We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Chain Bridge

Ryan Krauss, Top MD Scout Orienteer

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Ryan Krauss from Arlington Troop 111 (Chain Bridge District), was the top Maryland Scout Orienteer on Sept. 12 at Broad Creek Scout Reservation. On a tough, rocky course, 2019 champion Nate Beardmore from 347, Prince Frederick, Western Shore, had the lead most of the way, a bit ahead of 111’s Thomas Sullivan, 347’s Duncan Santerre, one Baltimore Area Scout, and Joey Hastings from 1321 in La Plata.
Amidst rigorous COVID precautions, 320 attendees did training and orienteered on color maps as in the attached picture. In that picture, can you see two problems with whomever hopes to find north!? If not, or even if so, mark you calendar for the 45th Annual MD Scout Orienteering Day on Oct. 23, 2021 at Patuxent River Park, Upper Marlboro,  Also contact Jim Chaplin at JHChaplin@comcast.net about the big 15th annual spring 2021 DC area NCAC Scout Orienteering event!

Pack 194’s Youngest Popcorn Kernel Does His Best

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For the previous two years, Pack 194’s Liam Brougham, currently an Arrow of Light Scout, has been the Pack’s top seller and has helped his entire Pack raise funds for Scouting. Sure, he enjoyed the prizes, accolades, and delivering the ceremonial pie in the face to Pack adult leadership – twice! But the 2018 fundraising season was a little different. In fact, the Pack almost did not conduct a popcorn fundraising event because there were no adult volunteers to be the Popcorn Kernel. Liam overheard his Pack 194 Committee Chair explaining this so what did he do? He demonstrated great Scouting characteristics and said, “Can I be the Kernel?” Did he do it for the prizes? Absolutely not. Because Liam further said, “I’ll stop trying to be the top seller by myself and help out the whole Pack instead.” And help he did.

Of course, first the Pack had to discuss the idea with the District Executive explaining how a Scout wanted to be Kernel. It was a bit of a surprise as Cub Scouts don’t usually lead such a pivotal Pack role and coordinate, promote, and lead all Kindergarten through fifth grade Scouts AND all their parents. But while ensuring proper youth protection was maintained with emails and interaction with others, Liam was off to the races.

Liam attended Regional Kick-Off training, asked questions, helped assemble presentation material, and spoke at Pack meetings on what Pack 194 was going to do. He set up five Store Front Sales and even went to meet with the store manager in his Scout uniform to show respect and commitment to raising important funds for his Pack’s Scouting effort. Liam had help with the ordering system, but it was he who analyzed the sales in prior years and predicted what popcorn the Pack would need to order. He made the orders (several of them), helped inventory at pickups, helped set up Store Front Sales and have sales material and popcorn on hand, helped train new Scouts, collected the end of sale proceeds, kept account of which Scouts were credited with sales, ordered the entire Pack’s prizes at the end, and answered other questions and placed more orders for Take Orders from the Pack. He learned how spreadsheets work and how they can be used to calculate. He practiced his math skills and REALLY enjoyed counting all the money (a lot of it as it turns out). And finally, he learned how internet sales and transactions worked and even upgraded the Pack’s technology to allow touch and chip credit card payments.

So how did Pack 194 do with fundraising under the leadership of Popcorn Kernel Liam Brougham?

The Pack vastly exceeded expectations. The original 10% growth target was left in the dust. The end result was more than double last year’s sales: that’s over ten times more funds available for Pack 194 Scouting events in 2019.

The entire Pack 194 enjoyed the experience of a Cub Scout in charge and shared in the benefit of Popcorn Fundraising. And Liam’s reward? Adulation from his Pack (sure), learning great life skills in sales, communication, logistics, accounting, … (OK those all definitely happened), but the REAL REWARD… a ceremonial THANK YOU by way of a pie TO HIS FACE for a job so very very well done.

Pack 350 Experiences Continued Growth

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by Aaron Bachmann, Cubmaster

For several years, Pack 350 described itself as a “small but mighty” pack that always tried to do more with less. We have been sponsored by the Fairlington United Methodist Men’s group since our inception when a number of families in the Fairlington area were looking for a pack closer to home.

In my two plus years with Pack 350, we have grown exponentially. Despite the challenges that this growth has created for camping food prep, it is incredibly rewarding to see how much our Scouts enjoy the Pack 350 program. It is perhaps all the more special because the vast majority of our growth is through word of mouth – our Scouts share their experiences and invite their friends. After all, that’s the best form of advertisement you can have!

While we have had a handful of Arrow of Light Scouts transition in the past, last year was our first large group. These Scouts had been around for the beginnings of the pack, and the bond they shared from the Pack 350 experience was strong. As such, they wanted to transition to Boy Scouts together, and they wanted their Boy Scout life to match with the climate of Pack 350. Therefore, Tony Baker and Elina Erlendsson, along with the help of many other parents and our charter representative, Rolf Blank, created Troop 350. After getting off the ground with one former Pack 350 Scout and, of course, a bunch of friends he brought from soccer, Troop 350 doubled in size with the influx of last year’s Arrow of Light Scouts.

Pack 350 is excited to have a troop that is also associated with Fairlington United and a natural place to continue the positive and welcoming Scouting environment that we take pride in in Pack 350. It seems that the feeling is mutual – a couple of Troop 350’s Scouts came back to assist with Pack 350’s Join Scouting Night in early September. It is definitely a sign of the strong relationship that we hope to continue to forge with each generation of Scouts.

Of course, that was not the only milestone that Pack 350 saw at Join Scouting Night. After having the distinction of registering the very first girl in the Chain Bridge District, we were thrilled to welcome eleven (!) girls to Pack 350. Most were joining in the early years as Lions, Tigers, and Wolves, but we even have a Webelos. As I said above, Pack 350 prides itself on its inclusivity and welcoming environment; the addition of so many girls to the Cub Scouting program is a natural extension for us.

Chain Bridge District Day Camp Hosts Over 170 Campers

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The annual Chain Bridge Cub Scout Day Camp was held at the LDS Arlington Ward during the week of June 25 – June 29 this year. We had over 170 Cub Scouts attend the day camp to compete and participate in amazing activities including Scout Skills taught by members of Ship 1942, Shooting Sports instructed by members of Troop 350, Crafts and Games taught and instructed by Boy Scouts from various Troops across Chain Bridge, and numerous more fun activities. Our Cub Scout Day Camp was lucky enough to be able to acquire a ROCK WALL for a day where the participants at camp were able to compete in a race to see who could get to the top first!

Scouts who came to day camp this year were able to earn rank specific Shooting Sports patches, learn cool and useful Boy Scout knots, make interesting crafts to take home, develop new friends and great memories, but most importantly, our Scouts who came to camp had FUN!

All of this would not have been possible without the help of our amazing volunteers who dedicated their time and effort to make this camp fun and exciting for our campers. A HUGE shout out to our Camp Director, Erin Freeman, who has been on the day camp senior staff for over 10 years, and Tony Baker, our Program Director, who spent all his time out in the field helping our program areas function, and the rest of our staff who spent their time helping our Cubs learn through having fun!

We are currently in the process of beginning preparations for our day camp next year. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or helpful advice, please do not hesitate to reach out and let us know! We can’t put on great programs like this without the help of all of our families and volunteers like yourself!