getting back in OA

[briantshore]

I was tapped out abouot 1976, became a brotherhood member in the spring of 1977, and was Chapter Chief for about 2 years. I have come back to scouting as a Cub Scout Den Leader. How do I rejoin? Do I just contact our local lodge and pay my dues? What about replacing my long lost sash? I have seen that they sell them at the Council Trading Post, but I have not asked if you need to show any OA id to purchase them.

[EagleWB]

briantshore, Contact your Lodge. For our Lodge all you would have to do is fill out an information form and pay the dues for this year. You can purchase a sash from them. I'm not sure what your trading post requires, ours are all sold through the Lodge, although you can buy other OA stuff in our Council Trading Post without OA id.

 

[EagleInKY]

Typically, I believe you can "rejoin" simply by starting to pay dues again. However, I'm not sure if you have to be registered as a Boy Scout leader to do so. Someone on this forum should know. I think you have to be a registered Boy Scout leader (not Cub Scout) to qualify to join. The question is can you reactivate your membership without being a Boy Scout leader.

[NWScouter]

Any registered Scouter at any level of Scouting may be a member of the OA.

[NWScouter]

Also there are ways that Scouters not leaders in a Boy Scout or Varsity unit can be selected to the OA.

[SWScouter]

briantshore,

 

A few years ago I went through the same situation you're in now. I went through the ordeal with T'Kope Kwis Kwis lodge as a youth around 1974 or so though I never sealed my membership nor became a lodge/chapter officer. My son joined Cub Scouts and I became a den leader. At that time, I wanted to join OA once again.

 

Your council service center probably has an OA dues form you can fill out and pay. That should be all that is needed. Your council's lodge may ask for some proof of membership, mine didn't.

 

I did try to find out when I went through the ordeal by contacting the lodge I was originally a member of, T'kope Kwis Kwis, but they have no records that far back. Now I just say 1974 though I may be off a year or so.

 

One thing, you can only be a member of the lodge for the council you are currently registered with. For example, I joined the OA in the T'Kope Kwis Kwis lodge of Chief Seattle council but am currently a member of Wipala Wiki lodge of Grand Canyon council.

 

Lots of questions are answered at the OA website: http://www.oa-bsa.org/qanda/

 

Regards,

SWScouter(This message has been edited by SWScouter)

[nldscout]

NWScouter

There ae only 2 ways for an adult to attain membership in the OA if he was not elected as a youth.

 

1. Is to be nominated by the Troop you are a member of.

 

2. Be nominated as a member of the District committee if your primary membership is District. If your primary scouting position is in a Pack, troop or Crew, Then this does not apply.

[NWScouter]

Here is the section on election as an adult by district or council from the Order of the Arrow Troop/Team Representative Support Pak

 

2. Adult leaders in council and district

positions: The lodge adviser, district

chairman, council president, or members of

the professional staff may recommend

adults to the lodge adult selection

committee.

Recommendations of the adult selection

committee, with the approval of the Scout

executive, serving as Supreme Chief of the

Fire, will become candidates for induction.

All requirements set forth for adult leaders in

units must be fulfilled, with the exception of

the camping requirements, which may be

waived at the discretion of the lodge adviser

and Scout executive.

Adults may be recommended for

membership only one time per year as either

unit Scouters or district/council Scouters, but not

both. How they are recommended depends on

where they maintain their primary registration.

Adult members shall be elected to

membership at the discretion of the lodge adult

selection committee. All members of the Order

of the Arrow, both youth and adult, must

successfully complete the Ordeal experience

and participate in the induction ceremony.

Because the Order of the Arrow is principally

a youth organization, unit, district, and council

Scouters are not elected to membership as

recognition. Election into the Order should take

place only when the adults job in Boy Scouting

or Varsity Scouting will make the Order of the

Arrow membership more meaningful in the lives

of the youth membership.

are under age 21 and meet the youth

membership requirements. Staff members over

age 21 must meet the adult membership

requirements and be selected as either unit

Scouters or district/council Scouters.

 

[BSAChaplain]

Welcome back to the Clan, my brother. Join us once again around the Council Fire.

 

1. About the sash. Different Councils/Lodges limit purchases in different ways. When I got back involved, I just walked into out Scout Shop and bought a new Vigil sash, no proof of anything required. I can buy lodge flaps at the Scout Office. The lodge I grew up in handled all OA material, nothing through the council whatsoever.

 

2. About memebership. I have posted this before, but here it is again from the OA website www.oa-bsa.org FAQ page.

 

Q: When I was a Scout as a boy, I was in the OA and went through my Ordeal and Brotherhood. I am now an adult leader in my son's troop. Am I automatically in the OA (in other words, is OA a lifetime membership)? Or do I have to start all over with another Ordeal, and so forth?

 

A: Once a Scout goes through his Ordeal, he is a member of the Order of the Arrow for the rest of his life. OA membership does require a person be registered with the BSA, so if you left the Scouting program for a while, your OA membership would lapse as well.

 

However, once you renew your BSA membership, even in another council, you can also resume your OA membership at the same level you left it. In your case, you would still be a Brotherhood member.

 

You will need to connect with the local OA lodge to pay your dues and continue your active membership.

 

You should contact your current council's OA Lodge Adviser. (If you do not know who that is, contact your council service center and ask them for his name and number.) Explain the situation, and you will probably be able to establish your membership based on the information you have and any other items that you may have (such as an old OA sash, pocket flap, etc.)

 

If necessary, you may have to contact your former Council to see if they can forward any records they may have of your membership.