Our local Fredericksburg Nationals (FredNats) baseball team invited all Northern Virginia BSA Scouting units to a special “Scout Night” on July 15th at FredNats Park. All Scout leaders and Scouting Families were able to buy discounted tickets (some packages included food and a commemorative patch) to a great baseball game. Our Scouts responded with enthusiasm! Many thanks to Brian Lehman, FredNats Ticket Sales Account Executive and Wendy Latella, a local Scout Leader, for coordinating this event.
Over 500 tickets were sold to Troops and Packs from Fredericksburg, Locust Grove, Stafford, Springfield, Spotsylvania, Woodbridge, Alexandria, King George, Dalghren & Dumfries. Represented were: Cub Scout Packs 22, 26, 28, 38, 46, 57, 199, 320, 802, 907, 1373, 1777 & 2220 and Scouts BSA Troops 165, 197, 218, 317, 1777 & 1889.
For the pre-game Scout Parade, all attending Scouts and Scout leaders paraded from near the home outfield bullpen, around the warning track to behind home plate. Scouts also had the opportunity to campout in the outfield after the game and watch a post-game movie, but this was unfortunately moved to August 5th because a thunderstorm ended the evening early on July 15th.
Part of the pre-game Scouting highlights including first pitch honors for a local Aquia District
Scout leader. Richard “Dick” Haas, is affectionately known in the National Capital Area Council as “The Ancient One” (or “TAO” for short), and not just because this WWII Navy Veteran is 96, but because he’s been continuously Scouting for over 86 years! TAO actually shook the hand of Scouting’s Founder, Robert Baden-Powell, at the World’s Fair in Queens, NY in 1939. TAO earned lifesaving awards in 1964 for rescuing 2 fellow bus crash victims from drowning in the Harlem River – the only 3 survivors. A Scoutmaster in New York in the 1960s & 80s, TAO remains an active Scouter in Virginia today and is the proud patriarch of 4 generations of active Aquia District BSA Scouts & Scouters who joined him on the field – great grandsons Stellan & Ronin and their parents Ben & Heather from Pack 242 and his son, Mike, a retired Marine and Aquia Scouter, who got to throw out the first pitch in TAO’s honor. A great Scout Night indeed! Go FredNats!
To join BSA, please go to www.beascout.org to find a BSA Scout unit near you – Cub Scouting serves families with children in Kindergarten through 5th Grade; Scouts BSA serves families with children ages 11-18. There are BSA programs for families with older Youths, ages 14 – 20, including Venturing, Exploring or Sea Scouting.
The mission of the BSA is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling the values of the Scout Oath and Law. Aquia District includes Stafford County and Marine Corps Base Quantico. For more information on Scouting in Stafford/Fredericksburg area, including how to donate, join or volunteer, contact Kristy Freeman, Aquia District Executive, at Kristy.Freeman@Scouting.org or (540)287-3866.
Troop 199B & 199G formed a crew that participated in a Philmont 7-day backpacking trek at the Philmont Scout Ranch. We had 5 adults (Glenna B, Lisa L, Skip S & Chris T), Trip Wiggins being the Lead Advisor, and the following 6 Scouts: Cameron B, Natalie G, Dots L, Alex S, Kaitlyn T and John W. John was the Crew Leader, Kaitlyn the Chaplain’s Aide and Dots the Wilderness Pledge Guia.
Tristan Torabi of Troop 255 in Chevy Chase, MD led the design and build of a two-level training structure for firefighters and other emergency responders to practice real-world emergency scenarios at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad in Bethesda, MD. The structure houses two training props. Prop 1: A trap door for firefighters to experience a floor collapse followed by the need to squeeze through a tube to escape. And Prop 2: the upper story allows responders to practice repelling down an elevator shaft, with a reinforced bailout window. Staff at BCCRS told Tristan this project may save lives by providing real-world training for firefighters to practice infrequent, yet life threatening scenarios they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to experience. The project involved over 560 volunteer hours and the labor and materials is valued at $55,000.
this. It will have tremendous benefits to training which ultimately allow us to perform on emergency incidents in a more effective way for the community and a safer way to protect ourselves from the dangers of the emergency environment. I have worked with many Scouts over the years on different Eagle projects and I know this is a tremendous undertaking and accomplishment.”