Scavenger Hunt Food Drive

Tonight our Scouts were in charge of the combined activity, and they planned a really great one: a Scavenger Hunt Food Drive.

12 names of known families were put on a list, along with 8 clues that were based on those names or addresses. Obviously only 8 of the families had food for the food drive, and the clues held the secret to which ones. We split all of the youth into 7 teams, each with an adult driver. The first team to collect their food and return it would get a stash of candy!

Everyone had a great time, learned a lot about how to get around our town, and got to know the people on their team better. But the best thing about this activity was that we collected 56 food items for the Yavapai Food Bank, which will be delivered tomorrow.

A big thank you to all of the drivers for their time and energy, and a big thanks to all of the youth that showed up - they were competitive, lively, and most of all, they were charitable tonight with their time.

Court of Honor Campout

It's not often that we car-camp. Our Scouts are used to carrying everything they need and hiking in for miles before we find a spot to nestle in for the night. But sometimes it's nice to have a cot to sleep on and a stove to cook with, especially when it's 15 degrees!

We headed into Powell Springs for our 'Court of Honor Campout', where the boys can bring some extra comforts such as tents, extra food, and chairs. Most of the boys still live out of their packs, but the leaders take advantage of it and bring pounds of bacon and bags of chocolate!

Thank you to David, our head cook, and all of the other Scouts who helped out with breakfast. And I appreciate all of the Scouts who showed their great respect for the outdoors by cleaning up the large trash pile that we found so that we could haul it away.

After the campout, we headed back into town to get cleaned up quickly so we could get to the Court of Honor. We awarded 4 rank advancements and 32 Merit Badges to 7 different Scouts. We had the opportunity to use the flag that was flown for us in Afghanistan (see the 'Signalling' blog entry from December) in our flag ceremony, and it was officially presented to the Troop. We also got a very special certificate of thanks from the VFW and AL for our help with the Veteran's Memorial.

Thank you so much to the Boy Scouts and fine young men that make up our program - we appreciate their hard work and diligence. And thank you also to the parents, family and friends of our Scouts who continue to push them to new heights and inspire them to be great.

Get more pics by clicking the picture below (I know it seems crazy, but David can actually cook!)

Fox!

The Scouts wanted to learn about skinning an animal and what to do with the hide, so after spending some time looking at different types of animal hides and talking about how to properly take care of them, we grabbed the skinning knives and got to work. The wind was howling outside so we had to move it in the garage, which was a little cramped for space. But we got it done nonetheless and each Scout got his hands dirty in the process. It was a fun and educational night, and gave the Scouts a healthy respect for animals and hunting!

Click below to see more!