The 3rd Ottawa is in full swing already this year with a Junior Sections (Cubs and Beavers) camp last weekend and a Scout camp running this weekend (Oct 1-2). We have 94 youth and counting and are working towards increasing our volunteer team, as are many groups. While we ran program through the pandemic – both virtually and in-person (when permitted), it is great to be back into the swing of outdoor adventures.
This year, we are investing in some lightweight camping kits for our senior Sections (Scouts and Venturers), as well as continuing our now 10-year old program of ‘evergreening’ our standard and winter camping and outdoor adventure gear. We are so fortunate to have Westminster Presbyterian as our sponsor and that they have provided great indoor storage areas for our gear. Now more than ever, youth are looking to get outside, work together as a team, and experience real adventure – something we are happy to enable.
We are this year also going to grow our Group Committee in order to ‘lighten the load’ for our Section Scouters and our Group Committee Scouters. We are looking to reduce the volunteer workload and also add more Section Scouters (volunteers) in every Section working with the youth. If you enjoy recruiting new volunteers, helping to onboard volunteers by getting them through our important safety and Scouting training, are adept with simple financial work, love managing an equipment store (quartermaster), we will soon be posting these and many roles.
Finally, we are continuing to follow the Covid-19 guidelines published by Scouts Canada, which as of Oct. 1, 2022 are in Stage 5. The Stage 5 pandemic Standards effectively lift all internal restrictions for all Scouting activities while deferring to all municipal and provincial public health restrictions. You can review the full Stage 5 Standard here. We are looking forward to some great outdoor fun and adventure after a long pandemic period.
Watch our blog for more news soon, and welcome back to Scouting!