In an effort to reach out to Cub Scouts, Egwa Tawa Dee Lodge put on an event that kept them busy and excited! Check out what the lodge is doing to try and keep them in Scouting.
One lodge in the Southern Region is going the extra mile to support our boys in blue. Egwa Tawa Dee Lodge plans and hosts an amazing event every year in the fall for Cub Scouts at the Bert Adams Scout Reservation, outside of Covington, GA. Entitled Trailblazer Adventure Camp, this annual event attracts over a thousand Scouts and visitors, with a little over half being Cub Scouts. Marketed as an all-day Saturday event, most Cubs often camp out with their packs for the weekend from Saturday to Sunday. Ultimately a service event for the Atlanta Area Council and Cubs in the area, this event also serves as Egwa Tawa Dee Lodge’s fundraiser event to raise money for the upcoming lodge year.
The Trailblazer Adventure Camp included stations like archery, BB range shooting and slingshots. Volunteer organizations were also invited to the camp to give participants an interactive experience. Arrowmen from Egwa Tawa Dee’s 13 chapters powered the event, running activity stations, dressing in Native American regalia at the teepee village or simply greeting the visitors. At the end of the day, whether a Scout was learning how to fish or giving out packaged lunch to visitors, everyone had a smile on their face.
Like many events of this size, Trailblazer Adventure Camp was not planned overnight. The lodge chief selects a chairman for this event almost a year in advance. By December, the lodge is already in contact with many organizations from around the area to come out, volunteer and support the Scouting program.
“I know so many Cub Scouts, that when they come to this event they see the Order of the Arrow for the first time in action,” said Ben Milner, lodge chief of Egwa Tawa Dee Lodge. “When they become Arrowmen themselves, they’ll look back and see where they once were.” Milner himself reminisces the days of when he was a Cub Scout and ventured into Trailblazer Adventure Camp for the first time. Now having been part of the lodge for seven years, Milner proudly gives back with his lodge the service he can provide to the Cub Scouts. “We are teaching Arrowmen how to get along with younger generations since Cub Scouts today are our future tomorrow.”
It goes without saying that what one puts in is what one gets out. And definitely, the Trailblazer Adventure Camp Chairman, Mark Owens, and Adviser Clay Milner, put in so much hard work and effort into making this year’s event a success. Together, they did an exceptional job and their efforts were praiseworthy.
Milner said, “We are inspiring Cub Scouts to stay in the Scouting program. The next Cub Scout running around could become the [future] national chief, who knows?”