1. Colonial District Scouters

If you have Scouts in your units who are at least 14 years of age, they should have recently received a letter from Steve McEwan, Colonial District Director, inviting them to join an Explorer Post or Venture Crew. It is important for our older Scouts to accomplish their leadership responsibilities in their troops and to have opportunities for advanced training in Exploring and Venturing programs. For this reason, a Scout may continue his registration in his Troop and register in a Post or Crew.

The letter identifies several opportunities that are now available and some that are new. The purpose of this note is to request that you encourage your Scouts who are eligible for these opportunities to take advantage of them. Explorer Posts and Venture Crews are already running and new ones are forming in our area. The list follows: Aviation, Environment (new), Scuba Diving (new), Sea Exploring, Computers, Radio/ Communications, Backpacking, High Adventure, and Safe Rides. If you know a Scout who should have gotten the letter and did not, or if you wish to have a copy, please email me and I will send you one.

Question: What’s the Most Important Date for Every Cub Scout Leader?

School Solution: Join Scouting Night...It’s much more than just recruiting new Scouts.

The most important date for every Cub Scout leader is Join Scouting Night (JSN). That’s no exaggeration. JSN is our best opportunity to reach out and make a lasting, positive change in the life of a boy and his family. Working together, we can strengthen the most vibrant packs and give new life to struggling ones.

The first thing to do is to plan ahead. Start by identifying your Join Scouting Coordinator and let me know who he or she is. The JSN Coordinator should plan to attend one of the two JSN orientations that will be offered in Colonial District. Next, your JSN coordinator should talk to your local school authorities about the best day to make classroom presentations and distribute wristbands to prospective Cub Scouts. The day that is selected should be the same day as your Join Scouting Night and needs to be during the week of September 14 - 18.

Here’s the plan for Colonial District. Please mark your calendar:

August 12 - Join Scouting Night Orientation for Pack leaders (concurrent with Roundtable) at Aldersgate Methodist Church, Fort Hunt Road and Collingwood.

September 1 - Join Scouting Night Orientation for Pack leaders, location to be announced

September 14 - 18 - Join Scouting Week (classroom presentations and your Pack’s Join Scouting Night on any day during this week)

September 18 (7 - 9 pm) and 20 (8:30 - 12 noon) - JSN Turn-In (at two locations to be determined)

November 4 & 13 - Unit Membership Inventory

Our pay and benefits package is highly competitive with other District Committees and the meetings are shorter. Tours are limited to not more than three years....so pick up that phone and call me.

Jim Poole

Vice Chairman - Membership

Let me be one of the first to welcome all of you to the new Colonial District. I'm Mike Crane, your District Vice Chair for Program. Many of you may remember me as the Activities and Civic Service team chief for the George Washington District. I want you to know that my team chiefs and I are here to help you do your jobs in the units of our district. Assisting you in delivering a good, quality program to our youth is our principal mission.

When the program is challenging and rewarding, boys want to be a part of Scouting; that translates to more youth served and to more units (Membership). It means units will be more robust--healthier (Commissioner staff). More units and youth mean more parent and community participation, and that leads to stronger financial support (Finance). As you can see, Program is the cornerstone of Scouting, providing the necessary foundation for the major operating areas of the district. But the real bottom line is that Program is why your youth will continue to show up week after week--and that lets us all accomplish the mission of Scouting: growing adults with a strong sense of character and citizenship.

Within our District’s Program area, we have 4 teams:

Activities and Civic Service (camporees, Scouting for Food, Pinewood Derby, Scouting on the Mall, Scouting Anniversary Week, etc.);

Advancement (Policies, Metrics, Eagle Matters, etc.);

Camping Promotion (Camp Promotion, High Adventure, Health and Safety, etc.)

Training (Cub, Scout, Venture, & Specialty Training).

I've filled three of the team chief posts. Tom Baerwald will head the Advancement team, Craig Goheen will lead the Camping Promotion Team and Dominick Caridi will head the Training team.

I'm still looking for someone to step up to Activities and Civic Service. This is a critical job if our program is to succeed. Please consider volunteering to lead this team. You'll have plenty of people to help you and plenty of training if you're willing to accept the challenge of providing leadership in this area. Some of the projects in the Program teams already have directors identified. Jim Garamone and Dominick Caridi have volunteered to run our fall and spring camporees, respectively. Sue Crane will be course director for Scoutmastership Fundamentals this fall. John Tillery will direct Eagle matters for the district. And others have stepped up to pitch in, too. That's the key to our success.

In closing, let me say that we intend to provide the kind of quality program you and your youth have become accustomed to. Please let me know how you want to help--and how we can better help you. Give me a call or drop me an email. Together, we'll make Colonial District the best in the National Capital Area Council!

Mike Crane

Vice Chairman - Program

703-660-6148

The last issue of the GW News went to print before we could confirm the dates for the ninth annual Venture Hike-o-ree. The dates for this year's Hike-o-ree are October 2-4 and November 6-8. Please disregard the dates published in the last GW news. A troop may select either weekend to attend, but because of space constraints, scouts may attend only one of the two weekends. Hike-o-ree registration forms were passed out at the May roundtables. For those troops that are conducting a "do it yourself" high adventure trek, please take slides. You could be the feature presentation for Friday night's opening campfire program. Let me know!!!

We recognize that many troops are beginning their annual planning session for the upcoming scout year. The dates for the next Venture Leader Training Course will be April 8, 15, 24-25. Please disregard the dates published in the draft tri-district calendar.

Venture Leader Roundtable will begin in September and will be held in conjunction with the Old Dominion District roundtable. The responsibility for hosting the roundtable will be shared be the Colonial, Old Dominion, and Patriot District's Venture Scout Coordinator. Have a great and venturous summer and we look forward to seeing you back again beginning in September.

Red exhaustion rips at your throat. And salt sweat spills off your forehead and mats your eyelids and brows. And drips on the burning ground. And your legs start to turn to rubber and collapse like a balloon. "Pretty soon I've got to rest. How much farther? What's the good of this damned work anyway?" The long distance runner is paid by the snap of a white thread across his chest. You are paid by the picture at your feet. Terry and Renny Russell

Cooper Wright

Northern Virginia Venture Scout Coordinator,