Here’s the Plan…

For June / July 2009

Newsletter for those with a heart for the camps of Northeastern Pennsylvania Council, BSA

Campmaster & Commissioner Corps, Grumpy Old Bears Construction Corps, Camp Alumni, Council Eagle Association, Wood Badgers, & Dedicated Scouters & Scouts

Greetings

Greetings from Ranger Tim and the staff at Northeastern Pennsylvania Council. While there are a number of newsletters circulating around the Council, the purpose of this one is to keep those of you who have a real passion for the camps and their upkeep filled in on what we have going on and what we have in mind to accomplish in the next month or so. You see, when I first arrived here five years ago, managing the camps was much more like an EMT trying to do triage – which bleeding artery needed to be taken care of first? While Goose Pond was in pretty good shape, Acahela was in need of some serious attention and I ran around basically plugging holes and taking stock of where we were. Five years later, the camps are much closer to being on par with each other, projects and improvements are occurring at an increasing pace, and more of you want to be involved in what is going on. So the purpose of this newsletter is to let you know what we’ve recently done, what is planned for the coming weeks, and what ideas and projects we have coming up so that you can make plans to come and join in the fun – and that’s the coolest part of all this for me as the Ranger. The enthusiasm among our volunteers is growing and along with it, the rewarding fun we’re having serving our kids. The fellowship and pleasure we all get from serving others really shines through in many of these opportunities, so read on and then plan to come and be a part of the action!

Goose Pond Update

Goose Pond is well on its way for being prepared for the 2009 Summer Resident Camp season with a number of improvements and changes. The largest and most exciting is a complete renovation of the Handicraft Lodge both inside and out. When the project is done, the old “Helcoski Lodge” will have a new, covered front porch, new siding, windows, and doors, a new roof, new kitchen, and new interior layout. The old Quartermaster’s facility has been moved and that old space renovated to become two additional bunk rooms that will hold up to eight people each, raising the total off-season lodging capacity to 40 from the original 24. In addition to these refits to the Lodge, other work has taken place to upgrade the water and electrical systems in the camp, as well as the foundation of the Lodge.

Work is also continuing on matching tents, platforms, and rigging, so that all three match. Over the years, GPSR has accumulated a collection of tents and platforms of various sizes and one of the big complaints has been that tents frequently don’t match up with their platforms or poles, which means your tent doesn’t fit properly on its platform. It’s also been somewhat confusing in communicating the “address” of a platform if it needs attention or repairs. “The third platform from the left…” can mean a number of things in any campsite, so a campwide numbering system has been devised as well as a color coding system that will help us match tents, platforms, and poles into matched sets.

Camp Acahela Update

While GPSR’s building activities are focused in one or two big areas, Acahela is just as busy with a pile of smaller, but no less important projects. In an effort to support the new Summer Camp program devised by Camp Director Stew Thomas, several new program areas are being added to the activities the Cub Scouts will enjoy this summer. There will be a new Obstacle Course, Frisbee Golf Range, Model Rocketry Launch Center (named Cape Acahela and Light Sands Missile Test Range), and a new Action Archery Trail. We’re also working on moving the regular Archery Range up along side the Rifle Range, improving the Camp Fire Circle, rehabilitating the old Bearcat site and Lucky 7 latrine. New signs are being added around camp and other dress-up and refurbishing projects are going on throughout Acahela’s grounds. It’s an exciting time and a great way to celebrate the grand old lady’s 90^th Anniversary of Scouting service.

“HERO” List and “Thanks”

Loads of folks have been pitching in and the enthusiasm for helping out at the camps has continued to grow. Several individuals and groups have really contributed in a special way in the last month or so that I feel needs to come to everyone’s attention.

Troop 66 – donation of two new push-type lawn mowers
Tino Penzone – donation of a lightly used lawn mower for the Service Center
The Tetlak family for donation of a used refrigerator, washer, and drier
Troop 106 – work clearing the new Obstacle Course area at Acahela
Troop 55 – work in moving the rope bridge from the Lower Field to the new Obstacle Course area
Pack 281 – for painting the Administration Building windows and other work
Troop 43 – for helping prepare for our Wood Badge Gathering
Sommerville Construction – for donation of mailboxes for our new Information Board at Acahela’s entrance
Charlie Jackson, Jim Bencho, Fran Layou, Allan Stroud, and the rest of the Grumpy Old Bears for recent work at both camps
Bob Burry, Al Kircher and their crew for landscaping work AND all the hard work in clearing the area for Acahela’s new Archery Range

And there has been much, much more. If I failed to mention you, please forgive me and remind me – we’ll get you or your group posted in the next edition.

NBTs (Next Big Things) for late May through July

Here’s a quick list of some important council and group dates and events that we are preparing for in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to check to see if there is anything that either interests you or if your group has any upcoming dates.

Friday – Sunday, May 29-31, 2009 – Beaver Weekend #1 at Camp Acahela, + on Saturday, Grumpy Old Bears Monthly Saturday Work Session, 8am-ish to 2pm-ish at Acahela
Tuesday Night – June 2, 2009 –Grumpy Old Bears, Tuesday Evening Work Session at Acahela
Friday – Sunday, June 5-7, 2009 – OA Ordeal Weekend at Goose Pond
Tuesday Night – June 9, 2009 –Grumpy Old Bears, Tuesday Evening Work Session at Acahela
Saturday – Sunday, June 13-14, 2009 – Parent & Pal #1 at GPSR
Tuesday Night – June 16, 2009 –Grumpy Old Bears, Tuesday Evening Work Session at Acahela
Friday – Sunday, June 19-21, 2009 – Beaver Weekend #2 at Camp Acahela, + on Saturday, Grumpy Old Bears Monthly Saturday Work Session, 8am-ish to 2pm-ish at Acahela
Saturday – Sunday, June 20-21, 2009 – Parent & Pal #2 at GPSR
Sunday, June 21, 2009 – Acahela Staff Week Begins
Sunday, June 21, 2009 – GPSR Staff Week Begins
Sunday, June 28, 2009 – Acahela Cub Scout Resident Camp begins
Sunday, June 28, 2009 – GPSR Boy Scout Resident Camp begins
First week in July – National Inspections of both camps
Saturday, July 18, 2009 –Grumpy Old Bears Monthly Saturday Work Session, 8am-ish to 2pm-ish
We’ll determine if the Tuesday Evening Grumpy Old Bears will meet during July in the upcoming weeks. Feedback if you can make it would be much appreciated.

Copies of New Calendars and Comments

The new Council Program Calendars are out and available. If you didn’t get a copy, let me know and I’ll send one out to you. There are several important changes and a few new additions that impact the groups receiving this newsletter, so let me go through them to highlight the important ones.

General Camp Help

· The Fall OA Ordeal has been moved up to the weekend of September 11-13 when we will breakdown and stow away all the tents and awnings in the camp.

· There will be an Autumn Beaver Weekend at Acahela on October 16 – 18. Most of the work will center on prepping for Harvestfest the following weekend. Feel free to hop in on any of the three days or camp over for the weekend – your choice.

· MANDITORY Chain Saw Training will be at Acahela on Sunday, November 15. Come and get certified and earn your Power Totem Chip Card. Bar-B-Q will follow training.

· OA Fellowship Weekend at Acahela – March 26-28, 2010

· Hammer & Saw Day #1 at GPSR – April 10, 2010

· Beaver Weekend #1 at Acahela – April 30 – May 2, 2010

· Hammer & Saw Day #2 at GPSR – May 8, 2010

· OA Spring Ordeal at GPSR – May 21-23, 2010

· Beaver Weekend #2 at Acahela – June 11-13, 2009

Acahela Alumni

· There will be an Acahela Alumni gathering at Acahela on Sunday afternoon, September 13, 2009, 2pm until ?

· A “Gather & Share” Open House event will be held at the SSTC on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. If you have old memorabilia or photos you want to have recorded for posterity, please drop by and reminisce.

Goose Pond Alumni

· There will be a Goose Pond Alumni gathering at GPSR on Sunday, September 20, 2009. More details will follow.

Campmasters & Commissioners

· They will be hosting a theme weekend called “Cast Iron Chef” from Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27, 2009. A committee is needed to help organize this – contact me to volunteer.

· Harvestfest is being held on Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, 2009 and the Commissioners and Campmasters are needed to help out.

· They will be hosting a theme weekend called “Surveying, Wilderness Survival, and other merit badge field work” from Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26, 2010. Think of this as an outdoor Merit Badge College in miniature… A committee is needed to help organize this – contact me to volunteer.

· They will be hosting a theme weekend called “Rocketry Weekend” from Friday, May 28 through Sunday, May 30, 2009. Earn your Space Ex merit Badge or just learn a ton about building and flying model rockets. A committee is needed to help organize this – contact me to volunteer.

Eagle Association

· Eminent Eagle Dinner is Friday, December 4, 2009

Special Needs, Calls, and Requests

Prep for National Inspections - Help is needed at both camps this year in prepping for our annual National Inspections. Roughly the last two weeks of June is when we need to get all of our ducks in order, so if you have any time to volunteer to help out in this, contact me and we’ll start putting together a crew or schedule. Most tasks are fairly mundane – making sure things are in order or put away, safety issues addressed, or things cleaned up and polished, but help would be greatly appreciated.
Storage Shed and Garage at Acahela – We’re determined to get our equipment under some sort of shelter for next winter! So we’re going to build a small shed near the Workshop and rehabilitate the old garage at the Old Ranger Station at Acahela. This one will be nearly a complete rebuild of the structure.
New Trail at Acahela – Two separate legs of a trail to connect the Lehigh River trails to the Tobyhanna Creek Trails are needed to be blazed this summer so that we have a complete trail system around the entire camp. We also need to improvr the evacuation trail along the Toby Creek from the Toby Cliffs to the Pond area. If you like breaking trails or doing trail maintenance, I need to hear from you.
Old Waterfront Conservation Area – We need help improving the area around the Acahela Pond, including relocating and repurposing the old Conservation and Wildlife Shed to the hill just above the Pond.

Call me to volunteer for any of these projects so that we can get moving on them.

Websites and Groups

Be sure to visit either website that belongs to the council for the latest news and information. See www.nepabsa.org for general council news and www.nepabsacamps.org for camps and program information. We are going to combine the two into one site, probably by year end, but this is a massive undertaking since both sites together have nearly 400 pages of information that need to be reorganized to make navigation easier.

Also think about registering and using Facebook. It’s the largest community worldwide and there are several “groups” you can join and get news about events and activities at both camps.

So Ranger Tim, What’s Next?

Call me, e-mail me, send me a smoke signal! Anything to let me know you are interested in a particular work date, crew, organization, committee, or other activity. This can help me plan for who we are going to have and what we can accomplish – and be ready for you! Here’s how to reach me:

Tim Bongard, Council Ranger

HC 1, Box 1129

Blakeslee, PA 18610

(570) 335-0283 (Cell & Voice Mail)

Or e-mail me at tbongard@nepabsa.org or contact me on Facebook. I’m registered as Tim Bongard, so look me up.

And if you know of others who would like to be a part of any of these groups, let me know who they are and how to get in touch with them. We’ll get them on the mailing lists and insure that they get all the new news.

Photo Album

Here are just a few photos of what is going on at either camp…

New Launch Control Platform – Kids can safely launch their rockets from here

New Launching Trestle – Model rockets fly from this modified saw horse