We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

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US Coast Guard Hosts 2018 Safety at Sea

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After a week of fretfully watching Hurricane Florence dance around the eastern seaboard of the United States, 100 Sea Scouts and their Coast Guard mentors gathered at the Coast Guard base in Curtis bay for training and tours.  The Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary provided training in Man-Overboard Drills, Mustang Survival Suit use, Aerial Flares, Disaster Recovery (what happens when your ship hits an iceberg?), maritime radio use and tours of the USCGC Rankin and Chock – who patrol the Chesapeake bay and maintain safe shipping lanes.

On the water, Scouts were able to take tours of the Coast Guard Yard aboard the new mini-tugboat brought by Ship 37 Dreadnought from Frederick, Maryland.  They were able to get up close and personal as they motored past the various Coast Guard cutters – and one particularly notable ship, the USCGC EAGLE.

On shore, Scouts were shooting off bright red emergency flares under the watchful eye of the United States Coast Guard.  Hand-held flares were ignited and Scouts learned careful techniques to avoid setting themselves on fire, or worse – flares drip sparks that can mix violently with a fuel tank! Despite encouragement from devious adult leaders, Scouts learning to aim and focus a marine fire hose did NOT actually resort to spraying down each other in the warm summer sun.

Unit Contacts – Letting Units Know We Care

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For the first time in several years, our council is currently on track to achieve only a bronze level in the “Journey to Excellence” unit contact metric. The good news is that we have time to turn this around before year-end. As has happened in past years, I expect our commissioner staff to record a large number of simple and detailed contacts during the re-charter season.

As all the District Commissioners know, I value metrics to the extent that they help us spot areas for improvement. The important and meaningful goal is that all unit-level Scouters know that unit commissioners care about them, and that units have a connection to the resources, friendships, advice, and activities in the district. This is a noble goal. Recording unit visits is the way we expect unit commissioner to indicate that they are actually fulfilling this meaningful goal.

In 2018, the national “Journey to Excellence” team added a requirement to have one detailed assessment per unit to the unit contact metric. The important and meaningful goal is that unit-level leaders and unit commissioners have a discussion about where the unit stands and develop a few concrete plans on how to improve. This also is a noble goal. Recording detailed assessments does not take long, and is a simple natural by-product of an activity unit commissioners have been doing for decades. Yes, we are asking unit commissioners to do slightly more data entry, but the reason is that with this extra data entry we can easily see at a district level where units might need more service.

Allow me to use my home district, Francis Scott Key (FSK) District, as an example of how these metrics can be useful. Here is a chart (from the end of September) that uses the recorded unit contacts and detailed assessments to give a quick sketch of unit service in the FSK District.

From this chart, we can spot a few interesting things. The horizontal line shows how many contacts a unit should have received according to the Journey to Excellence standard, which is one contact per every two months (for a total of 6 per year). At this point in the year, each unit should have received five recorded contacts. You can see that 57 out of 79 units have received contacts this year. Unit commissioners may have contacted the 22 remaining units, but these contacts are unrecorded so do not show in the chart. We can see on the chart that 9 units have 4 contacts, so are just one short of the standard of 5.

The blue segments indicate simple contacts and the orange segments indicate detailed assessments. The very first unit in the chart, Crew 796, has received 5 simple contacts but no detailed assessments, so is excluded from the Journey to Excellent metrics. FSK District has 12 units like this, so when the unit commissioner performed a detailed assessment (perhaps when the unit commissioner reviews the year-end unit Journey to Excellence scorecard with the unit), these units will achieve the minimum standard required by Journey to Excellence (which is one detailed assessment per unit plus enough simple contacts).

What about the units with no or fewer than five contacts? I know that my good friend Bill Desmond, who is the District Commissioner for FSK, is working with resource constraints, like most commissioners. These units may be strong and in less need of unit contacts, or maybe they have been visited but the contacts have not been recorded, or maybe FSK is short on commissioners in those neighborhoods, or maybe the units have already folded and cannot be visited. The metrics are a quick view but the folks in our districts will have more detailed “localized” knowledge. These charts provide commissioners with the tools they can use to prioritize commissioner service, as we get closer to the year-end finish line, and I trust Bill Desmond and all of my District Commissioners to “do their best” in providing service to our units.

Assistant Council Commissioner Rick Manteuffel posts these reports to the commissioner folders each month. I ask all commissioners to use these reports as input in prioritizing commissioner service in our districts. This is not to buff our metrics, but rather to ensure our units are getting the commissioner service they need and deserve.

Announcing Colonial’s Newest Unit: Sea Scout Ship 818

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As our units host their Join Scouting Nights, Colonial is pleased to announce its newest offering for youth: Sea Scout ship 818. The addition of Ship 818 has been years in the making and is the result of hours of work among several Colonial leaders. Ship 818 is chartered by Belle Haven Marina and is open to girls and boys ages 14-20. Current Colonial Scouts as well as youth not presently part of Scouting may join Ship 818. For more information, please contact George Stevens, the Ship’s Chartered Organization representative at gstevens@saildc.com or Reginald Moten, Ship Skipper, at scubaship818@gmail.com.

400 Scouters Take Part in National Day of Service on the National Mall

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On September 22nd 400 Scouters were welcomed by the Trust for the National Mall as they converged to volunteer their time and effort to a variety of Mall-related service projects. The day also marked the National Environmental Education Foundation’s celebration of the 25th Annual National Public Lands Day. Known as the largest single-day volunteer effort, this year’s theme of resilience and restoration was inspired by a pressing need to address the effects of a spate of natural disasters and extreme weather that have taken a terrible toll on both public lands and those who depend upon them.

With over 35 million visits and 3,000 permitted events annually, the National Mall is the most visited National Park in the country. This level of use in “America’s Front Yard” puts an enormous strain on available resources, so volunteer efforts make a massive difference; a difference that is estimated to save the National Park Service nearly $1 million in annual labor costs. Scouts engaged in river clean up, painting  park benches, and spreading mulch.

Participating Scouts also received a commemorative patch, lunch, and a few other goodies courtesy of event sponsors.

Service is at the core of Scouting, and with National Parks serving as the backdrop to many Scouting adventures, outings such as this one bring participants ever closer in their relationship to the parks.

 

2018 Summer Highlights and 2019 Summer Sneak Peaks

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Goshen had a big, busy summer this year! Attendance was high and weeks filled up quickly, with Week 1 being especially popular. Week 2 was more populous than normal this summer, which made the Independence Day celebration at Goshen even more fun – with field games, snacks, special trading post items and sales, and fireworks over the lake. Our Wilderness First Aid Courses, run out of the Goshen Health Lodge, were also quite popular this summer. Adult leaders from all camps took part in those and other training courses around the lake, improving their skills and getting more prepared for the outdoors and other Scouting experiences.

Youth campers enjoyed earning Merit Badges, working toward Adventures, and doing all kinds of fun activities. The older Scouts at the three Boy Scout Camps all got together – for the first time – as Bowman’s Vets program opened up participation to Scouts from Marriott and Olmsted. Other older Scouts vied for a place in our ATV Ridership program – which was opened to those as young as 14 this year and was so popular another section had to be opened. In addition to opportunities for older Scouts, each of the Boy Scout Camps also improved the program in their own camp. Camp Bowman introduced a new area – Culture Craft – which offered various humanities- and citizenship-based Merit Badges. Meanwhile, Camp Marriott continued to improve its Provisional provisional program as it grew in popularity. Camp Olmsted expanded the offerings at an existing program area – Handicraft – by adding Merit Badges like Graphic Arts and combining Fingerprinting with Crime Prevention. Camp Olmsted also piloted the first Goshen Adirondack in Site 19.

The Webelos Camps thrilled the Webelos with dinosaurs and cavemen in their slightly historically inaccurate, but wonderfully fun Stone Age and Prehistoric theme for the summer. Camp PMI introduced Dungeons and Dragons-style role playing in Handicraft, which quickly overtook and replaced making tomahawks in popularity. Camp Ross added to their already wide assortment of general games around the Parade Field and Admin Building. The new Gaga pit was very popular, but the really cool new game was the Escape Room.

Lenhok’sin High Adventure continued to further introduce crews to the wilderness. On the Lenhok’sin Trail Trek, crews backpacked to great views between fun, challenging adventure activities at the outposts. Other crews experienced class I and II whitewater on the James River Canoe Trek. Lenhok’sin also welcomed many crews that were suddenly without a summer high adventure when the fires closed Philmont. Crews commented that it was a mild hassle to pack differently than they had been anticipating – more socks were required for the damper environment – but they had a great time on the trails, visiting the peaks, and taking part in program at the outposts.

In big news, Camp PMI and Camp Ross welcomed the first female Webelos to camp this summer, whether they attended as a whole Den, as part of a large Pack, or with just mom. Camp Marriott, Camp Bowman, and Lenhok’sin High Adventure have had girl campers for many years now, as part of various Venturing programs. Camp Olmsted has welcomed girls as part of international units. Though only a few girl Webelos attended Camp PMI and Camp Ross this summer, we’re looking forward to welcoming girls and boys at all our camps as part of Family Scouting in 2019.

There’s also more exciting sneak peaks of what’s to come next summer. With the success of the Adirondack at Camp Olmsted, we’re looking at adding more 4-person Adirondacks in place of tents at camps across Goshen Scout Reservation. Camp Marriott is working on adding a new program area with some life skill and extreme crafting options. Camp Marriott and Camp Bowman will also be joining the rest of the camps on the lake in becoming 6 day, Sunday to Saturday camps. By transitioning to 6 day, the camps hope to improve camp logistics and camp program for all campers. Meanwhile, Camp Olmsted will be running a special schedule – the camp will be closed during Week 4 to welcome in the German World Jamboree Contingent on their way to Summit for the 2019 World Jamboree. At this time, we are looking for volunteers to help the camp staff during that week. If you are interested, please contact Phil Barbash at Philip.Barbash@Scouting.org for more information.

Stay up to date on changes and check out everything Goshen has to offer by checking out our website or following Goshen and all your favorite camps on Facebook and Instagram.

The One Million Pound Challenge to Feed the Area’s Hungry

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NCAC will be kicking off the 31st annual Scouting for Food on November 3. Scouts will distribute door tags to homes throughout our Council, then return on November 10 to collect non-perishable food items that will nourish the area’s hungry.

Scouting for Food (SFF) is one of the largest annual food drives in the DC metropolitan area. Last year Scouts collected one million pounds of food, and this year’s goal is to top that. Capital Area Food Bank and other local food banks will use these items to help with its distribution of 45 million pounds of food – equivalent to 37.5 million meals – to 478,100 people through a network of 500 partner agencies and direct service programs.

“With thirty million Americans, including six million children, going hungry at some point every month, this is a way for us to help directly,” says Craig Poland, CEO and Scout Executive of the National Capital Area Council. “Scouting for Food helps local families in need and teaches our Scouts the importance of directly serving the community.”

SFF is held every fall prior to Thanksgiving. Local food banks rely on it to stock their shelves for the upcoming holiday months, when food demands are the greatest.

Items in highest demand include:

  • canned protein (tuna, chicken, peanut butter)
  • soups and stews (chili, beef stew, meat-based soups)
  • 100% fruit juices (all sizes)
  • grains (boxed macaroni and cheese, pasta, rice)
  • cereals (low sugar cereals, oatmeal)
  • canned vegetables & fruits
  • condiments
  • hygiene products (diapers, toilet paper, tissues, soap, toothpaste).

Scouting for Food is co-sponsored by Capital Area Food Bank, the Safeway Foundation, and WUSA9.