Lean-tos going up at Camp Dittmer

Troop 650, in a project led by Camp Dittmer stalwart Jim Tyx, has undertaken a project at Camp Dittmer. They have built the first of 3 lean-tos that they plan to have in place prior to the next summer camp season. Each lean-to will support 4 scouts. He will be placing the blueprints on the council website soon so any troop that wants to build one for their favorite campsite can -- the prints will ensure uniformity  from campsite to campsite. Way to go, scouts, leaders and parents of Troop 650!

Thankful for everyone who makes the Council successful

There's definitely something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving week...it's YOU: Last year, the Council was a "gold council" in the Journey to Excellence rating system used by National, putting us in the top 25% nationally. After 10 months of scoring we are very close to being gold again this year. The year-to-date numbers show us leading all Northeast Region III councils, in many cases by a very large margin. That is a testament to our staff, volunteers, sponsoring organizations, parents and scouts. We are blessed to have so many people who LOVE Scouting. It is something that everyone of you should take great pride in. Keep up the great work -- our boys and young men will go on to greatness in life because of you and what you do for them. THANK YOU.

Our new sign is up

Due to the historical nature of our new Batavia headquarters, we were limited by landmark codes as to where we could put our sign or how big it could be. Nonetheless, it still looks pretty sharp. It is located on the Bank Street side of the building, the same side as our entrance.

2015 Tiger Prowl

Nojay to attend Roundtable Meeting

Attention Scouts - You're Invited to a Special Roundtable Discussion with State Assemblyman Bill Nojay

Assemblyman Bill Nojay will be at the November 12 Roundtable meeting.

Meeting time is 7:00 pm at the Geneseo United Methodist Church, 4520 Genesee Street (Route 63).

All Scouts are welcome, especially any Scout who needs First Class requirement 5 should attend. 

That requirement is: Visit and discuss with a selected individual approved by your leader (elected official, judge, attorney, civil servant, principal, teacher) your constitutional rights and obligations as a U.S. citizen.

Bill was recently in Kiev as co-chair of an international observation team for the Ukrainian elections and will talk about his trip as well.

Parking for the new Batavia office

Regarding our new Batavia office: Parking is located across Bank Street in the big parking lot that is shared by the mall and bank. There is a crosswalk that has yield lights on it, ensuring safe crossing. Entrance to our portion of the building will be had via the ramp that is on the Bank Street side of the building.

A look at GO ART!

The Council will be sharing our new Batavia home with its owners -- the good people at GO ART. They are the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council and they cite their mission as being "dedicated to developing the cultural life in Genesee & Orleans Counties by facilitating the creation, presentation and experience of the arts, heritage and traditions."

Learn more about them at their website: http://www.goart.org/

Batavia office closed as we move this week

The Batavia Scout Shop and Office will be closed from Monday - Wednesday Nov. 2 - 4 as we complete the move to our new location at 201 East Main Street, Batavia (at the corner of Main & Bank Streets).

Our phones and email connection will be out of commission for several days while we complete the move, so please be patient if you can't get through to us. We had planned for a less disruptive move; however, we had to jump on a sudden opportunity to get our phones transferred and the moving truck lined up on the same day.

For those of you familiar with Batavia, 201 East Main St. is the red brick mansion just west of the YMCA & directly across the street from Charles Men's Shop. It's the home of the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council (GoArt!), which owns the building and maintains its office space, art galleries, and workshops at that location. 

We'll send out a fresh announcement later this week to let you know that we're up & running.

Thank you to our volunteers!

Thank You to the Organizers and Hosts of our Fall Events!

Fall Flag Fest Camporee @ Dittmer - Thank you to Alexander Troop 650 along with several co-host Troops for organizing a very special weekend.

Webelos Woods - Chair Tim Bucknam and a team of individual and Troop volunteers helped 200+ Webelos kick off the program year.

Taste of Scouting @ Camp Sam Wood- Hosts and Staff - our local Ashokwahta Order of the Arrow Lodge demonstrated why they are known as a 'Brotherhood of Cheerful Service' with this October event that welcomed our newest Cub Scouts and parents.

Cub Scout Spookoree @ Genesee County Park - Chair Terri Martinez and her spook-tacular team of volunteers helped to scare up a day of fun!

Den chief training: November 7th

Annual Summer Camp launch is next week

Camp Claim Stake & Program Review For all Pack, Troop & Crew Leaders and Camp Coordinators

Wednesday, November 4 - 7:00 pm
Batavia First United Methodist Church
8221 Lewiston Rd (Route 63) Batavia 14020

We'll cover all the basics to start planning for an excellent 2016 summer camp experience!

Get a jump start with 2016 dates, deadlines, fees, and forms.

Reserve your campsite and make a site deposit for 2016.

Schedule your camp promotions visit.

Bring ideas, thoughts, and suggestions for next year!

Colton Meyer's Eagle project gets TV coverage

Channel 4 news did an awesome report on the Eagle project of Colton Meyer. Check it out!

http://wivb.com/2015/10/24/eagle-scout-follows-in-fathers-footsteps-through-service-project/

Spookoree: October 17th

Cub Scout Spookoree is 12-4 pm on October 17

Join us at the Genesee County Park for a fun-filled Spooktacular!

Cub Scouts, siblings, and parents are welcome. We also encourage you to invite a non-Cub Scout friend to join you for the Spookoree and your next Den meeting.

Event stations will include a Haunted Hay Ride, Halloween Crafts, Spooky Games, a hot dog snack station and more!

Pre-registration discount is available until Oct. 14. For a detailed flier and registration form pack leaders should click here:

http://itcbsa.org/Joomla/images/Forms/2015/2015SpookoreeUnitSignUps.pdf

If your Cub pack isn't coming as a group, an individual registration form is also available:

http://itcbsa.org/Joomla/images/Forms/2015/2015SpookoreeIndividual.pdf

Our council president's article about Scouting

With another school year upon us, recruiting underway, and parents of school age kids being bombarded with so many choices, it can sometimes be tough to sell a family on Scouting.  Council president Bob Confer hopes he can help with that: In this week's installment of his weekly newspaper column, he lets parents know that Scouting is the perfect one-stop program for their sons.

http://www.lockportjournal.com/opinion/bob-confer-scouting-the-perfect-program-for-your-son/article_34de10f6-4f32-5c0e-9ffc-2fb3aa14ad02.html

Nancy Berger has passed away

The Iroquois Trail Council lost a great friend this weekend as Nancy Berger -- the wife of Frank Berger -- passed away on Sunday. Nancy was a lovely woman who gave so much to Scouting. She was honored with the Silver Beaver award for all that she did for the BSA. Our thoughts and prayers are with Frank and Nancy's entire family. Rest in peace, Mrs. Berger.

Here is her obituary:

http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/obituaries/article_3d4cde82-65d2-11e5-b648-eb5683427cd3.html

VFW SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Through the VFW’s Scout of the Year program, members of the Boy Scouts who display standout citizenship, patriotism and love of country have the opportunity to be rewarded with college scholarships of $5,000 for first place, $3,000 for second place or $1,000 for third place.    

Eligible are Scouts who are registered, active members of a Boy Scout Troop, Venturing Crew or a Sea Scout Ship who have received the Eagle Scout Award, Venture Summit Award or Sea Scout Quartermaster Award.

Scouts must be at least 15 years of age and have demonstrated practical citizenship in school, scouting and the community and must be enrolled in high school at the time of selection. All applicants still in high school who reach their 18th birthday during the nomination year remain eligible if otherwise qualified.

To enter the contest, Scouts should submit the completed VFW Scouting Scholarship form that can be found online at www.vfw.org, a resume of high school activities, scouting record, community service record and letters of recommendation no later than March 1.

Send the completed information to Dan Marsh, Commander Post 2535, 112 Caledonia St., Lockport NY 14094. For more information, email Marsh at DTMARSH 1221@yahoo.com or call 716.602.5639.

Moms tell the story of Scouting

Who better to tell the story of Scouting than Mom?

The Pacific Harbors Council and the Chief Seattle Council recruited 11 mothers to appear in short videos. These moms were asked to imagine that they were talking to the mom of a young boy that was considering Scouting. The stories, some of them very touching, get to the heart of Scouting and its awesomeness – and should be used by ALL scouts, scouters, and parents to help recruit more boys into Scouting. The videos are not location specific and can be used by any council in any community.

To see these stories (and have access to them for sharing), all you need to do is like the 11 Mom’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/11Moms. Starting September 15, 2015 they will be releasing one of the videos each day for 11 days. The videos will be set to come out at 4:00 PM Eastern each day.

They will also release a newsletter with a promo each day five minutes after the videos hit the Facebook page. Part of the promo will be the link to the page as well as a promo for the mom on the following day. 11moms.org is a website that will also house promo materials that you can use if you would like to.

This should be an awesome tool and I look forward to seeing how it turns out. Be sure to like: https://www.facebook.com/11Moms

Spookoree - Saturday, October 17

Who: All Cub Scouts, parents & siblings!

Where: Genesee County Park, Area B & Area D 11095 Bethany Center Road, E Bethany, NY 14054 (Parking Area B and D Main entrance of the Park)

Cost: $8.00 each when you Preregister before 10/14

(Please note the change of date. The County Park recently scheduled a deer management program that will start on 10/19.)

Registration forms are posted on the council web site.

Round-robin program stations will run from 1-4 pm. Check-in from noon-12:45.

This is NOT a Pack event, although your Pack may choose to attend together.

We're planning for a haunted hay ride, storytelling, crafts, apple launching, donut making, games, face painting, a hot dog snack and tons of Halloween fun!

This event is held outdoors and is held rain or shine. Please dress according to the weather!

A retro Sam Wood shirt for sale at Glenn Beck's store

A few years ago Glenn Beck launched a new clothing line to help fund Mercury One, a non-profit initiative that aims to fix America “one town” at a time. Beck named the American-made clothing line 1791 after the year that the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution were ratified. On the 1791 website are almost 4 dozen t-shirts with random themes and logos. Here's one that surprises....a Camp Sam Wood t-shirt!!

http://www.1791.com/1791-camp-samwood-t-shirt/detail.php?p=891646&v=men

Webeloes Woods

The 26th Annual WEBELOS WOODS ENCAMPMENT

A Two Part Program Designed Especially for Your WEBELOS and Arrow of Light Scouts

Camp Sam Wood
7772 Camp Rd.
Pike, NY

September 25 - 27

The Program:

1st-Year Webelos (Taught by experienced adults, Scouters and Boy Scouts) Your Webelos will get a head start on these activities:

Stronger, Faster, Higher
First Responder
Cast Iron Chef
Into the Wild
Into the Woods
Finding Your Way
Walk About
Webelos will also complete many requirements for Camping.

2nd-Year Webelos (Taught by experienced Boy Scouts) All sessions are designed to help earn the Arrow of Light and introduce 2nd-year WEBELOS Scouts to the things they will be learning as Boy Scouts. This weekend can be used to meet the "Attend a Boy Scout Activity" requirement:

Fire Building
Woods Tools
Ropes, Knots & Splices
Building a Better World
Let's Go Camping!

Click here for a detailed outline of the Webelos Woods program along with a full schedule and registration form: http://itcbsa.org/Joomla/images/Forms/2015/2015WebelosWoods.pdf

Questions? For More Information contact Event Chairman Tim Bucknam: (585) 507-6847 htbuck@aol.com or Timothy.Bucknam@parks.ny.gov or give us a call at the Batavia Council Service Center