Around the Campfire Minutes, News and Updates from the Ol’ Scouters Club of The Villages Meeting of May 15, 2019 Meetings are 3rd Wednesday of the month 10:30 AM at the Canal Street Rec Center Sandringham Room unless otherwise notified. Or, go to Oldscouters.com for more information.

SPECIAL REMINDER ABOUT DUES

Dues Reminder: If you want to remain a member of the club and continue to receive this newsletter and email notices about the club, please mail your check for $20, payable to Ol Scouters Club to Gary Davis at this home address at 2465 Violet Court, The Villages, FL 32162. Otherwise, we’ll accept cash at a club meeting or event.

IF YOUR CHECK OR CASH IS NOT RECEIVED BY MAY 31ST, THIS WILL BE THE LAST “AROUND THE CAMPFIRE” NEWSLETTER YOU WILL RECEIVE.

For those who have sent in checks, those checks were deposited on May 16th, when Mike Gleim, Joe Gallagher and Gary Davis open our Ol’ Scouters Club checking account with Citizens First Bank. You checks should clear this month.

 May meeting:  Business Meeting: No business meeting took place.  Meeting was held at Camp Lanoche instead of Canal St. Rec Center.

 Speaker/Program:

 Eric Magendantz, Council Executive for the brought us current on a variety of issues regarding the Council and at the national level. . Before I share some of the information Eric, along with Mike Evano, Camp Program Manager, and Bill Patterson, Council Commissioner, shared, I must tell you that if you weren’t with us you missed a terrific meeting and camp tour. So much information, great lunch served to us, interesting insight and facts, Q&A and more. I want to really encourage all of you to consider future outings we put together. . Council Program info:  Cub Day Camp Attendance: 1,524  Resident Camp Attendance 3,764  Boy Scout Camp Attendance 1,953  NYLT Training Participants 45  Camperships awarded 196  Value of Camperships awarded $25,098  Eagle Scout Service Project Hours 69,131  Scouting or Food Pounds Collected 325,000  Total Community Service Hours 136,580  Eagle Scouts Awards 406  Silver Beaver Awards 14  Lifesaving or Meritorious Action Awards 6  Total Merit Badgers Earned 14,828  Income $6,285,509  Expenses $6,100,438  #1 in USA in total membership growth up 8.5%  Cub Scout recruitment best since ’05 7,885  Grew Cub membership by 18.4%  #2 in Country for girl recruiting in Cubs 2,567  Over 10,000 new families joined Scouting  32 new girl troops have been chartered since February  Serving 22,000 youth in the 7 country area of the Council.  There is a beehive of activity around Lanoche with buildings being updated, displays and campsites being finalized for summer camp that starts on June 2nd.  Camp Tour: o Camping and Facilities: o Year round camping. o Every weekend of the year camp is active. o Tent Campsites, Adirondack Sites, Cabin/Bunkhouse Sites. o Facilities include Rotary Lodge, Dining Hall, Activity Pavilion, Pool/Lake. o Adventure Camp: o Climbing Tower o COPE (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience) o Team Building o Alpine Tower o Adventure Tower o Wheel Sports ( ATV Instruction and cross- country courses) o Aquatics Programs o Aquatics Facility Rental o Lifeguard Services o Canoes & Kayaks o Sailing/Skiing o Swimming o Two very large Pools and each has it’s specific uses o Lakefront pier o Shooting Sports o Archery o BB-Gun o Slingshot o Rifle o Shotgun o Black Powder o “Cowboy Shooting” being added o Skeet and Clay shooting on the drawing board

Camp Lanoche is truly an outstanding camp property. Everyone said they’d love to be a scout again just to go to camp at Lanoche. We all agreed that there is so much offered a scout could not possibly do everything in a week.

Another observation by those who have been to camp a time or two over the past four years of the club’s existence is that so much is being added year to year, one has to go annually to see all that has changed, been added or enhanced.

And, we’ve only scratched the surface on what is shared above. One can’t put all the details in a newsletter. You have to go to camp to fully appreciate the facility and property.

 Golden Eagle Dinner Update: . Our dinner committee will begin meeting sometime this summer. If you’re interested in being a part of our committee, please contact Mike Gleim.

 Wildwood Pack: . The Pack forming at the Wildwood Elementary School, which will be an after school pack, will kick off in August. Mike Gleim will serve as Unit Commissioner and recruiting is underway for adult volunteers. If you are interested in being involved, please notify Mike Gleim.

 Date reminders:  June Club meeting . We will be attending the Scout Master Dinner at Camp Lanoche. It will take place Wednesday, June 19th. . The Scout Master dinner is for those adult leaders who are in camp with their troop for that week. . Central Florida Council staff will update those attending the dinner about what is going at camp and throughout the Council. . There is also a Q&A session and feedback is sought from those attending camp. . Though dinner is offered to us free of charge, and, if you have been in the past you know it’s a pretty nice dinner. . We are suggesting, as club members, we each pay $5 to $10 to help reimburse the Council for our dinners. . More to come about what time to meet to caravan over, but we’ll probably leave The Villages around 4:30 and expect to arrive back in The Villages around 7:30 to 8:30.

 July Club meeting . We will be back at Camp Lanoche for the OA Dance Team and the annual Summer Pow Wow. . The Pow Wow has world class dancers, including the world Hoop Dance Champion. . Native American Tribes and OA members make up both the dancers and drum team. . It is held in conjunction with a world class pre-1600 and post- 1600 museum of artifacts. . That alone is worth the trip over and then we’ll have the Pow Wow on top of the museum visit. . Looks like we’ll make the trip over on Thursday, July 18th. . More to come on this event in next month’s Around the Campfire Newsletter.

 The Greater Tampa Bay Area Council News:  See the April 2019 edition of Around the Campfire

 Central Florida Council News:  See report above.  Israeli Scouts:  SEE THE ISRAELI SCOUTS when they visit the Villages on Thursday, June 13, at 5 p.m., at Laurel Manor Rec Center.  These 10 real Israeli Scouts put on a heckuva show, presenting traditional and modern Israeli songs and dances.  No need to know Israeli, Hebrew, Yiddish, or any language at all -- their show entertains at a basic universal level.  The scouts rehearsed for 6 months to do this grueling schedule of appx. 100 shows in the U.S. during the summer, and they deserve our support.  We will reserve your place as part of the Ol' Scouters Club if you respond to Mike Gleim at [email protected] promptly by Friday, May 24th.  If you miss this deadline, or want to reserve seats on your own, please send an email to: [email protected]

 Scouting Websites:  If you’re looking for information and resources about, for and related to scouting, here are some websites for you to investigate and some newsletters you may subscribe to.

. Greater Tampa Bay Area Council (GTBAC) URL = https://tampabayscouting.org/ Newsletter sign-up icon is to right of BSA header

. Central Florida Council (CFC) URL = http://cflscouting.org/ CFC does not have a newsletter sign-up?

. Scouting Alumni & Friends site http://www.scoutingalumni.org/

. Boy Scouts National Council https://www.scouting.org/

. Ol Scouters Club of The Villages: https://oldscouters.com

 Down Memory Lane:  What was the best scouting experience you had… o As a youth? o As an adult?  Email or call Gary Davis with your answer to this question and we’ll share it in a future edition of Around the Campfire.

 Child Protection Certification.  A reminder that if you’re involved with a Scouting event or scout, you must have completed the Child Protection Certification course found at Scouting.org. If you are not certified and not sure if you should be or not, contact either Mike Gleim or Gary Davis to discuss.

 Closing Comments:  If you have contributions for our newsletter or questions, please share them with Gary Davis at [email protected].

Respectfully Submitted,

/GWDavis/

Gary Davis Secretary/Treasurer [email protected] 352-504-7102