Our Camp sees a lot of Scouting!

As our new Scouting year begins, we here at the office are busy working on a lot of number crunching to close out 2010. Jim Boksa, our Program Director sent some interesting numbers to me last night that I wanted to share.

I know how special Spanish Trail Scout Reservation is to all of us but, think about this:

- By our final numbers, 8505 Scouts and Scouters used STSR during either a Unit, District or Council event.

- Some kind of Scouting event was going on at STSR 41 weekends during 2010. (5 of the weekends not used were Holidays)

That is a lot of Scouts spending a lot of time Scouting………..and that is a good thing!

Another Great Scouting Year in The G to the double C!

I know we always say it but, boy did this year go by fast! It seems like last week I was sitting here writing my first post.

What a tremendous year it has been for our council and for Scouting! 100 years and still going strong!

If you think back on this year in Scouting:

-Our sixth year in a row for membership growth

-Day camps, Family camps, summer camps, Council encampment, National Jamboree, dozens of District events, OA wins awards, Winter camp, and hundreds of activities and events that units participated in.

- record number of Eagle Scouts

-overall rank advancements up over last year

-religious awards up over last year

-improvements to camp like roads and buildings

-Richard Coleman is named one of the first volunteers to be inducted into the National Hall of Leadership

-Successful College of commissioner Science

-Pinewood Derby exhibit in Pensacola

-2 life saving award nominations

I know I am leaving a lot out of this list.

All of that adds up to our council qualifying for the National Award that recognizes quality programs.

I want to thank all the Scouts, all of the parents of scouts, all the unit leadership, all of the district and council leadership and the community of donors for making 2010 a success.

I hope you will go to our Council Facebook page and share your favorite memories of this past Scouting year. It would be great to read about what inspired you during our 100th anniversary.

Hope to see you on the Scouting trail in 2011.

Sincerely,

Spencer Page

Your Scout Executive

2010 Sportsman’s Day

I couldn’t be at this Sportsman’s Day this year but, I have heard from many today that it was a great success! For those of you who may not know what Sportsman’s Day is……it is a special day set aside for all those Scouts that sold a set amount of popcorn during the council’s popcorn sale. These scouts are rewarded for all their hard work making the sale a success for not only their unit but for the council.

This year over 160+ Scouts and their partners braved the early cold to come to Spanish Trail to participate in events like: fishing, shooting, hatchet throwing, climbing, casting, paint ball shooting and much more. Each Scout received a goody bag full of items and all scouts won a door prize. Lunch was also served to all.

I really want to thank all the Scouts and their parents and leaders that helped sell popcorn this year. Without your hard work funding our Scouting programs would be impossible.

I want to thank all the volunteers who staffed

2010 Sportsman’s Day

I couldn’t be at this Sportsman’s Day this year but, I have heard from many today that it was a great success! For those of you who may not know what Sportsman’s Day is……it is a special day set aside for all those Scouts that sold a set amount of popcorn during the council’s popcorn sale. These scouts are rewarded for all their hard work making the sale a success for not only their unit but for the council.

This year over 160+ Scouts and their partners braved the early cold to come to Spanish Trail to participate in events like: fishing, shooting, hatchet throwing, climbing, casting, paint ball shooting and much more. Each Scout received a goody bag full of items and all scouts won a door prize. Lunch was also served to all.

I really want to thank all the Scouts and their parents and leaders that helped sell popcorn this year. Without your hard work funding our Scouting programs would be impossible.

I want to thank all the volunteers who staffed Sportsman’s Day. Chuck Kuzma, our chairman, did a great job putting together staff to run all the events.

Sportsman’s Day has become a Gulf Coast Council tradition that has endured for years and just keeps getting better. If you haven’t gone yet, talk to your fellow scouts and leaders and set a goal to join us next year.

Thanks to all of you for what you do for Scouting!

Another Year Past

This time of year my role in Scouting seems to be reduced to climbing through mountains of year end paperwork. I’m not complaining because all the numbers and names and explanations I am placing in all the little boxes on these forms represent the great things that have been accomplished this year. Each blank on a form may be filled in with just a number or two but each box filled in has a story behind it.

This year was wonderful celebrating all the great things Scouting has done for our country and our communities during our first 100 years. We had a great Council wide encampment, we sent 3 troops to the Jamboree, we marched in parades, we did service projects and flag ceremonies and we had a pelican come to roost in the council office to help us remember the year.

Camp attendance was up over last year. We are on track to have more than 80 scouts earn their Eagle award. Religious awards are up over last year.

We lost some great volunteers and had a long time council staff person promoted. We had almost 800 new volunteers register for the first time along with over 1900 new Scouts.

So, as I take a break from filling out year end reports to reflect on what the numbers really mean, I hope you will reflect on the time and or treasure you gave to Scouting this year and realize what an impact you have made on all the boys and girls in our program.

On behalf of Scouting and our Council, thank all of you who help to count the numbers!

CAMP TURNS 50 !

I am sitting here at the council office looking at a framed camp staff t-shirt and neckerchief that Bill Bond donated to the council. It is from the first year Euchee was open. I wonder if those first year campers could even think about what they were starting would last this long. In the early 50s council leadership began to look at properties that would meet the council’s camping needs for the next 40 years. With help from the National Council Engineering Service the site in DeFuniak Springs was selected. Mr. Fred Hackett, Neighborhood Commissioner is the person generally believed to have come up with the idea of building the camp in its current location. The first 560 acres was purchased in 1958. Camp Euchee opened in 1961.

In most of our history records the date Spanish Trail was purchased and the date a council run camp was held make 2011 our 50th anniversary. It has become common place in Scouting today to sell council camps, change them, re-name them or in some cases, do without them altogether.

We here in the Gulf Coast Council are blessed to have STSR. While we all would like to have some new buildings, bathrooms and roads we have something that a lot of councils don’t have……..50 years of memories and investment in a piece of land that has meant so much to so many scouts and scouters.

Next summer we will celebrate those memories with special events like camp staff reunions, building re-dedications and Eagle Scout gatherings. We will do some one time activities during summer camp and we will have collector patches, shirts and hats for all that attend this special year of STSR. If you are a Boy Scout Troop leader, I hope you will help your troop make plans to stay home next summer and attend camp at Spanish Trail. We will be taking troop photos during camp to hang in the dining hall marking the historic 50th summer. I hope you will support the council and be part of its history.

To start things off, I am collecting special memories and stories about STSR. I will collect these and we will place them in a time capsule to be placed at camp this summer. So send me your favorite memories or stories, make sure you sign it and date it. We will publish them in a book and then place them in the capsule along with other key items from our camp history.

If you would like to be on the committee planning the celebration events, please let me know.

I served on camp staffs for over 7 years. I attended a camp every year I was a scout. I know how it gets into your blood and heart.

We are lucky to have 50 years of pumping that blood.

JAMBOREE

This goes out to all those who participated in the National Jamboree.

First, to the Scouts that went. I know in the world you live in today, it isn’t easy to be a Scout. Thank you for being part of a program you believe in. Thanks for taking the time out of the summer to go to the Jamboree. You could have stayed home and played XBOX but, you chose to be part of the 100th Birthday celebration for Scouting. I hope you feel that you made the correct choice.

Second, to the parents who helped their Scout go to the Jamboree. You had to work your schedule, save money, buy uniforms and patches etc. Without the continued support of families to Scouting, it just wouldn’t work. Thanks to you for helping your scout be part of this historic Jamboree.

Third, to all the volunteers from our Council that went to the Jamboree just to work on staff, THANKS! You gave your time to go up and cook, run events, guide scouts and many other jobs we will never know. Without you, NO JAMBOREE. Volunteers never stop amazing me. You paid a fee, to go work in the heat and sleep in a tent for days. If I didn’t know why you did it, I would say your are crazy. But, I know why you do it. I can’t thank you enough for it. The time and effort you give to Scouting is worth every minute of time, sweat and treasure. Thanks for what you do for our Scouts! IT IS IMPORTANT!

Then there comes our great leadership. I want to thank the Adult leaders who served as our leadership for the trip. They spent hundreds of hours preparing for and planning the trip up and back. There were equipment needs, food needs, hotels, side trips rafting and having fun at an amusement park. There were bus arrangements and shirts and hats and let us not forget the patches. These volunteers stepped up to serve as Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters to our 100+ Scouts that went on the trip. If you cross paths with these leaders give them a pat on the back.

Our Scoutmasters were: Dover Bell, Moni Boling and Mark Gilland

Our Assistant Scoutmasters were: James Bell, Joel Fairbanks, George Smith, Jeff Kern, Sullivan Madewell, James Neyman, Mike Forman, Nathan Kern and Mike Madewell.

Thanks to all of you.

Even though he is a staff member, I must thank Jim Boksa, Council Program Director. Jim started working on the Jamboree trip in late 2008. He promoted the trip, filled out mountains of paperwork, ordered equipment and supplies, coordinated National registration and then, went and served on the Subcamp 15 staff. Thanks Jim. You went above and beyond.

That is it. Another great Scouting event made possible by a great Scouting team made up of Scouts, parents, volunteers and council staff.

Another Jamboree is coming soon at the new Summit High Adventure base. I hope you can be part of it.

NEW INFO ON COUNCIL WEB SITE

If you have not visited the council web site lately, go give it a look. There are a couple of new tools to help you this fall. There is a complete listing of unit level volunteers and their Youth Protection training status as of August 1st. (See the memo re: new youth protection requirements) This will help units as they hold their youth protection trainings this fall. You can see who in your unit is listed in the Scout system as having been through the training and weather they are current. We will update this list every few weeks as volunteers attend Youth Protection trainings. This listing will also aide your unit as it develops your unit recharter in December.

Under the TRAINING tab on the home page, you will find a comprehensive listing of all Council and District trainings to be held this fall for new and returning leaders. You can attend any of these trainings. It doesn’t matter what district you are in. The trainings are designed for you to attend a training near you or that fits your schedule. All these trainings are designed to be the same so that no matter which one you attend, you are getting similar info. You will also see that you will be able to register and pay for these trainings using PayPal. So, pick the training you need, fill out the online info, pay with the PayPal system and you are set to attend the training you need.

We hope you will find this information and system helpful and easy to use.

As always, I thank you for all you do for Scouting. It is important

Part of Scouting Program

As of June 1st of this year, all volunteers making application to become an adult leader in Scouting must have current youth protection training. The application for leadership will not be processed unless, documentation of the training is attached or recorded online under the volunteers profile in the Scout system. If you are unaware of the new requirement, there is information posted on the council web site.

At first glance, some might think this process is a pain. If you think about it, it is really just another way Scouting can help a young person become a strong healthy adult. Scouting tries to prepare, teach, lead and protect young people so they can grow to be physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

Our efforts as leaders to educate ourselves in a way to help protect Scouts from abuse will make all the difference in the world to some kid.

I ask that you be patient and understanding as we work together to become better prepared leaders so we all can watch over our Scouts.

CAMP CARDS

As most of you know, we have been searching for a Council Spring Fundraiser that was as easy on leaders and parents as possible, would sell to the public, would present a good image of Scouting and help Scouts raise funds for camps or units for their needs. By most accounts, I think we found it.

Our Scouts sold over 30,000 Camp Cards! What a job for the first year of the campaign. I have been told by our card printer that we set a record among all the councils using the Camp Card idea. Our Scouts sold more cards than any other council our size and also for the total number of cards we started with. WOW!

I want to thank the Scouts for setting goals and reaching them with flying colors. I want to thank the parents who helped their Scout sell Camp Cards and I want to thank the leaders who helped the organization of the campaign.

We all need to thank the businesses that helped our success by participating in the program.

I think the most exciting thing is the stories I have heard from parents and leaders about how this helped the boys and their plans to attend a summer camping program. We heard stories of entire Troops raising enough money from the Camp Card to send most all their boys to camp with parents only funding $5 for their Scout! That is what the campaign was all about. If your unit sold Camp Cards this year, I welcome any comments on how we can make it better for you and our Scouts. I hope you will sell even more next year. If your unit didn’t participate this year, I encourage you to get ready for the sale next year and help your Scouts earn their own way.

I am excited knowing that hundreds and hundreds of Scouts will enjoy their summer camp or day camp because of the Camp Card Campaign success!

Now, lets’ go camping!