Arrowmen spent part of the Section SR7-A Conclave bagging potatoes as part of a service project benefiting the Society of Saint Andrews. The Conclave, which was held April 26-28, 2013, was hosted by Blue Heron Lodge and held at Pipsico Scout Reservation in Spring Grove, Virginia. The project was a huge endeavor with approximately 84,000 pounds of potatoes needing to be bagged in only one day. Despite the daunting task, Arrowmen rose to the challenge. With a pound of potatoes counting as three separate servings, these Arrowmen were able to provide around 240,000 servings of potatoes to local churches and food banks to be distributed to the hungry.
"We chose the Society of Saint Andrews because they have a long proven record of helping the community, and we thought they'd be a great partner in our first section service project," said Preston Marquis, former National Vice Chief of the Order of the Arrow and Blue Heron lodge member who chaired project.
Founded in 1979, the Society of Saint Andrews has since grown into a non-profit charitable organization with a main goal of ending hunger. What SR-7A did was participate in a facet of SoSA's work, which included receiving the truckload of potatoes deemed unfit for use commercially due to slight imperfections, putting them into bags and sending them to be distributed to communities. SoSA's "Potato and Produce Project" embodies the ninth point of the Scout Law which is thrifty, because the only cost involved in this whole process is the transportation of the produce.
Overall, an estimated 1,100 Arrowmen -- both youth and adults -- from lodges around Virginia headquartered in Newport News, Richmond, Roanoke, Virginia Beach, Waynesboro, and Winchester, came together to provide their service on the Saturday of the Conclave. "I would say the potato drop was really a great demonstration of what the Order of the Arrow is here to do, which is to provide cheerful service not only to Scouting but to local communities as well," Marquis said, and continued, "I'm thankful to the Arrowmen who donated a small portion of their Conclave experience to the service project by coming out and making the service project successful."