Tag You're It - Running a Camporee Your Way?

[Krampus]

At first I didn't have any idea what "jammie dodgers" were, but from reading further in the thread I see they are a "Dr. Who" reference. I still don't know what they are. My kids would know, and maybe my wife, but the sci-fi references that I know are mainly from Star Trek. (Somewhere in South Carolina, Packsaddle's ears perk up.)

 

 

 

Stosh Posted Today, 11:15 AM

Krampus, on 02 Feb 2016 - 10:27 AM, said:

 

Tell him I still miss him.  

 

 

Yeah, no kidding Stosh!

 

 

He just got back from OKPIK.

[Stosh]

 

 

He just got back from OKPIK.

 

Tell him I'm ticked, that's only a few hours from me and he didn't stop and say Hi!

[Krampus]

Tell him I'm ticked, that's only a few hours from me and he didn't stop and say Hi!

 

He barely had time to get back to work.

[Eagle94-A1]

Here the OA sells candy bars and sugar drinks for their fundraising. We don't need that.

 

I thought OA just provided the worker bees and maybe tools for camp service projects which were funded completely by the camp/council. Same goes for camperships. 

 

Yes, our OA sells candy bars and drinks.  They also sell coffee, hot cocoa, fruit, and non food items. With our big Cub Scout event, they sell Hot Dog Lunch Plates. I bought a pair of "experienced" Scout pants for middle son, and some vintage POR patches for me. We've sold book bags, ponchos, books, coffee mugs, and all kinds of stuff.

 

At one point, our council decided to let the original camp go to pieces. Minimal support. Anything that needed repairing or done, the local OA chapter and troops had to do. It's one reason why my troop always wants the same campsite year after year: they were the ones that bought the supplies for, and dug the lines for, the water spigot in the campsite.  They also helped build a bridge connecting it to another campsite

 

Prior to our just recently retired SE who made the camp a priority, my chapter was the ones that bought 50-60% of the tools, paid for maintenance, repairs, and improvements to the QM shed, and took care of the camp after hurricanes. Even with more being invested, we've still bought the supplies and built 1 new shelter, repaired a second shelter, bought the supplies need to fix some Adirondacks.

 

And all the money came from the trading post.

 

One thing the OA did, but we had to cut it since we lost our donor, was a lunch fellowship NC style pig-pickin. We raised a lot of money with that pig-pickin, and had a lot of fun too.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Eagle94-A1

[RememberSchiff]

Yes, our OA sells candy bars and drinks.  They also sell coffee, hot cocoa, fruit, and non food items. With our big Cub Scout event, they sell Hot Dog Lunch Plates. I bought a pair of "experienced" Scout pants for middle son, and some vintage POR patches for me. We've sold book bags, ponchos, books, coffee mugs, and all kinds of stuff.

 

At one point, our council decided to let the original camp go to pieces. Minimal support. Anything that needed repairing or done, the local OA chapter and troops had to do. It's one reason why my troop always wants the same campsite year after year: they were the ones that bought the supplies for, and dug the lines for, the water spigot in the campsite.  They also helped build a bridge connecting it to another campsite

 

Prior to our just recently retired SE who made the camp a priority, my chapter was the ones that bought 50-60% of the tools, paid for maintenance, repairs, and improvements to the QM shed, and took care of the camp after hurricanes. Even with more being invested, we've still bought the supplies and built 1 new shelter, repaired a second shelter, bought the supplies need to fix some Adirondacks.

 

And all the money came from the trading post.

 

One thing the OA did, but we had to cut it since we lost our donor, was a lunch fellowship NC style pig-pickin. We raised a lot of money with that pig-pickin, and had a lot of fun too.

I am stunned. What happens if after all this investment by OA, your Council decides to sell? Or is this camp in a land trust? Maybe OA should take over Council? Just stunned.

[Eagle94-A1]

I am stunned. What happens if after all this investment by OA, your Council decides to sell? Or is this camp in a land trust? Maybe OA should take over Council? Just stunned.

 I do not know all of the details, even when I was a DE. But my understanding is that the camp is in a trust. We ever decide to give up the camp, it goes back to the family that donated it in the 1920s.

 

One of my worst fears is that the camp will no longer be used by the council. The family has developed the area, and McMansions are springing up around the camp. That happened to the original council camp in my home council growing up. The city kept expanding its jurisdiction until the camp was inside city limits. neighbors complained about all the traffic and racket. Even though we were there when it was a swamp.

[Eagle94-A1]

Forgot to add right after I quit being a DE and I left the area briefly, the council decided to harvest all the trees in the camp. There was a major protest, especially from those with local Girl Scout connections. The Girl Scouts after a merger clear cutted two camps and sold them off. Council backed down.

 

A few years later new SE comes in. Pro-local camp and spent some money and energy cleaning up the camp and making improvements (remember the year of the big snow storms? Hell froze over not only because the Saints won the Superbowl, but a SE was doing "cheerful service" at an OA Ordeal ). Anyway the topic of harvesting trees comes up again. While their was some initial fury at even talking about it, when he and others went out to the RTs and other Scouting meetings to talk why cutting was needed (fire hazards, needed more usable space for campsites, parking, and new structures at camp), what areas it was going to be done in ( not the entire camp selected areas cleared, but most would be thinned), as well as how it was going to be done ( hand logging; More money to do it, but minimal impact on camp).  People calmed down a bit.

 

But when the word that the loggers cut a little more than they were suppose to, people got ticked off again, until they saw the camp. That extra bit revealed a campsite that hadn't been used in ages ( some of the old timers even forgot about the campsite), and the camp looked nice. With the reforestation program they did, 7 years later the camp looks AWESOME. One new building has been built, and one building is in the  planning stages. That one is trickier due to EPA regs.

 

As for what happens if the council decides to do away with the camp, I'm betting a lot of FOS dollars will go towards buying the camp from the family. Considering that some of the family that gave us the land are still active in Scouting, as well as THE biggest donors to the council love the camp (they renamed the main camp in the family's honor), it may be purchased by volunteers. 

Edited February 5, 2016 by Eagle94-A1

[SSScout]

Yes, it needs a theme.   Emergency response:  First aid demo stations,  State police helo makes an appearance, climbing walls, extrication practice, etc.

Pioneering:   Ignore the G2SS and download the Brits site:  http://www.pioneeringmadeeasy.co.uk/  among others.

Eliminate trailers:   Hike and carry in only.

Cooking:  "Iron Chef" stuff.   OA judges the cuisine.  Over fire, or charcoal or cookstove  classes for judging. 

Nature:   Stations for judging names of trees, animals,  scavenger hunt,  bird spotting,

History:  Civil War camping, Revolutionary war stuff .... contact your local museum.   Canvas tents?  No bungee cords?   No battery lights?  Flint and steel etc.

Communication:   Signaling, lights, flags, etc. 

[walk in the woods]

All of the above.  My district runs a Klondike Derby, Spring and Fall camporee every year.  We've never had groups fundraising at District events, Council events are another story.

 

- Have a theme, we've done E-prep with local firefighters working with the scouts on rope rescues and local police/K9 units for example.  

- MBs might be ok if they are of the odder/harder to find variety.  We did an Aviation themed camporee in conjunction with a local airport, air museum and some private pilots.  We typically don't try to get all the requirements done but maybe a few of the harder to arrange requirements.

- Troops are responsible for their troops (tour plans, med forms, permission slips, etc.).  Have a local first aid station staffed by somebody with some sort of credentials.

- We've done a variety of meals from catered to dutch oven potlucks to dump soup.  Most often units are on their own for meals

- For a while we had competitions for scouts to design the event patch but that seems to have dropped off lately.

- We're a fairly small district but site variety is a challenge even for events with only 150 - 200 people.

- Think about some sort of lost-scout protocol.  

 

Feedback from our most recent Klondike included a suggestion from the scouts to have more one-on-one competition between patrols as opposed to scoring competitions on individual events.

[desertrat77]

Indeed, the trends in camporees these days:

 

- District/council micomanaging the units

- Little/no competition

- Themes/events that are based on entertainment and goof-off time

- Not much wilderness content (going back to the same established camps and parks)

- Selling a bunch of stuff--tee shirts, plastic junk, food (skip breakfast and buy nitrates and sugar from the snack bar), etc.

- Not much of a challenge, period.

 

Recommend dusting off an old camporee packet from decades ago, and challenge the scouts.   Compete.  Build things.  Camp where there are no fire rings or running water.

 

When they get their camporee patch upon departure, it should mean something.

 

PS.  The camporee site should be rugged enough to dissuade FOS pitchmen, cookie salespersons, WB-bead-presentation-teams, and other loafers, meddlers, and random busy bodies from even visiting.   The scouts get enough of that in town.  

Edited February 6, 2016 by desertrat77

[qwazse]

Add to the themes: one camporee was a canoe trip.

Hasn't been done for a dozen years because the advisor who organized it was thrown so many paperwork hurdles (under the guise of G2SS), he said "never again", but I bet some of you would be up for it.

[Stosh]

We had a camporee on an desolate island once.  The port-a-potties on the barge was the real scouting touch.  Biggest complaint was having to haul in water.

 

I think the next year it was suggested we do a Holiday Inn camporee.

[RememberSchiff]

If i could change the micro-managing, no-added-value nature of Council to a activity resource provider, I would be a happier scouter.

 

I need and anyone else who plans a camporee

     - a porta-potty contractor (hopefully one that Council has negotiated a contract). I tell Council I need 4 potties + one handicap and they handle it with contractor.

     - Outdoor Sports/Activities resources. I tell Council that I need some archery instructors for event and Council gives me some BSA-certified instructors.

     - water truck/tank. Council provides.

     - First Aid resources (maybe an Explorer Post or Venture Crew)

    

My $0.02

[kwmcc]

We've done some pretty good ones over the past few years ... ones that stick in my mind are:

 

Zombie Prep Merit Badge ... twists on First Aid, "Capture the Cure" game (glowing nalgenes filled with glow stick juice, held at night), "Dead Worm" (Gummy Worm) cooking contest, Zombies (commissioners) on the loose 

 

Pumpkin Chunkin ... many small pumpkins lost their lives that day ... trebuchet's only, size and weight restrictions enforced, shooting sports director supervising the "range". Pumpkin carving contest. Pie cooking contest. Pie eating contest. Pies as prizes ... they look at you weird at Costco if you walk in and buy 20 pumpkin pies.

 

Are You Tougher Than Your Scoutmaster ... Patrol vs SM or ASM contests at each station. Jr ASM Eagle Scouts competed against their old Patrols (Jr ASMs cleaned up). I was SM then, and I smoked my patrol at cooking an egg using nothing except what I carried, and no matches or liquid/gas fuel (everyone had a list of equipment to bring to the contest)

 

Shooting Sports ... the person who was going to plan the camporee backed out very late, so we gathered our shooting sports folks, went to our camp and opened all of the shooting ranges (tomahawks to shotguns)

 

Historic ships ... held next to a museum with Revolutionary War boats (oared) and underwater drones. Scouts got to check out the museum (including the drone, and the blacksmith shop) and go in groups of about 10 to row a very, very large rowboat

 

Our unit went to the STEM statewide camporee in NH at the NASCAR track. Very cool, very well organized. Too few porta-lets, but having grey water containers and 55 gallon drums for ashes was a great idea

 

Our statewide in VT was a Civil War reenactment (I missed it with a conflict, but heard it was awesome)

 

The NH event had food stands and stuff on sale. We've never had that at any of our camporees. Once ... once ... our Camp Auxiliary sold hot chocolate and hot dogs.

 

We aren't usually merit badge focused. Generally, ours are Scout Skills (Trail to First Class) focused (with some exceptions ... archaeology MB at the maritime museum)

 

Sometimes our camporees are very rigid (you shall be at event station X at precisely 10:20 am), and sometimes (like the shooting sports event) we just open up activities and let the patrols roam.

 

Our upcoming camporee is being held at a fairground concurrent with a home show. We're going to have a bunch of exhibits set up along the main traffic route for recruiting (monkey bridges, fires, cooking)

[Stosh]

We've done some pretty good ones over the past few years ... ones that stick in my mind are:

 

Zombie Prep Merit Badge ... twists on First Aid, "Capture the Cure" game (glowing nalgenes filled with glow stick juice, held at night), "Dead Worm" (Gummy Worm) cooking contest, Zombies (commissioners) on the loose 

 

Pumpkin Chunkin ... many small pumpkins lost their lives that day ... trebuchet's only, size and weight restrictions enforced, shooting sports director supervising the "range". Pumpkin carving contest. Pie cooking contest. Pie eating contest. Pies as prizes ... they look at you weird at Costco if you walk in and buy 20 pumpkin pies.

 

Are You Tougher Than Your Scoutmaster ... Patrol vs SM or ASM contests at each station. Jr ASM Eagle Scouts competed against their old Patrols (Jr ASMs cleaned up). I was SM then, and I smoked my patrol at cooking an egg using nothing except what I carried, and no matches or liquid/gas fuel (everyone had a list of equipment to bring to the contest)

 

Shooting Sports ... the person who was going to plan the camporee backed out very late, so we gathered our shooting sports folks, went to our camp and opened all of the shooting ranges (tomahawks to shotguns)

 

Historic ships ... held next to a museum with Revolutionary War boats (oared) and underwater drones. Scouts got to check out the museum (including the drone, and the blacksmith shop) and go in groups of about 10 to row a very, very large rowboat

 

Our unit went to the STEM statewide camporee in NH at the NASCAR track. Very cool, very well organized. Too few porta-lets, but having grey water containers and 55 gallon drums for ashes was a great idea

 

Our statewide in VT was a Civil War reenactment (I missed it with a conflict, but heard it was awesome)

 

The NH event had food stands and stuff on sale. We've never had that at any of our camporees. Once ... once ... our Camp Auxiliary sold hot chocolate and hot dogs.

 

We aren't usually merit badge focused. Generally, ours are Scout Skills (Trail to First Class) focused (with some exceptions ... archaeology MB at the maritime museum)

 

Sometimes our camporees are very rigid (you shall be at event station X at precisely 10:20 am), and sometimes (like the shooting sports event) we just open up activities and let the patrols roam.

 

Our upcoming camporee is being held at a fairground concurrent with a home show. We're going to have a bunch of exhibits set up along the main traffic route for recruiting (monkey bridges, fires, cooking)

 

Welcome to the forum,   Too bad the rest of us don't have events like this, there's no standards out there to operate from.