We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

Scouts BSA

Troop 544 Creates and Distributes Blessing Bags to The Less Fortunate for MLK Day Service Project

by

On January 20, 2020, Troop 544 traveled to downtown Franklin Square Park in Washington D.C. to distribute over 50 blessing bags to the less fortunate. Most of the persons in the park are homeless. The bags were created from donations from the scouts and their families. Items were gathered and assembled at the Troop meeting the Saturday before.

We had a great turn out for both events. The scouts were very eager to provide service to others, which made the leadership very proud. They not only were obeying the scout law and oath, but they also practiced the motto of doing a good turn daily.

Scouts Donate to Quantico & US Coast Guard!

by

Image may contain: 8 people, people smiling, people standing

Boy Scouts have always had a strong tradition of giving back to the community especially in regards to our military. Every year Scouts sell popcorn in person or online with the hopes of receiving donations in lieu of popcorn sales.

On December 31, 2019 the Military Donation took place. This year Scouts raised $126,000 worth of popcorn. The tasty snacks were delivered by Moyer and Sons to Quantico and the US Coast Guard-TISCOM.

A specials thanks to Moyer and Sons for assisting with that large delivery. And big thanks to all Scouts for your efforts this fall. You made a bunch of service members very happy!

Image may contain: outdoor

Check Out This Inspiring Eagle Scout!

by

Meet Noah Harmon, an animal lover with a passion for his religion. For Noah’s Eagle project, he built an entire rosary garden for the St. Jude Catholic Church in Fredericksburg, VA. This huge task took Noah and his team of 62 volunteers almost six months to complete! The first steps of his project was the fundraising.

Noah raised $3,291.13 from selling mulch, popcorn, having two car washes, and from receiving several private donations. With the help of all his fundraising, Noah began his task of leading the physical labor. He had to dig about six inches into the ground and get rid of the many roots in the area. After clearing the area completely, Noah created the cement path, making religious shapes and phrases in a circle around the garden space.

The rosary garden included a large statue, several benches and a great deal of plants which were donated to Noah’s project. In a total of 345.5 hours, Noah and his team successfully built his rosary garden. Noah found that by “having confidence in [himself], and working hard,” he was able to create a beautiful, livable space for the church to enjoy.

Troop 1203 Meets AT Hiker

by

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AT-Hiker.jpegAfter summiting and exploring Mcafee Knob and Tinker Cliffs VA while backpacking the Appalachian Trail, Leo Eschenbrenner and Zumi Hersey from Troop 1203 set up camp at the Lambert Meadows Campsite. The boys cooked dinner utilizing their lightweight stoves as they have so many times. Dinner was Leo’s tried and true favorite, chicken and broccoli with rice.

About the time we had all we could eat a south bound, AT hiker named Bob hiked into our campsite. Bob was a south bounder or SOBO as they are called. He started his AT journey in Maine on Mt. Katahdin and had been hiking sense the spring. AT hikers don’t typically carry a lightweight stove or cook meals but live on cliff bars and fruit.

Leo offered a hot meal to Bob and Bob gladly accepted.This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is at-hiker-2.jpeg After Bob enjoyed his hot meal, Bob spoke to the boys about trail angles. Trail angles offer kindness to AT hikers and the kindnesses the boys offered to Bob was some magic that made his journey a little more special. We talked to Bob for seemed to be about 45 minutes and discussed his amazing experiences and the people he had come to meet along the way. Bob departed before sunset with the goal of seeing the sunset from Tinker Cliffs. Leo spoke about Bob and the friendship they shared over his trail angle hot meal.

A Scout is friendly and a Scout is kind
ASM Dave Eschenbrenner
Troop 1203
California, MD

Troop 159 Earned the Hornaday Unit Award

by

Written by Scouts Corbett and Kendall

Troop 159 of Herndon, Virginia earned the prestigious Hornaday Unit Award by supporting a combined Hornaday Badge/Eagle project called START, led by a Scout in our Troop. We helped pull an invasive plant known as the Japanese stiltgrass from Frying Pan Farm Park, a local park in Herndon, near the place where our Troop meets.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is troop-hornaday-2.jpg

After 10 sessions of removal events that spanned 14 months, we replanted native species to help restore the park land. We also helped educate the public about the invasive stiltgrass, as well as the proper ways to remove and dispose of it.

Hornaday Awards are prestigious conservation awards named in honor of William T. Hornaday, a taxidermist at the Smithsonian who is credited with saving the American bison from extinction. The Hornaday Unit award requires 60% of the registered youth scouts of a unit to participate in a single, sustainable conservation project that addresses and remedies a well-defined environmental problem. Our participation was in support of John Foong’s project at Frying Pan Farm Park. The project was a combination of teaching the public about non-native, invasive plants and how to remove them from our community, as well as actively working to remove the plant, Japanese stiltgrass, from an area in the Park. This project was conducted in partnership with Fairfax County Park Authority’s Invasive Management Area (FCPA IMA) program.

For more information about Hornaday awards, https://www.ncacbsa.org/advancement/awards-and-recognition/hornaday/

The Hornaday Unit Award Badge