My son, Andre Jackson is a Life Scout with Troop 29 (Patuxent District) has recently donated greatly needed items to the Fisher House Foundation at Andrews Joint Airforce Base on Friday, March 13th. His Eagle Service Project campaign, “Helping Those Who Help Others” for the benefit of the Fisher House Foundation, collection drive ran from January 31, 2020, and ended on March 13th, 2020. He collected donations from his Troop family, neighbors, his classmates at the Lab School of Washington and his church member at Largo Community Church. He collected and donated the following items:
106 Rolls of Paper Towels
40 Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
39 Hand Sanitizers ( 4 – 32-ounce bottles, 20 – 8-ounce bottles, 7 – 12-ounce bottles, and 8 – 2-ounce bottles)
189 K-cups assorted coffees and teas
26 Hot Chocolate packets
45 Cheez-it Snacks
42 Snack Pack Assorted Chips
30 Frito Lay Baked Mix Chips
36 Pringles Variety Pack Chips
36 Quater Chewy Bars
64 Soft Chewy Granola Bars
18 Breakfast Bars
48 Nabisco Nutter Butter Cookies
24 Animal Cracker snack packs
4 packs of Reynolds wrap
2 20-bags Quart size storage
2 13-bags tall Kitchen
4 V05 Shampoos (15 oz/each)
2 Tides Liquid Detergent
In the middle of his service project, the Coronavirus 19 news broke here in America and affected the amounts of donations, especially the Clorox Disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizers. Ms. Veronica Harris, who is the house manager at Fisher House JAFB, was astonished at the amounts Clorox wipes and hand sanitizers Andre was able to collect. Her staff and she was so grateful to Andre achieving so much during the times when those items are sold out in the stores. I’m very proud of my son’s effort and dedication to helping others. He is a leader in his Troop and his school as the vice president of the student body at Lab School of Washington.
Today, he is adjusting to the new reality the Coronavirus 19 has caused such as distance learning from home and his plans to complete his Eagle Board of Review this next month. He has been a blessing helping out with cooking for his grandparents who live with us and keeping them calm during the pandemic. I wanted to share his completed service project and pictures of his journey towards his Eagle Rank to bring joy during these trying times. He cannot wait until this crisis is over so we can meet face-to-face with his troops, friends, classmates and other family members. Funny thing, yesterday he actually told me he misses going to school and seeing his classmates.
My name is Zack Brandon, Troop 1283 Junior Assistant Scoutmaster and Patuxent Chapter Chief. On February 3rd, Super Bowl Sunday, our troop was gathered at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bowie, MD to assist them in an annual good turn: helping those less fortunate than us have a warm place to sleep at night.
Troop 1283 helps out every year by fixing lunches and preparing a large chili dinner for the guests. The twelve youth attendees collectively made four, large, delicious bowls of chili beforehand and brought it to serve. We arrived well before the guests did, and formed an assembly line to make their bagged lunches for the following days. After setting up tables, chairs, and tablecloths, we set up a television to stream the Super Bowl so that the guests could watch it while eating their dinner. Once all of the preparations were ready, the guests slowly started to arrive. Once they were all present, the Pastor of the church opened the meal with a prayer, and we began serving the guests their chili, salad, chips, drinks, and desserts. After serving around thirty guests, we went though the line ourselves and ate dinner with them. We were able to sit and cheer on the teams at the Super Bowl with them and talk to them about who they thought would win the game. Well-fed, we cleaned up the area and departed for home late that night. It was overall a magnificent experience, and I would recommend it to every Troop in our district!
In 2015, Scoutmasters Alexandria Keenan (Troop 1572, Clinton, MD) and Wahbe Tamari (Troop 61, Washington, DC) met during Wood Badge course N6-82-15-3 in the National Capital Area Council. Little did they know how often their paths would cross after the course ended. A year later, they met by chance at Kandersteg International Scout Centre. After that, they met again at an Order of the Arrow Ordeal where they began chatting about planned trips for their respective Troops. Keenan’s Troop was planning a trip to England for the Red Rose International Scout Jamboree; Tamari’s Troop was heading to England to hike Hadrian’s Wall. Both trips were being planned for August 2018, so they decided to join forces and do the trip together.
Early in the morning on August 3, the group arrived at King’s Arms in Bowness-on-Solway to begin the 84 mile hike to Wallsend. Day 1 was a 16 mile hike back to Carlisle. While there were no parts of Hadrian’s Wall visible on this part of the journey, and the weather was a bit rainy, the group was excited to be setting off on this trip of a lifetime.
The group was excited to represent the United States and proudly flew our country’s flag as they marched in parades around camp. Scouts from all over the world stopped by Subcamp Spielberg to visit, swap neckers and patches, and ask about next year’s World Jamboree at Summit and Scouting in the United States.
The Patuxent District held its Good Scout Breakfast on June 5, 2018. The Patuxent District honored Isiah “Gene” Pugh who was killed in a crash in Upper Marlboro during a Key Three Meeting. Isiah held nearly every adult leadership role from Scoutmaster to District Commissioner. He was a role model and shaped the lives of many young men who have excelled in society. His legacy will continue to live on as Scouting breathes. 
Isiah’s family was there to honor their father and speak further on his love of Scouting. This fundraiser was to support the mission of Scouting. It was an incredibly successful event and we could have not done so without our sponsors. Revere Bank, Robert Oxygen Company, Inc, Perry Ives, The Michael Companies, Art Witmann/Witmann Financials, St.Johns Properties Sharon Akers, Friends of Lyles, Tim Abell, Dr. Tommie Thompson, CPA, Bernhard Treidl. W.F. Chesley Real Estate, B Bowie LLC, O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore, P.A., and Berman Enterprises. Special thanks to Jo Posluzny and Joe Brown for creating a special encasing for the award. Great job to Troop 1657 who presented the colors for the ceremony, and to our Scout speakers Quincy Bryant and Jaden Cooper
The Patuxent District celebrated its first annual Women in Scouting Award Ceremony on June 3rd, at the Greenbelt American Legion. The honorees for the First Annual Women in Scouting Dinner are Danielle Ballantine, Alex, Keenan, and Gloria Ike. Each has contributed to the greater success of Scouting in the Patuxent District and exemplifies what female leadership and support has meant to the BSA and the Scouts within its programs. We also awarded Alison Mocko with the Rebekah Weir Award, which allows her to participate in Wood badge on scholarship. District Executive, Danielle Finley stated “each woman here has impacted my short time so far in Scouting. They are all selfless, dedicated, and incredible volunteers”. We would like to thank Parktopia Travels for their Program sponsorship and Janice Cornish from Pack 257 for chairing this event.