69RoadRunner Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 One of my scouts annually goes to a camp for kids with diabetes. They've already cancelled one of their sessions. One of my ASMs was told Northern Tier, where we're going this summer (hopefully) will likely be making a decision in a couple of weeks. When Philmont closed, troops could transfer to another HA camp. I assume this year if 1 closes, they'll all close. We've already committed to Sea Base in 2021, so we can't postpone NT to 2021. If this happens, boy is it going to be a hit to BSA at a really bad time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisos Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 We are scheduled for Sea Base for early June. I'm afraid at least part of the summer will get cancelled. I hope we can just push back to next summer, as we specifically selected the time to avoid conflicts with members of our crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashTagScouts Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 7 minutes ago, Chisos said: We are scheduled for Sea Base for early June. I'm afraid at least part of the summer will get cancelled. I hope we can just push back to next summer, as we specifically selected the time to avoid conflicts with members of our crew. Based on the number of yahoo college students that are still spending Spring Break in Florida, I think the situation there is going to grow exponentially in the next week. We all need to start putting our contingency plans together with a reality that life is not going back to normal for several months, and it may get even more restricted for a while during that time. Until a vaccine is developed, there will continue to be flares of this virus in places until our bodies naturally develop an immunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertrat77 Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 If treks are cancelled, it will be doubly sad for some Philmont crews. Many crews that couldn't go because of the Ute Park fire of 2018 opted for a 2020 trek. Then I recall what happened to my dad in the mid 1950s. Just as he was getting ready to board a bus in Iowa to go to Philmont, his scoutmaster received a telegram stating that Philmont was closed because of a disease (polio or measles, I can't recall). Life being what it is, he didn't get a second opportunity. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashTagScouts Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 1 hour ago, desertrat77 said: If treks are cancelled, it will be doubly sad for some Philmont crews. Many crews that couldn't go because of the Ute Park fire of 2018 opted for a 2020 trek. Then I recall what happened to my dad in the mid 1950s. Just as he was getting ready to board a bus in Iowa to go to Philmont, his scoutmaster received a telegram stating that Philmont was closed because of a disease (polio or measles, I can't recall). Life being what it is, he didn't get a second opportunity. It would be unfortunate for some that they had the double whammy. I hold my fingers crossed that we are not all going to be locked indoors through the summer. If we are, I am hopeful that these kids are going to be so bent on finally being outdoors when this is over that we are going to have them begging to go camping every weekend as long as the weather holds out! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSScout Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 (edited) Summer camps . . . Every organization that does such is in the same boat. In our case, (non-BSA) registrations are already way behind the usual. We have even had some requests for refund of deposits. Need to hire, train, schedule staff. Order gear and prep the cabins , pond, kitchen, lodge.... How to do that with what we know already? Scout camp? Cub Scout Day Camps? Our county Parks run a very respectable program. Maybe. It will be a long summer, regardless. Edited March 21, 2020 by SSScout 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattR Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 I hate to be the grinch, but most likely all high adventure and summer camps will be cancelled or limited to August. Cancelling the entire summer would actually mean good news with respect to number of hospitalizations because the curve will be stretched out. Italy thought China was an outlier and now everyone thinks Italy is an outlier. And yet the US is not slowing things down as well as Italy is now. The US population density is much lower than Italy and we are younger, so that's good news, but it's still going to be rough. My county went from 7 to 19 cases in a day (that's likely due to better testing) but even at 33% increase per day we'll be at 88k cases in a month. However, if the number of cases is a tenth of actual cases then our peak will be before that as there are only 360k people in our county. That's the worst scenario. The better scenario is the infection rate is slowed and it drags out a lot longer. One model I saw said an early (and bad) ending was mid July and a late (good) ending was some time in August. I think the discussion might be more useful if it were: How can the scouts help after the carnage is over? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malraux Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 35 minutes ago, MattR said: I hate to be the grinch, but most likely all high adventure and summer camps will be cancelled or limited to August. Cancelling the entire summer would actually mean good news with respect to number of hospitalizations because the curve will be stretched out. Yeah, in theory I should be planning to run a cub scout day camp this summer, but I don't think that'll happen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sentinel947 Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 Yea my NYLT staff is doing some virtual training and presentation practice, but it's likely with the course taking place in early June, that it will be cancelled. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jameson76 Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 We are discussing (blue skying really) about having our own summer camp. Not sure it will happen, but it could be interesting 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InquisitiveScouter Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 (edited) Jameson76, That would be the cat's meow! A Troop having its own week long Summer Camp would be Scouting at its best:) I encourage you to try it... One issue with "industrial" Summer Camps is that Scouts are too "busy", as almost every moment of their day is scheduled for them. I encourage Scouts to keep one or two merit badge sessions free to do whatever they wish...nap, fish, hike, play basketball, swim, read, bird watch, contemplate the universe, etc. Edited March 22, 2020 by InquisitiveScouter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69RoadRunner Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 My daughter has training at the end of the month to be an aide for Girl Scout day camp. They're making the training virtual, of course. Since this day camp is at the end of June, it seems unlikely they'll have it, but they're currently doing what they can to ready if they do have it. If nothing else, it keeps the girls active in scouting activities. Our summer camp starts 6/21, which is the earliest we've ever gone. Our school district used to not get out until late June. They haven't canceled yet, but that seems unlikely. Our NT trek is at the end of July. I don't know what will happen. We paid for 2 crews. With the cancellation of our mulch fundraiser, even if it's on, some won't have the funds. There are greater things to worry about in this world, but we have to do our best with this. At a time we're dealing with BSA bankruptcy and terrible news stories about BSA, this is quite a blow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69RoadRunner Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 3 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said: Jameson76, That would be the cat's meow! A Troop having its own week long Summer Camp would be Scouting at its best:) I encourage you to try it... One issue with "industrial" Summer Camps is that Scouts are too "busy", as almost every moment of their day is scheduled for them. I encourage Scouts to keep one or two merit badge sessions free to do whatever they wish...nap, fish, hike, play basketball, swim, read, bird watch, contemplate the universe, etc. That's been my problem with summer camp. It's like they think if the leave too much free time, something horrible will happen. I do like the Brownsea Island program at the camp we use. It really helps the first year scouts get a lot of requirements done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred8033 Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 14 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said: That would be the cat's meow! A Troop having its own week long Summer Camp would be Scouting at its best:) I encourage you to try it... So true! Our troop has done that many times in the past. A troop own summer camp week is better than any structured summer camp. But, very different. A council camp can offer a variety of experiences, intermix with other troops and is a more traditional summer camp. It's also a consistent structure, program and tradition. Scouts can like tradition. A troop's own summer camp week is different and whatever the troop wants. Our troop chooses a destination and a group camp site. Then, our troop did day trips / activities and several of the adults were available to do location-appropriate merit badges. One year it was water-oriented with water skiing, fishing, motor boating, canoeing and row boats. Another year it was mines and caves. Another year the bad lands and tours sites. Another year the Rockies. Another was a week of hiking. It also fits the calendar naturally. The summer has three months without school. Choose one month for scout-camp summer camp week. Choose another month for troop's own summer camp week. Choose the other month for a simple fun event. It also promotes troop culture and troop pride. Council camps are about "scouting". Troop camps are about the troop. If you want your scouts to take pride in their troop, do your own big camp and big events. A side benefit is it reduces the density of adults on a single camp out. Then, a single week is not swamped by all the adults at the single summer camp week and gives the scouts a chance to get used to summer camp without parents. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InquisitiveScouter Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 All good! But most council camps around these parts are about generating revenue for the council first, with Scouting a fairly distant second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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