Resident Camp suggestion needed

[clydesdale115]

Friends: Our Webelos den leaves for Resident Camp next week. On the day after we return, one of our Scouts is moving to Germany! He's been with our den since his first day as a Tiger. His dad is already over there (Air Force) - mom and brother are hanging around so both boys can attend Scout summer camp before they leave.

I'm looking for a suggestion how to "celebrate" his leaving while we are at Resident Camp. I'm thinking of inviting all the Camp (about 150 boys) to join us for a snack one night, maybe ice creams for all, or watermelon slices or something. Or maybe handing out Glo-Sticks after the final campfire. We will not be in the total wilderness, so I could make a trip to the supermarket during the day! Of course, I'd clear this all with the Camp Director.

He and his family have been great for our den and our Pack - brother just crossed over the Boy Scouts. They are already hooked up with a Pack and Troop on the AF Base in Germany! He's a good kid and I welcome your ideas for making it a nice send-off.

Do you think this sounds okay, or should we just keep this "good-bye" between our den?

clyde

 

[Fuzzy Bear]

I had just finished the fourth grade and our family was leaving for good. My Dad had changed jobs so we were moving about 80 miles away. As a youth, it might as well as been to the other side of the world. I didn't know the difference. I just knew everything and everyone that I had known would be gone from my life. My Sunday School teacher gave me a young reader's Bible book with a note on the inside cover page. My Cub Scout Den Leader, Mrs. C., wrote me a nice letter. Over the next few years, I would take them out and read them occasionally. I would ask my Mother about the town and the people, which had changed.

 

At college in our dorm, a young man down the hallway was from that little town. He told me all he knew about my group of friends that had grown up and graduated and had moved on to adult things.

 

A few years later, I drove through the town that had grown up as well. I found our house and from the street I saw the roses that my Mother had planted in the backyard.

 

I have changed and moved several more times but I still have both of those notes.

 

 

FB

[Jeffrey H]

If you want to invite the whole camp and youre paying for it, go for it. No one is going to turn down free ice cream. However, dont be disappointed if the other 150 campers don't share in your excitement about your feelings for your Webelo Scout.

 

If it were me, I would have a party/celebration just among the Den members. These are his friends and the ones he has shared his Scouting experience with. The 150 campers are just faces that want free ice cream.

 

Best wishes and thanks for your work in Scouting.

 

[ScoutNut]

IMO, it will be more meaningful to him if you keep it just his den.

 

At your last night's campsite campfire, do a small presentation for him. Maybe have a card that all of the boys have signed. Also, something that will remind him of his "old" Pack, Den & friends would be good. How about a handmade scarf slide? Does your Webelos Den have a den emblem, or just a number? If you are using an emblem, maybe you could glue the emblem to a branch slice or wood round & put the Pack # & date on the back. Is there something unique about your Den, Pack, District, Council or even your hometown, that you could use to create a slide? Something that will remind him of you guys every time he uses it!

 

You could then end it with cupcakes, ice cream, or some such treat. Make sure all of the boys swap email & snail mail address's so they can keep in touch.

[ScoutNut]

** An Idea **

 

If there is nothing unique that works for you, check out Michael's or your local craft store. We found woodies at our Michael's shaped like a campfire that I used for our Packs Webelos one year. If you can find a campfire, you can use Sharpie markers to color it. Brown & black for the logs with red & yellow for the flames. The ones we found were a pretty good size so you could put the name of your Pack, the name of the Resident Camp, the date of the presentation & maybe your signature in sharpie on the back if you print smaller.

 

This way you can present him with a slide of his last campfire AT his last campfire!

 

[SSScout]

*CD: How very sentimental of you. Don't ever lose that touch. You will be remembered by your charges long after THEY think Cub Scouting is too lame for them. My mom was my Den mother (non PC), but I've had old time CSers come up to me and mention her to me (boy, do I feel old all of a sudden).

 

*I agree with JH. I would keep it "in family" and definitely scratch your head for some unique thingy he can take with him. Our Cub Pack had a tradition of creating an arrow thing for the Webeloes cross-overs, but the CM usually gave them a little something from himself, too.. In my last year of CM, I gave the crossover boys each a Scout coin, the one with the SL on one side and the SO on the other.

 

*FBear: Your story is a CM or SM minute in the making. I love stories like that. When my folks passed on and it was time to clean out the house, I found a faded piece of paper signed by an old friend attesting to the fact that I had attended a "Bible Camp Week" when I was seven. When she died recently, at her memorial, I did some arithmetic and figured that she had been 35 when I was seven.

 

*CD, when your Scout cleans out his desk drawer after his last promotion, he'll find the necker slide you gave him and remember...

 

YiS

[clydesdale115]

What wonderful thoughts you all have! Thank you for your kind replies! I love the idea of making him a slide or something similar as a remembrance. Our den chose "Wolverines" as our new name, so that'll be fun to make! I think we'll have a special den time together just before we turn in on the last night to give him the slide. We leave on Sunday, so I'd better get started!

I talked with the Camp Director, and as you said, they would never turn down ice cream! I'm going with those "freezer pops" - easy to transport and freeze once we get there. Of course you're right - the other boys probably won't share in our sentiment, but hopefully it'll make our Scout feel special for the night.

He will definitely go far in Scouting (all the way to Germany :-) but we want him to remember where it all started! FB: I hope Jack leaves our den with those same wonderful feelings and memories you have.

clyde