January, 2010 Region Update

February 2, 2010

Region Chairman Tom Bain recently published a region Update, including news which came out at the December, 2009 National Planning Meeting, and program updates for 2010.

2010 Region Chief: Brian Ahrens was elected Northeast Region Chief for 2010 at the OA’s National Planning Meeting held late last month in Westlake, TX. Brian is an active member of Hunnikick Lodge, Burlington County Council #690 in Rancocas, NJ. Brian is an Eagle Scout who has received the Founders Award and holds the Vigil Honor. Prior to his election Brian has served as a Lodge Chief, Section NE-2A Secretary, and Section NE-5A Chief. He was the Activities and Recreation Conference Vice Chief at the 2009 National OA Conference, attended ArrowCorps5 in 2008, the OA Wilderness Voyage in 2006, the National Leadership Seminar and the Section Officer Seminar and has served on the staff of the National Leadership Seminar. Brian is from Mount Holly, NJ, is 19 years old and attends the College of New Jersey, majoring in Political Science. Congratulations Brian! It is great to have you representing and leading the Arrowmen of the Northeast Region this year.

Other New National Officers: Brad Lichota, of Section C-2A, Shelby Township, MI is the new National Chief; Will Swingle, of Section S-7A, Ashland, VA is the 2010 National Vice Chief; Richie Ferolo, Section C-7A, Lake Zurich, IL is the Central Region Chief; Don Combs, Section S-6, Pikeville, KY is the Southern Region Chief; and Fred Gross, Section W-6E, Santa Fe, NM is the new Western Region Chief. Congratulations guys! We’re looking forward to working with you and having several of you in attendance at our events during the coming year.

Charter Renewals: Lodge charter renewal applications were due in the national office on December 31, 2009. We are e-mailing frequent updates to section leadership as we receive reports on the small number of applications yet to be received in the national office. If any of the outstanding applications are from your section, please follow up with the lodge leadership to see if you can provide assistance in getting this important paperwork completed and mailed.

Ryan Hay Completes His Term as 2009 Northeast Region Chief: With the election of Brian Ahrens, Ryan Hay concluded his term as 2009 Northeast Region Chief. During his term in office Ryan represented the OA, the Northeast Region and the BSA at 25 events, programs and meetings in 10 different states on at least 85 different days (almost one fourth of the year). These events included the National OA Conference, the National Meeting of the BSA in Orlando, FL, two Northeast Region Board meetings, a Central Region NLS in Rochester, IN and numerous lodge banquets, training events and section conclaves.

Importantly, Ryan oversaw the presentation of three National Leadership Seminars, a Section Officers Seminar and two National Lodge Adviser Training Seminars. Thanks Ryan! Your leadership and service to our Order and Scouting during the past year has been inspiring!

National Scout Jamboree: The 2010 National Scout Jamboree is little more than six months away. The OA has four primary programs that it is managing or supporting: the Service Corps, the Indian Village at the Merit Badge Midway, the Mysterium Compass and PACEsetters. More information is at event.oa-bsa.org/events/jambo2010. While there are staff openings in all four programs, there is a particular need for staff for the Mysterium Compass program – please see www.themysteriumcompass.org or www.oashows.org.

Region O.A. Staff Adviser Retires: On January 1, 2010, Douglas C. Fullman, Associate Regional Di-rector – Program, Northeast Region retired after 42 years of service to the Boy Scouts of America. In his role as Associate Regional Director – Program, Doug also served as the OA Regional Staff Adviser since October 1990.
Doug began his career as Assistant District Executive in August 1967 in the National Capital Area Council. He served in the U.S. Army from November 1967 to November 1969 and then returned to the National Capital Area Council as Assistant District Executive. He was promoted to District Executive and Multi-person District Executive in that council before joining the Robert E. Lee Council in Richmond, VA in September 1976 as Finance and Public Relations Director. In June 1984 Doug was se-lected as Scout Executive in the Dutchess County Council. He assumed his present assignment in the Northeast Region in October 1990.

Doug has held leadership positions with the Methodist Church, the New York State Camp Directors Association, and several Kiwanis clubs. In addition to his recent professional Scouting duties, Doug is an Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 759 of the Central New Jersey Council sponsored by Queenship of Mary Catholic Church in Plainsboro, NJ.

Doug is an Eagle Scout with a Bronze Palm and a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow. He received the OA Distinguished Service Award and earned his God and Country Award and Wood Badge. His service to the Order of the Arrow, National Camping Schools, Philmont courses and National Jamborees is extensive.

Doug and his late wife Rev. Peggy Grow Fullman had a daughter Aimee, and a son Clark, an Eagle Scout. Clark and his wife Becky had a baby son Keegan in September 2009, making Doug a new grandfather.

New Regional OA Staff Adviser: Brian R. Gray became the Outdoor Program Coordinator and the OA Staff Adviser for the Northeast Region on January 1. He also serves as the Staff Advisor for the National Aquatics Task Force and the National Outdoor Ethics (Leave No Trace) Task Force. Most recently, Brian served as the Director of the Philmont Training Center in Cimarron, NM from 2002 to December 2009. While Brian and his family will live in the Dallas, TX area, Brian will be spending a lot of his time in the Northeast Region, and we look forward to working with him in 2010 and beyond.

Brian started as a Scouting professional in 1986 as a District Executive in Salem, Oregon and moved in 1990 to Yakima, Washington where he was a Senior District Executive and later a Field director. From 1997 to 2002, Brian was the Scout Executive for the Maui County Council in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii.

Brian has been married for two decades to his loving wife Dana. They have two daughters, Hannah, a freshman at University of New Mexico, and Bailey a sophomore at Cimarron, NM High School. In his spare time, Brian enjoys golf, fly fishing, and hiking.

Lodge Assistance Program: At the end of 2008, the Northeast Region met the goal of completing 100% of its Lodge Assistance Program visits to all of the lodges in the region in the prior three years. A new cycle of visits for 2009 to 2011 began last January, and sections put in place plans so that they can complete visits to all lodges in their sections by the fall of 2011. If sections were not able to visit a third of their lodges in 2009, they should make plans now so that they can visit two thirds of their lodges by the end of this year. Lodges being visited and section visitation teams should remember to submit electronic copies of the Visitation Reports to Brian Gray and me following completion of the visits. The visit is not completed until the paperwork is submitted. Thanks to all who have helped with this program.

NOAC: The National OA Conference was held August 1-6 at Indiana University in Bloomington. There were about 6,800 participants and staff who were motivated to explore ways to apply the Power of One in their daily lives. More information on NOAC is in the September-November 2009 version of the OA’s National Bulletin, available at http://www.oa-bsa.org/bulletin/nb-q3-09.pdf.

Highlights of other OA Initiatives in 2009: At its December meeting, the National OA Committee re-ceived reports and acted on a number of other items, some of which are highlighted below:

Lodge Service Grants: Eleven lodges have been selected to receive $30,000 in matching service grants from the National OA Committee in 2010. The grants are for lodge service projects that improve camps or service centers. The OA provides up to 50% of the money for a service project, with a $5,000 maximum. This year, two of the recipient lodges are from the Northeast Region:

If your lodge is considering applying for a grant later this year for a project to be done in 2011, please keep these points in mind:

OA High Adventure Programs Continue to Prosper: Lodges and sections are encouraged to actively promote the OA’s High Adventure programs, Philmont Trail Crew, OA Wilderness Voyage and OA Canadian Odyssey, available to Arrowmen this summer. Past participants rave about these great Scout-ing adventures, and many consider them to be the highlight of their Scouting experiences.

The OA Ocean Adventure at the BSA’s Florida Sea Base will not be offered in 2010. Work is underway to develop a new program for 2011, and details will be released as soon as they are available.

All High Adventure programs filled up in 2007, 2008 and 2009, so it is important to register early. Visit the National OA website at adventure.oa-bsa.org for more details. Just watching the A-V presentations on the website will get you enthused about these programs.

Quality Lodge 2010: If lodges are planning to achieve Quality Lodge Recognition in 2010, they will need to review the requirements and begin making plans to qualify now. As a section leader, you can help the lodges in your section to succeed. The requirements to qualify as a National Quality Lodge were significantly revamped for 2008 and 2010 is the third year for the “new” requirements. Based on feedback from lodges around the country and to support the Order of the Arrow 2008-2012 Strategic Plan, the lodge Key Three and the Scout Executive can customize five of the fifteen requirements to meet council and lodge needs, such as aligning lodge goals with the council’s strategic plan. The Quality Lodge Recognition Petition for 2010 is included in the Lodge Program Support Pak that is mailed out following receipt of a lodge’s charter renewal application at the national office; it is also available at www.oa-bsa.org/resources/forms/Quality-Lodge-2010.pdf. If lodge Key Threes have not yet met with their Scout Executives to set their five goals for 2010, they should do so soon, so that they can agree on meaningful goals that can realistically be met by the end of the year.

Don’t forget that pins are available from the national OA office for purchase by lodges that earn Quality Lodge status. The pins provide an important way to recognize this important lodge accomplishment. Some lodges provide a pin for free to all active members. (Income from sale of the pins goes into the OA endowment; the income from the endowment funds many national OA programs, such as the High Adventure programs.)

Lodge Program Support Pak: The Lodge Program Support Pak is mailed out by the national OA of-fice following receipt of a lodge’s charter renewal paperwork. Last year and this year’s version is much thinner than previous versions, as many of the forms and other materials that used to be included in the Pak are now available through the national OA website, www.oa-bsa.org. Most of the forms on the web-site can be filled out on a computer and printed. (If you have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, you may not be able to save the completed forms, though this should work with Acrobat Standard or Pro.)

OA Adviser Training at PTC: From June 20 through 26, 2010, the Philmont Training Center will offer an OA Adviser Training Conference addressing myriad topics all related to the successful operation of an OA lodge. The conference will be tailored to the specific needs of those in attendance, share informa-tion from successful lodges across the nation, discuss possible solutions to some of the common challenges faced by many chapters and lodges, and convey the thinking of the best and the brightest in a way that will enhance the program and operation of every lodge. Conference participants will benefit from the latest training tools, techniques, audiovisuals, discussions, idea sharing and activities. Participants will leave the conference prepared to achieve the purpose of the Order of the Arrow and to be of greater service to their councils and to the community.

Every evening and all day Wednesday, participants and their families will have the opportunity to expe-rience the many extracurricular activities that are available at Philmont Scout Ranch and in surrounding areas. The activities may include hiking, fishing, horseback riding, pottery-making demonstrations, museum visits, a buffalo barbeque, a Western night of dance and games, and shopping in Cimarron and nearby towns.

Registration is done through the event registration area of https://myscouting.scouting.org. Don’t delay; make plans to attend today. For more information about the course itself, contact Michael Thompson at Thompson1994@msn.com or Tom Bain at bain@acm.org.

Regional Office Closure: On December 31st, 2009, the Northeast Region closed as part of a reorganization of the BSA’s national staff. All correspondence, including registration’s for National Leadership Seminars and National Lodge Adviser Training Seminars should now be sent to the National BSA office, as shown on the appropriate registration paperwork. Paperwork sent to the former region office will be delayed as it will be forwarded to the National office for processing.

Did you know?

National Resource Video Resources: The National OA website contains a number of lodge resources including training and presentation videos and various forms that were formerly distributed annually through a Lodge Resources DVD. These items are located at:
http://www.oa-bsa.org/resources/forms and http://www.oa-bsa.org/resources/lodge/lodgeresourcedvd/videos.htm

Everything is readily available for anyone to download, including the updated Unit Election Training Video and Troop Unit Election Presentation Video, the newest version of the Founder’s Award Presentation video and the videos shown at the ArrowCorps5 opening and closing gatherings. In addition, all of the promotional videos for OA High Adventure are there.

These videos can be downloaded and put on DVDs for distribution within lodges or played directly from a computer. Distribution via the website makes these resources more widely available, and they can be updated whenever necessary, rather than just once a year.

Visit the OA’s Websites: The OA’s websites are your source for accurate information and resources. They are updated regularly. The national and regional websites contain lots of valuable information for members as well as lodge and section leaders.
National: www.oa-bsa.org Northeast Region: northeast.oa-bsa.org

Thank you: As always, thank you all for your service and support to Scouting and the Order of the Arrow in the Northeast Region. Each of us contributes to Scouting and the Order in our own way, and the combined impact of our contributions will help the youth of America now and into the future. Feel free to contact me directly should you have questions regarding the OA or its work to support Scouting in the Region. I can be reached at chairman@northeast.oa-bsa.org.

A PDF copy of this update can be downloaded.

Northeast Region Updates, Region News

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