have something like a "return-to-normal" this year. I will be so happy connect with many old and new Scouting friends. I hope that all of you fellow Scouters will have a great summer, too!
  2. Sad to hear this. The passing of a Scouter brings a sense of loss, not only to family and friends, but also to their entire community. God's peace to her and her family.
  3. @John-in-KC I only know the plan at Bartle will be to have meals delivered to the campsites. If/when anything is served in the dining hall it will be a limited capacity type of thing to allow for social distancing.
  4. Our council is going forward with summer camp starting in July. Lot's of policy and protocol to follow to keep in line with CDC guidelines. I'm not sure how much "fun" it will be for the adult leaders and the camp staff, but I hope it will be a good time for the Scouts. For the first time in many years, I won't be going there for a weekend visit or two due to a very strict no-visitor policy.
  5. A great man, and I consider it a high honor to have him present the coin to start Super Bowl 54; a game won by my hometown team!
  6. Yep. OA is something extra and requires more investment of time. By all means, I think a Scoutmaster should do his part to facilitate OA elections and try to insure that those elected attend the Ordeal stuff. Beyond that, it is purely up to the Scout to determine his plan and purpose in the Lodge.
  7. And, we will see a lot of that in Lodges around the country. The girls in my council are gung-ho about getting involved in OA, Mic-O-Say, and camp staff. Where it sometimes feels like pulling teeth to get a boy to step up into a leadership role, it seems like there are more than a few girls that are wired for it.
  8. Hopefully some replacement ceremonial team members were discovered and trained in time, (under short notice, I know). The camping situation will be what it will be. That part is probably out of your hands. Decent ceremonies around a roaring fire will be impressive, and the day of cheerful service should go on, even if the Scouts sleep inside.
  9. A trailer, especially one that is all decorated with troop and scouting logos and such, is just awkward to drag around town. I imagine most of the good stuff stolen from these trailers gets sold.
  10. Here's how it's rolling out in my corner of the world. http://www.hoac-bsa.org/Data/Sites/1/media/membership/hoac-membership-fee-structure-overview.pdf
  11. At a Troop level, in my experience as both a kid and as an adult, a prayer before the meal sometimes happened and sometimes not. There was always some type of Sunday morning gathering on campouts where prayers would be said. Summer camp was quite a different story. "Grace" was and is said before every meal. There are a couple of favorites from my youth. At camp we would often sing (as a group of about 500 people in the dining hall) an old Methodist hymn: "Be present at our table, Lord, Be here and ev'ry where adored, These mercies bless, and grant that we May feast in Paradise
  12. I had to look at my profile, because I honestly couldn't remember. I've been here since Dec. 29, 2003. It's been fun and informative. The Issues and Politics Forum was quite a show back in the day. I was just thinking, that maybe the reason it has quieted down is that all the hot political, social and religious topics get hashed out to the max on Facebook and Twitter. It may be that a lot of us get so burnt-out on it on those platforms that we don't want to drag it over to this space. Just a theory. To be honest, the frisky debates of the past here on Scouter were far more rational and
  13. The thing that drives me and my peers (old codgers by most standards), is the desire to deliver the best program possible. All of us have had to take a leap-of-faith in the face of the recent changes. In our council, the girls who participated in our summer camp program loved it to the max, and we changed absolutely nothing about it. We were quite surprised and it has motivated us to drive forward because we know the interest and participation from young ladies in our community is only going to increase.
  14. @John-in-KC When was the last time you were at camp Brother John? True, there have been good times and bad times when it comes to food at Bartle-Land, but this year there were few complaints. Neither you or I can fully comprehend the challenge of keeping the cost low and the quality acceptable.
  15. Spinning this from another thread. Regarding the "new BSA," I am very happy to report that in my Council many of the volunteer folks that are driving the program into the future have 30-50 years of Scouting experience. We intentionally mentor and listen to our future leaders who are currently in the 18-30 year-old age demographic. This is mostly done through cultivating relationships with dozens of people who serve on our summer camp staffs for 6 or so years. Our goal is to infuse the New Things with as much of the old traditions and practices as possible. In short, old guys a
  16. True! And maybe I could share this lack of Zeus' integrity with the Scout in this very goofy scenario. Keep in mind that the original poster of the Zeus comment was doing it in jest. I seriously doubt that I will ever have to deal with such a situation.
  17. Believe it or not, we have a Troop from Oregon that has been coming to our camp for the last few years. Admittedly, one heck of a journey!
  18. Glad you survived @ItsBrian! Despite the conditions, you made Scouting happen for a bunch of kids. I hope you return to be a staff man or a unit leader at your camp next year!
  19. How far do you want to travel?😃 If you want to come to Missouri, I highly recommend the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation!
  20. I have a "Duty to God" conversation with several Scouts every year. I would simply ask them, "What does Zeus expect of you?" "Do those expectations align with the Scout Law?" "How are you meeting those expectations?"
  21. Trail Life and the churches that are CO's for their units view inclusion of non-Christian youth as part of their evangelistic outreach to the community. They don't require "faith" as a requirement for the youth. They are hoping they can plant the seeds of Christian faith through their program. However, that's a side outcome for the most part. Most of the men and boys who participate in Trail Life just want to camp and enjoy outdoor fun.
  22. Yes. The sensationalism in all this is pretty apparent. I think part of the strategy for the plaintiff lawyers is to score a lot of points in the court-of-public-opinion in order to influence the outcomes of their cases. Financially, I'm fairly positive that BSA will get over the hurdle somehow, but there will be a taint on the reputation that will take a lot of time and work to overcome.
  23. Given the date of this post and what has come out in the last week or so, I say that you saw into the future. Unfortunately, the reputation of Scouting is going to take quite a hit even longer into the future.
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