In the Order of the Arrow (OA), a key point that we focus on is service, whether it be to your fellow Scouts, friends and family, or the community. In our mission to serve others, we must continuously act cheerfully and innovate, the latter so to maintain relevance. An example of this can be found at Wiatava Lodge, from the Orange County Council of Orange, California. Every year, they volunteer at their council’s Scout-O-Rama to help out with the camp promotions booth. At this event, they also set up a food booth to fundraise for the lodge.
This idea sprung into action a few years ago when the council approached the lodge and asked if they would be interested in helping out at the event. The lodge has been supporting this event ever since. Spencer, the lodge vice chief of activities, said that, “Every year, the lodge vice chief of activities and the lodge vice chief of camp promotions work together to plan what role their booth will play at the event. To plan this event, the LEC discussed what they had in mind and had each chapter of the lodge sign up for an hour that their members would be helping out at the booth.”
This past year, the camp promotions booth was advertising the council camps to the Scouts that came by. They also had display boards and papers to hand out for each council camp. Additionally, they gave away camperships to a few lucky winners to encourage people to go camping. At this booth, they also promoted Wiatava Lodge and the OA to non-members. To snag people’s interests, they showed and told about upcoming events, such as a local pow-wow, an area-wide conclave, or the lodge barbecue.
In addition to that, the lodge has set up a concessions booth, where they prepare and sell meals to make money for scholarships for local council camps, the national jamboree, the National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC), and other miscellaneous events. Since Wiatava is a larger lodge, they must continue to innovate and look for ways to help out lodge members with expensive activities. With the concession booth fundraiser, they have assisted dozens of Scouts in achieving a once in a lifetime experience.
Continuing their dedication to improvement, the Wiatava Lodge leadership is excited to promote the 2018 NOAC, and update their council camp promotional resources in the upcoming year. Their success goes to show that there are opportunities for every lodge to find new ways every year to make an impact.