Help save a Cub scout camp

[Jeepman401]

If you dont feel like reading, please follow the link and vote anyways

How Many of you on here have been involved with scouting at some point?

I am an eagle scout, and have stayed involved in scouting in the years since I turned 18. Currently, the council (on a paid staff level) I am part of is looking at closing and selling one of their camps, the only one they own that is for cub scouts. Needles to say, it would be a huge loss if the camp is closed.

Their reasoning for closing the camp is it is not profitable. They have shared the numbers for the camp, and what the camp needs to be profitable is more kids going to camp.
we (volunteer leaders and former scouts) have been told that if there is a increase in attendance over the next 2 years, the camp will remain open.

The problem is that the council has already wrote off the camp, and is not putting any money into needed improvements that would draw in more attendance, so we are trying to do the improvements with volunteer labor and donations.

One of the big projects that is in need of doing involves rebuilding the waterfront. One of the volunteers has put in for a $50,000 grant through the PEPSI Refresh program. For those of you who are not familiar with it, PEPSI awards Grants for different causes, and its all based on a voting system, open to anyone to vote.

Voting is simple, you can vote once a day for a project, and it takes less than a minute to do for something that will help a lot of people for a long time.

To vote go to http://www.refresheverything.com/savecamptadma


Thank you for your time
Tim

 

[asp]

i'm an eagle too. i voted :thumbup: good luck.

 

[87manche]

good luck.

Our council merged and closed two camps about 10 years ago.

I was a camp counselor for a time. I taught boys how to shoot guns.

 

[Jeepman401]

thanks.
We went through the same thing about 8 years ago with another camp. It really hurts the program, not only do you loose a camp, but you loose a lot of good people over the whole issue

 

[alex22]

Camp Tadma has gone up 20 spots in the last 2 days. Thanks for the help guys.

Jeepman, which camp was closed 8 years ago?

 

[Jeepman401]

Wakenah, nahaco too for that matter, but we still have full use of nahaco 3/4 of the year.

We would have had full use of Wakenah, but council screwed that all up.
Bob from Bobs furniture was all set to buy it, and turn it into a camp for sick kids, but he would only be using it 2 weeks a year for his camp, and the scouts could have run a regular camp out of it in the summer, as well as had it for other events 50 weeks out of the year, but council got greedy, went for another deal that fell through, and ended up selling it to someone else for less than Bob was going to pay for it, and now its a private estate.

 

[xstoyz]

Another Eagle here.

I hate hearing about camps being sold. One of the camps I frequented as a scout in NY was sold.

You have my vote. Best of luck!!

 

[kastein]

Let me know if you want to get a work party type thing going to do some of the work to save money, I'd be willing to help out. Not willing to organize it though, I suck at that kind of thing :dunce:

I've got a chainsaw, shovels, and I've done a lot of basic construction stuff and whatnot.

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

Voted.

Shoot me a PM and let me know which council you work with.

I was the Program Director for Camp Emerald Bay until I left to go back to school, I might be able to find you some support.

 

[Jeepman401]

Up to 23rd, thanks for everyone's help, keep up the good work

 

[87manche]

thanks.
We went through the same thing about 8 years ago with another camp. It really hurts the program, not only do you loose a camp, but you loose a lot of good people over the whole issue

you're so right on that.

after the councils merged they lost a bunch of good peple, including me.
It became all about making the council bigger and not about the boys.

The council bui;t a rediculous building they could not afford, while the camp counselors bitched about not having even basic safety equipment (like life preservers)
10 years later they're out of the building, because they couldn' afford it, and the camp still doesn't have half the things it needs.

 

[XJ Eric]

Grew up in the Royal Rangers and know the pain of camps and no money. Tried to vote but the site is in maintenance mode at the moment. I'm going to hit it up later. Hope this works out for you all

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

Get your local news involved.

My camp was set to be shut down in 1991. Not by our council, but by a landlord that didn't want to renew our lease and wanted to replace it with a diving resort.

The bad PR once we got a local news station involved changed their mind pretty quick.

Granted the camp had been neglected and mismanaged at that time for years... however since then its gone from being a black sheep to our council's primary revenue source, and draw troops from the entire west coast, as well as international and east coast venues.

make sure you guys have a plan for the place moving forward.

 

[Jeepman401]

the biggest problem with the camp has been its volunteer support for years, because there was another cub camp 10 miles away that had a much richer heritage, and all the locals went to the other camp, and the people from the other side of the state came to the current camp. The volunteer organization has grown rapidly over the last few years now that everyone is using that camp, and there has been a ton of progress. last fall we completely insulated the dining hall and installed heaters, making the building available for use year round, completely without any assistance from council.
The mention of selling the camp honestly came as a shock to everyone, and caused us to iron out some issues. we had no idea that council was doing almost no marketing to get people out to the camp, since we do our own promoting in the area local to the camp. they didn't even have it listed on the website for off season rentals. now that everything is out in the open, we have pushed it a long way in the right direction.

About 12 years ago, another camp in the council, Camp J.N. Webster, was in the same situation, and the volunteer organization Friends of Webster stepped up, and now the camp is practically a model camp for the northeast region. unfortunetly, sometimes it takes things like a possible camp closure to bring people together to help the camp.

now that the situation with the camp is out in the open, work is going towards helping the camp, and this grant will go a long way in helping it.

 

[H8PVMT]

I used all 4 of my facebook accounts =) I didn't even know this place was here and it's right near me.....i will have to add I was booted from eagle scouts for malicious fire habits


doug

 

[H8PVMT]

i would suggest going to local golf courses (my industry) we are always junking good working golf carts. you could get them for close to free if you find the right course

 

[Jeepman401]

Up to 19th now, keep up the good work

 

[Jeepman401]

14th, almost there

 

[XJ Eric]

Time is running short. I added my vote.

 

[Jeepman401]

up to 6th, if we can stay in the top 10 for 8 more days, we get the grant.
Thanks for everyone's help