Cub Scouts - Recruiting future Arrowmen. Learn about this great way to spread the OA in Scouting, and have fun while doing it.
In the fall of 2012, the executive committee of Sakuwit Lodge in the Central New Jersey Council decided to devote its energy to supporting the Cub Scout program. The lodge supports Cub day camp, Cub-parent weekends, and Webelos crossover, and added two weekend programs: belt loop bash, to coincide with the lodge’s spring fling weekend, and a Tiger fun day, to be held at fall fellowship. The belt loop bash has just been completed, and was considered a success.
The event was designed as a one-day outing to Yards Creek Scout Reservation in northwestern New Jersey. The registration was limited to one hundred Cubs with their adult partners, and that quota was reached within five weeks after registration opened. The belt loops available to the Cubs were Fishing, BB Shooting, Archery, and Ultimate. Lunch for the day was prepared by the council president, Terry McCarty, and his kitchen crew.
The weather for the day was perfect: sunny, with a slight breeze, with temperatures in the high 60s. Once the Cubs started arriving, they held an opening ceremony at the flagpole, after which they were welcomed by Nick Eckert, the youth chair for the event. The boys moved out for the four stations in groups of twenty-five, and rotated every hour or so. In the middle of the day, they went over to the dining hall for a great lunch, after which they rotated through the afternoon’s stations. At the end of the day, each boy was given a packet with information about the Order of the Arrow and other Cub programs offered by the council, as well as a patch (of course!). They were also offered the opportunity to earn a “Future Arrowman” patch by recruiting another Cub Scout into their pack.
Following the program, the lodge continued on with its usual fellowship weekend routine and held a general membership meeting where the next year’s officers were elected.
The following week a survey was sent out to the adult partners of all the registered Cub participants. They achieved a twenty-six percent response rate in the first ten days, with 100% of respondents giving the event a rating of “We loved it” or “We liked it.” All four round robin events received an average approval rating between eighty-three and ninety-two percent. Ninety-two percent of the respondents said they would probably or definitely recommend the event to another Cub parent next year, and all but one respondent said their Cub had fun, the sole holdout wishing for more program opportunities in the one-day period.
The lodge was overjoyed at the success of this event and are looking forward to Cub-parent weekends this summer and the Tiger fun day in October. The lodge hopes that the interaction with the Cubs will cause them to want to become Boy Scouts, and eventually Arrowmen.