Part of the Scout Law is a Scout is Reverent. Duty to God is also part of the Scout Oath. Each year Troop 275 honors this by participating in Scout Sunday. Boy Scouts of America designates the Sunday that falls before February 8 as Scout Sunday. We showed our resect by attending services at Belair United Methodist Church. Scouts led the flag ceremony, led readings during the service. Scoutmaster Otto Mercado also addresed the Church and honored our partnership to show thanks.
Part of the Scout Oath is to “help other people at all times.” Troop 275 does regular community service events, including being a part of Scouting For Food. On January 27, we hung door tags in nearly 3,800 homes in 9 communities letting people know about Scouting for Food and then we picked up their donations! We collected a total of 6,000 pounds. These donations will be distributed through the Belair United Methodist Church food pantry to those in need.
Troop 275 went on their annual Polar Bear camping trip (Jan 13 – 14). The Polar Bear camping trip is a Palmetto District event. The theme was Winter Wild West. Activities included competeing against other troops in a horse themed relay race. We also had thow rubber snakes into a bucket. This year nature threw a curve ball at us as it cut us short by 1 camping night due to heavy rain. Still, the we had a lot of fun as we took the opportunity to address various cooking requirements for ranking purposes while playing some western games. The weather was cold but we had a good time!
In December, Mr. James Burt passed way. Mr Burt was fully dedicated to Troop 275 as a long time leader. As Scoutmaster Otto Mercado put it, “To say that he was head of the table for our Troop and Pack is an understatement as Mr. Burt represented so much more than that to our organization and our community. He was a member of Belair United Methodist Church, a member of the Charlotte Rifle & Pistol Club, and a member of the VFW Post 12136 (to name a few). Never in my lifetime have I come across such a respectable individual who was so highly invested in our youth.” In January many Scouts attended his memorial to honor him.
Our Troop participated in the Indian Land Christmas Parade to spread the Christmas Joy and to notify people to join our troop! We handed out candy to parade watchers along the way.
Troop 275 has particpates in the SC Department of Transportation Adopt a Highway program. As part of our comitment to community service we clean the side of Charlotte Highway several a times a year. This time we collected 45 bags of trash and 5 bags of recyclable cans on the side of Charlotte Highway!
Troop 275 participated in Webelos Woods at Camp Conley Clarke. The event is for to Arrow of Light Scouts and their families understand the workings of a Boy Scouts Troop and how they will fit within the structure of their Troop using the Patrol Method. Several of our Scouts participated to instruct the AOL scouts and helped them build a station for the Webelos to tie knots. He and the boys did an incredible job with a hands-on activity for the cub scouts!
Our troop camped out on an Aircraft Carrier learning all about it’s past and current history! The weekend was a joint trip with 275G to the USS Yorktown over at Patriot’s Point to celebrate Veteran’s Day and connect with our history and the testimonies of the various veterans who were extremely overjoyed at the curiosity of our Scouts as they walked us through the multiple corridors of this historic vessel. Thank you to the men and women who fought for our country and thank you to the Patriot’s Point staff for being so accommodating.
We had our annual Brunswick Stew campout and fundraiser to raise money for needed equipment. We stayed up all night to take shifts to stir big cauldrons full of stew! We then sold all of our stew and donated baked goods the next morning.
The Vigil Honor, the Order of the Arrow’s highest recognition, was awarded to Joseph Cohen something our Troop hasn’t seen since May 1990
The Order of the Arrow (OA) is composed of Scouts and Scouters who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law (and this is the important part) as elected by their peers. There are 3 ranks in the OA: Ordeal, Brotherhood, and Vigil. The last rank is the hardest to obtain primarily because it requires a great deal of investment towards service and towards fulfilling a position in the lodge. To earn this honor a candidate must receive at least one more than half of the committee’s votes. Furthermore, the lodge is allowed to select one Vigil Honor member for every 50 members of the lodge.
