Scouting In The News
The Voice from the Valley
The Voice from the Valley
"Your Weekly Scouting News Periodical for the Canadian Valley District"
Greetings! Welcome once again to your weekly „Voice.‟ Knee deep in summer, we now turn our attention to vital information for the Fall. Enjoy!
A New Explorer Post at Shawnee Police Dept.
Recently the Last Frontier Council was contacted by the Shawnee Police Department with the interest of starting up an Explorer Post. For those of you who may not know the difference, an Explorer Post is a Scouting organization that is sponsored by organizations such as police departments with a completely unique program from Scouting that you are accustomed to. Instead of camping, Explorers learn about police work-riding along with officers on duty, going on field trips to youth police academies, and many other exciting events associated with police work. If this would be something your Scout would like to join, the program is offered to boys and girls, ages 14-20. Registration cost $7 for a year of membership. If you are already registered with Scouting in a unit, you would still have to pay the $7. Scouts who would like to learn more can contact Officer Freeland Wood at fwood@shawneeok.org.
Popcorn Items You Need to Know!!! Popcorn already? You bet! With the deadline for Show N‟ Sell orders due before our August Roundtable, this year our District Popcorn Kickoff will have to be moved to before then. For this, the Kickoff will be held August 2nd from 3:30pm to 4:30pm at the Bailey Business Center at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee. At that time there will also be a Popcorn training to show units how to boost sales during the popcorn campaign. By attending this training your unit will be able to earn an additional 2% commission on sales from the standard base of 30%. This training is a commission boosting opportunity that is replacing the IYOS budget requirement for additional 2% from previous years. Please come prepared to win door prizes, eat some free popcorn, commit to selling for 2008, and have some fun! Contact our District Popcorn Kernal, Barbara Garlington for further details at (405) 639-5604 or via email at oilovehats2@yahoo.com.
Join Scout Night Training at Roundtable This Week! Shannon Lytle has been working hard lately to put together a great Join Scout Night Training session for our July Roundtable (which will be this Thursday). Please come and learn about changes to the Join Scout Night Calendar, how to order School Night Fliers, and come receive all the things you will need to have a successful recruitment drive this Fall. Hope to see you there!
Get Your Leaders Trained! (In our last issue, „The Voice‟ ran this article about training, but printed the incorrect email information for our Training Chairman. We are running this article again to correct that mistake.)The Canadian Valley District takes pride in the quality of leaders we generate for our youth. Part of this comes from the pre-existing sense of Scouting values, respect for Scouting‟s message, and hometown proud characteristics known to exist in our part of the state, but part of this also comes from the extensive amount of training our leaders have taken in Scouting to prepare them to be the best Scouting leaders they can be. To help facilitate this training, we have a District Training Chairman named Steven Phillips, who has already done a great job in this role. To continue to do such fine work however, he needs your involvement. Please spread the word and get your leaders trained! This month we have already had one training event, but in case you missed out, Steven will be offering Cub Specific Training and New Leader Essentials on August 2nd. Please contact him at stevenengr@aol.com or steven.phillips@okbu.edu for further details.
Canadian Valley earns National Award!
Many of you who have been in Scouting long enough know that each Council in the BSA is evaluated at the end of June each year to demonstrate membership growth. These evaluations aid the BSA in securing financial support from a wide array of national and local grants, one of these including contributions from the United Way. Every district in the national organization that demonstrates a 1% growth in total membership and Scouting Units receives National accreditation as being part of the „Chief Scout Executive‟s Winners Circle.‟ To be able to achieve such status is a great honor, and thanks to your recruiting efforts, Canadian Valley earned Chief Scout Executive‟s Winners Circle for 2008! What this means for our district is that we are now nationally recognized as part of an elite in Scouting Districts throughout the country. It also means that we are doing our part to ensure that more and more of the future leaders of our communities are learning how to lead using the Scout Oath and Law. Excellent work everyone!
Please remember to submit Scouting stories you think should be heard as well as any upcoming dates or announcements that would contribute to the betterment of Scouting. You can email your submissions to our District Executive, Shane Pate at shpate@bsamail.org or our Public Relations Chairman, Mike Askins, at maskins@allegiance.tv. Upcoming Dates District Committee 07/18 Commissioner Corps. 07/24July Roundtable 07/10 Fishing Derby 07/12 Cub/New Leader Training 08/02
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The Voice from the Valley
"Your Weekly Scouting News Periodical for the Canadian Valley District"
Greetings! Welcome once again to your weekly „Voice.‟ This edition marks the 5th successful installment and everyone has done an excellent job to contribute news. Please keep them coming! As many may know, during the summer months, some units in our district go silent, missing out on numerous exciting Scouting events. This edition continues our attention on some of the fun things that other units in our district are doing with the hope that „silent summer‟ units will get some ideas as to how to carry their program throughout the summer. Enjoy!
Summer Fun for Troop 424
Troop 424 from Bethel Acres just got back from Slippery Falls, and boy, what a time they had! Thirteen boys went down for the trip, and all thirteen returned in one piece! The group got to experience all the usual trimmings that Slippery Falls has to offer but additionally got to make use of the many renovations on the facility, such as the new shower and restroom improvements. They learned, studying animal science, pioneering, and such, and they played, enjoying slushies and moss flinging contests while swimming in the falls. What a great summer!
A Familiar Face on Summer Camp Staff
For those of you with the good fortune to make it down to Slippery Falls this summer, you might notice a familiar face roaming the trails in a staff t-shirt-Matthew Garlington from Troop408 in Shawnee. Matthew has worked hard for Scouting, whether it be in his Troop, for his community, or sitting in on a District Committee Meeting (a Gameboy close at hand of course), and this summer is no different down at camp. Thank you Matt for all you do and representing Canadian Valley District!
2008 Philmont Returns!
Woo Hoo! We're BACK! 70 youth and adults of the Last Frontier Council rolled into the Homeland parking lot in Mustang on June 20th. Eleven days and 10 nights on the trails at Philmont produced tanned, burnt, buff, and very dirty and very stinky but, elated participants. Crew 608-P-1 of the Last Frontier Council, was the first crew back to base camp for the 2008 season! Many of the Crews experienced remaining winter snow in the higher elevations of the back country. Some crews scheduled to camp on top of Mount Phillips were rerouted due to 2 to 3 feet of snow still occupying the campsites there. For our crew going up and over Big Red, the one remaining snow bank on top gave us opportunity for a wonderful foot bath, snow ball fights and Gatorade Slushies! Going down the other side of Big Red into Red Hills camp, we experienced the task of how to tromp through a series of 7 snow drifts occupying our trail which, for some reason, was routed through a steep ravine. We finally gave up trying to walk on them. Many were left with the choice to slide down on their rear end pulling their packs. Some threw their packs down the slope and did a fun belly flop ride down wearing their rain suits. Crew 608-P-1 also experienced blacksmithing, a mine tour, rock climbing, search and rescue, fly tying and fly fishing, roping, black powder rifle, campfires, a grueling conservation project, and some terrific views! Things learned were cooperation, tolerance, patience, team work ethics, and the fact that you CAN survive without TV, showers, pop, flushing toilets and a thick, juicy steak. There is still room available on the 2009 LFC Trek ! $850 will get you 2 trek T-shirts, first aid training, food for 2 shakedown training weekends, a special LFC nalgene bottle, a seat on a chartered bus to and from Philmont, a great lunch on the way to and from Philmont, and last but certainly not least, one of the most AWESOME life experiences you will ever have!
You can still sign up on SEPTEMBER 9, 7:00 PM at the next Council sign up meeting. Don't forget your $50 deposit to hold your spot! If you're really excited about going and don't want to wait that long to hold a spot, email Paula Stearman at PMStearman@aol.com with "Philmont" in the subject line, and she will tell you how to get registered early.
Friends of Scouting
As of 10am this morning, Canadian Valley District, your district, became the second district in Last Frontier Council to top over 100% in reaching its Friends of Scouting fundraising goal! The campaign begin way back in the final months of 2007 when a finance committee composed of Joe Ford, Carl Packwood, Randy Smith, and Shane Pate sat down and reviewed our fundraising history as well as future opportunities to lay out a Friends of Scouting goal of $57,000. This was a lofty goal, more than had been raised in the district as far back as anyone could remember, but the finance committee was confident we could pull it off, and we did! After numerous presentations at Blue and Gold Banquets, presentations to civic clubs, and formal fundraising banquets composed of community leaders in our district, the hard work paid off. Thanks to everyone who helped once again make Canadian Valley a success. There will be a celebration party for this great achievement coming forth shortly. Look to this newsletter for updates on that event.
Get Your Leaders Trained!
The Canadian Valley District takes pride in the quality of leaders we generate for our youth. Part of this comes from the pre-existing sense of Scouting values, respect for Scouting‟s message, and hometown proud characteristics known to exist in our part of the state, but part of this also comes from the extensive amount of training our leaders have taken in Scouting to prepare them to be the best Scouting leaders they can be. To help facilitate this training, we have a District Training Chairman named Steven Phillips, who has already done a great job in this role. To continue to do such fine work however, he needs your involvement. Please spread the word and get your leaders trained! This month we have already had one training event, but in case you missed out, Steven will be offering Cub Specific Training and New Leader Essentials on August 2nd. Please contact him at stevengr@aol.com for further details.
Turn in Membership Today!
Many of you who have been in Scouting long enough know that each Council in the BSA is evaluated at the end of June each year to demonstrate membership growth. These evaluations aid the BSA in securing financial support from a wide array of national and local grants, one of these including contributions from the United Way. The end of June is quickly approaching and we need all the help we can get, so if you have any membership registration applications for your unit that you have not yet turned in for the year, please do so As soon as possible. If the drive to Oklahoma City is too much on your pocketbook, please contact Shane Pate at shpate@bsamail.org and he will find a way to get your membership turned in.
Please remember to submit Scouting stories you think should be heard as well as any upcoming dates or announcements that would contribute to the betterment of Scouting. You can email your submissions to our District Executive, Shane Pate at shpate@bsamail.org or our Public Relations Chairman, Mike Askins, at maskins@allegiance.tv. Upcoming Dates District Committee 06/18 Commissioner Corps. 06/26July Roundtable 07/10 Fishing Derby 07/12
