The Order of the Arrow is taking new measures to promote scout camping at the unit level. After all, the OA is an honor camping society. With a renewed emphasis on unit, chapter and lodge support, the Southern Region has decided to recognize those lodges that go above and beyond to promote camping in the region. The award, called the "We Support Camping" award, is a yearly award given to lodges that complete certain requirements. The overall goal of the award is to not only continue promoting camping at a local level, but to encourage lodges to innovate and develop new and exciting ways to encourage young Scouts to attend council summer camps.
The requirements for the award cover a variety of methods to help camp promotion. Qualifying lodges must:
- Provide funding to the Council for two summer camperships.
- Complete Scout Executive approved service-projects on council camp property.
- Utilize chapters to conduct council-wide camp promotions for troops and teams.
- Organize an OA Service Corps for council or district activities.
- Provide an OA Camp Coordinator for summer camp
Besides these requirements, qualifying lodges must also complete another three requirements. These extra objectives tend to focus on specific things that may impact different councils in a different and more personal way. Many of them are unique and innovating methods to promote camping. Examples of these requirements are participating in the OA's "Get Kids to Camp Partnership" program (program since discontinued), developing an Indian Village at a summer camp, helping to identify amazing potential camp staff members, or publishing a "Where to Go Camping Guide" for the council.
Qualifying lodges are recognized annually on the region website and at the BSA National Annual Meeting. Lodges interested in this award must submit their petition by December 31 of the award year to the region Lodge Camping Support Subcommittee. For the petition form and more information, visit the region website at southern.oa-bsa.org.