SpEdScouter

Did you all see this article about a Tennessee's troops meeting place? LINK They meet in a refurbished barn which works great because they have the space to run many merit badge courses right on the property. Everything from beekeeping to gardening to canoeing - all right there. Plus it has a great vibe as a clubhouse. Frankly I dont know any troop that doesnt meet in a church. Does anyone know of any others like this?

Well it was something I have been thinking about, since the scout troops already have tents (and I've seen some pretty great ones) why cant we step it up a bit and stay in a pop up? Plus the scouts already can travel on buses and stay in hotels. Especially when the weather is really bad and having an enclosed area to cook and bringing your bathroom along when the campgrounds toilets are far away and nasty. I'm not talking those big class C motorhomes. Just maybe a popup or a basic trailer. And really when it comes down to it, most of scout "camping" is really car camping anyways.

Just an idea for fundraiser. With many credit cards we get so many miles. Could those miles be donated to a scout troops credit card account? The troop then could use those miles for whatever?

Just like the title says, we are going to be staying for 3 days in a state park. Can we stay in a camper like a pop up instead of using tents?

In our area the girl scouts have added the Pinewood Derby. Which means they buy the car kits from the Boy Scout store. Since most of the area GS camps have shut down they are renting out the Boy Scout camps. Also at our upcoming Scouting 500 event, about 1 in 5 participants there will be girls. Either sisters or friends of Boy/cub Scouts or girls in Venture scouts. Of course then the question will come up "why dont the GS have such events?". So if anything the GS needs to up their game.

On theft, I dont understand. At camp my son always had a locked storage container. Actually our SM requires them and the SM also keeps a set of the keys. Bigger items, why were they not kept in a secured area like a tent? Plus we always had someone watching over our area. Fact is these are kids and kids do stupid things.

This came up with Trump asking why his son Baron isnt a scout and I wonder, do wealthy parents have their kids in scouting? Now I have known of a couple of millionaires who's sons have been in but truly billionaires?

Sidenote - the actual Rotarians are not involved in the camp. They just own the facility and we rent it out instead of the regular scout camps because its more handicap accessible. While I see your points I still feel this could be an Eagle project. I dont think you all really understand what the counselors go thru. Its hard, exhausting work. Harder than some Eagle projects I've seen. Now I see your point that they should have to do something extra. I'm thinking help plan an activity and do some writeups.

Here in the Heart of America district they run a camp for special needs scouts called Rotary Camp https://www.hoac-bsa.org/rotary-camp. Counselors (regular scouts and adults) and needed to help the campers. it can be a challenging yet very rewarding experience.These campers can have mental, physical, and emotional disabilities such as autism, mental retardation, down syndrome, and physical handicaps. Many are non-verbal and some can exhibit obsessive-compulsive behaviors such as screaming, running away, and non-compliance. Age ranges are from about 11 to 60 so often the scout is dealing with someone older than them. As a counselor they help them dress, bathe (yes helping them shower), toilet issues (including wiping), help with medications, help with activities, and just generally being their friend and must always be within arms distance from them the whole week. They sleep in the bunk above them. It is very humbling and definitely forces one out of their comfort zone. However while difficult, often the counselors get more out of the experience than the scouts and they often return. Plus the food is great. This year though they had trouble recruiting counselors. Part of the problem is their is little incentive other than they get the Handicapped Awareness merit badge plus service hours. So here is an idea - why not allow service as a counselor be used as a Eagle Scout project? It requires paperwork (more could be added), over 144 hours of work (6 days x 24 hours plus pre-planning time), working together with others, planning, and hard work. So what do you all think? Some Eagle projects are activities such as running an event so I dont think its far off.

All those accidents could have happened anywhere and actually when you think about it, with the case of falling out of a tree at least with BS there were people nearby with first aid experience and able to summon help quickly.

Years ago I used to see scouts running fireworks stands. Do you all know, do any scout troops still sell fireworks?

Do anyone know of Scout camps that have hookups and encourage RVers to stay and work at the camps? I know several retired people that have great skills in maintenance or who would be great at leading merit badge classes. They prefer staying in their RV's. Does anyone know of Scout camps that have such programs?

What I dont get is if the writer of the artcile has such a problem with the Boy Scouts, why doenst he work to start an organization he would like? There is a group called Spiral Scouts which has the values he likes. Why not push them instead of fighting the Boy Scouts?

This is why Camp Bartle in Ossawatomi Missouri has Tribe of Micosay. Its a camp honor program where the only way one can gain rank is to go back to the same camp year after year. They push Micosay like crazy. One could even say Micosay is what keeps Bartle going. Some other camps have also put in similar programs. OTOH if it wasnt for Miscosay, Bartle would be forced to improve some things. The old guard who run things though dont usually care for that.

Ah, so it IS just a fairly recent thing. Sounds like the GS was feeling heat for going too far the other way and decided to give something back. But it still looks like a kind of Unitarian approach that few Christians find appealing. And how many girls actually earn this award? Most girls get tired of GS and the endless push to sell cookies and quit by the time they are 10.