On the evening of Feb 19, the 3rd Ottawa Group came together in the lower hall of our meeting place, Westminster Presbyterian Church, and celebrated the founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden Powell, and the amazing worldwide outdoor adventure and personal growth program that he created. Some 60-70 youth, parents and Scouters dined on pizza (served very ably by our Scouts!) and celebrated our founder.
The Scouters were pleased and proud with our Scouts, who literally took over table and chair setup, serving area setup and design, washed their hands, sorted the pizza by type and then proceeded to serve everyone until all were eating. They paid attention to celiac, vegan and other special requirements. Great work Scouts, and thank you! You embodied the Scouting promise.
We were also honoured to welcome Mary Ann and John from Westminster Presbyterian who guided us away from the very chilly gym and into the warm lower hall, which made the evening a positive one for all attendees, and stayed to take part. A wonderful sponsor, is Westminster!
We also recognized some of our amazing volunteer Scouters and the time and effort they give to our excellent program; Kris Dennis (our Akela) received a 5-year certificate (which surprised him!), and Drew Czernik from our Colony also received a 5-year certificate – each providing 5 years of fun program to youth in our junior sections – thank you both!
I was also honoured to award Dave Roberts, currently with our Troop, with the Silver Acorn. Dave’s service has spanned almost 25 years and included Pack (Bagheera), Troop, Company roles, however most important was the Group Commissioner role. Dave was the GC during the pandemic and he achieved a rare feat – while most of the country saw Groups shut down, Dave – as he pointed out along with Jennifer Reid and the Scouters at the 3rd – was able to successfully take the 3rd Ottawa program online, with spectacular results – not a single member of the 3rd Ottawa was lost during Covid, and for three years was the largest group in the country. They showed youth how to engage and have fun even while ‘socially distancing’ and also built plans for when things got back to normal.
The 3rd Ottawa group of volunteers, parents, youth, sponsors continue to impress and engage across our community and enact the values and actions recommended by the founder of our Scouting movement, Lord Baden-Powell, who we honoured through our actions. Once everything was cleaned and packed up, it was time to complete planning for the Pack winter camp this weekend at Opemikon – adventure is always on tap!