Blackhawk Area Council's Green Machine

Blackhawk Area Council has a solar energy generator on the roof of the Boeger Leadership Lodge.  You can monitor how it is working at http://www.illinoissolarschools.org/solar-schools/oregon/camp-lowden.php. 

Klondike Derbies and other things

We'll we are certainly roaring into our anniversary year with a lot of activity.  Last weekend there were three Klondike Derbies.  I made it to two of them, sorry Wetass District, only so much time in a day.

Saturday started at the Sycamore Klondike Derby held at Camp Lokata.  The had a huge turn out.  Congratulations to the Lumpp brothers for organizing the event.

Here is the Hawiian contingent.

Congratulation to the French Chickens, winners of the 2010 competition.

The next stop was the White Eagle District Klondike at Camp Lowden.  I caught up with them a lunch time.  They had a full house in the dinning hall.

The last stop of the day was to help work on some final touches at the Boeger Leadership Lodge which ended up carrying on into Sunday.  A group of volunteers put up insulation and shelving in the storage room.  Thank you to Dave and Cindy Savone, Mike and Julie Condon, and Steve James.  The shelving came from the Central Region offices as they close for relocation to the National Office.  Thanks to Dave Savone and Steve James we also got a small snow blower for the sidewalk and a couple of nice carts.

Council Coordinated Committee, Jan. 21, 2010

The CCC will be held at Pecatonical High School at 7:00 pm on Thursday.  At this meeting all of the district representatives for camping, training, finance, membership, etc. meet to coordinate overall council efforts in those areas.  The chairs for the district committees are expected to attend their committee.  However, this meeting is not limited to the district committee chairs and is open to any volunteer who wishes to participate.  We will be working on the calendar at this meeting so bring your dates.

Three Weeks Left for Hall of Leadership Nominations

Has a Scout, leader, or other Scouting volunteer made a significant difference at some time in your life, or the lives of others, by the extraordinary service they have given and the Scouting virtues they have modeled? You can thank and recognize them with a nomination to the BSA 100th Anniversary National Hall of Leadership.

There are only THREE WEEKS left to nominate someone. Don't be the person that wonders why a particular volunteer wasn't nominated.

Wanchanagi Fireside Chat & Historical Merit Badges

Last night I was at the Wanchanagi Roundtable for the Fireside Chat. Sorry about arriving late, I was off on the time, but thanks for the standing ovation. We covered a lot of ground and it was good to see everyone.

Yesterday I found this article (http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2010/01/historical-merit-badges-help-boy-scouts-celebrate-scoutings-past.html) about four Historical Merit Badges that are being brought back for 2010 only. They are tracking, signalling, guiding, and carpentry. They have to be started and finished in 2010 and can be used as elective merit badges for rank advancement. We are looking at having at least some of these available at summer camp. How cool would that be for a scout to be able to point at one of these on their sash?

Fireside Chats and Quality Lodge

January is always a busy month. Last week was a trip up to Wisconsin for the Arrowhead Fireside Chat. We got some good suggestions from the group to take to the Council Coordinated Committee meeting next week. We do need to talk about that January date. We had to drive back through a snow storm. Tomorrow we're at the Wanchanagi District Roundtable for thier Fireside Chat. Hope to see all our Wanchanagi friends there.
Last week was also the OA Winter Banquet. The officers of the lodge did a good job of putting on the banquet. The guest speaker for the evening was Jim Boeger. He did his usual great job of recounting tales of his days as a scoutmaster and relating those lessons learned.

Congratulation to Wulapeju Lodge for achieving the Quality Lodge designation for 2009. This takes a lot of work on the part of the lodge LEC led by Lodge Chief Dan Dick. Keep up the good work.

BTW anyone got an extra glass, mine broke while being washed :}

SAT/ACT Software for Scouts

Any of you with high school students will be interested in this arrangement the BSA has with eKnowledge and sponsored by the NFL and MLB.  An eKnowldege SAT/ACT prep software is being made available to any scouts.  See the BSA site at www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Media/eKnowledge.aspx for details.  The $200 software is being offered for a nominal support/maintenance fee of $13.84.