State of the Lodge Report 2008-2009

Ashokwahta Lodge 339
Austin Boyd, Lodge Chief
January, 2009

PDF Version of letter below

Hello everyone and good evening. My name is Austin Boyd; I am currently serving as the Lodge Chief of Ashokwahta Lodge 339.  I would like to share with you our accomplishments over the past year. 

I would like to begin with our commitment to the outdoor program.  This past summer, we had 26 OA members on Camp Staff, which made up 75% of our council camp staff.  We had several people go out to promote our camps to troops that continue to return, and to troops that have never been to our camps before.  During the Camp Dittmer camp season, we hosted an ice cream social that was open to everyone in camp.  Many lodge brothers helped serve the ice cream, and clean up. 

We had two ordeal weekends.  The first one was held at Camp Sam Wood in June, where we set up the Cub Scout camp for the summer.  Some of the projects we did were setting up the tents, putting in a water diversion system, clearing brush, and much more.  The second ordeal weekend was held at Camp Dittmer in September.  At Camp Dittmer, we closed down the camp for the winter.  This involved folding all the tents, storing all the cots, repairing cots, and doing some landscaping by the new shower house.  This past November we had our annual fun weekend at Camp Sam Wood.  We were able to obtain a wood splitter from Elitsac Lumber; we split the wood in the parking lot and put it at the director’s cabin, and the campfire circle.  We estimate that we had a total of 4,687 man hours donated in total to both camps.  If this work had been billable, at minimum wage it would have cost $33, 512.05. 

We have had several members help out at Webelos woods and at Council day camps.  We also, held Elangomat training at the Council camporee last May.

Presently, our total membership in the lodge is 274.  We have 106 Ordeal members, 93 Brotherhood members, and 75 Vigil Honor members.  This past year we inducted 62 Ordeal members, converted 23 Brotherhood members, and had 6 members receive Vigil Honor.  Fortunately, we had a 34% brotherhood conversion rate, which helped us qualify as a Quality Lodge. 

We had three members attend Arrow Corps 5: Nate Demare, Connor Grabowski, and James Staddon. From my understanding, in addition to performing a valuable service and participating in one of the largest National OA service projects ever held, they had a lot of fun and met a lot of Brothers from other lodges and at the national level.

At the beginning of the year, we received word that our section would be split up, and merged with other sections.  Our section is still NE-3A.  We now cover an area that extends to the west from Buffalo, to as far south as Binghamton, and to Syracuse in the east.  Our new section consists of ten lodges.  Our Section officers are Dan Higham, Chief; Nate Wadsworth, Vice Chief; and Mike Hynes, Secretary.  On December 28th, our section chief, Dan Higham was elected as the national vice chief.  So, some people want to know what happens now?  Well, Dan has 30 days to resign from any region or section position.  Then at the next Council of Chiefs we vote on a new Section Chief.  If Nate or Mike decides to take his position, then we have elections for their positions. 

Our Section Conclave will be held August 14-16th, 2009 at Camp Woodland.  Our lodge is in charge of Saturday special events, which means we will be in charge of the Auction that night.  We’re looking for a lot of help with that.  We’d also like to see a lot of members from our lodge there. 

In October myself, Brandon Lewis, Garrett DeFilipps, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Boyd, went to Camp Dittmer in search of a new location for the ceremony rings.  The current ceremony sites are barely adequate.  They are situated directly on one of the trails and are located some distance from the main camp. A new site for the ceremony rings was located, and we are currently working on scheduling weekends in the spring to clear the new area. 

Aside from doing vigorous labor, we determined there was a need to update our Rules and Bylaws.  We were able to edit the former Constitution – which seemed to be written in legal terms and was too confusing for the average member to read - from about twenty pages down to five (including the cover page).  We also aligned the new rules and by-laws with National Order of the Arrow guidelines. Tonight, we will vote on replacing the old Lodge Constitution with the new Lodge Rules and Bylaws. 

Our lodge has also been working on our newsletter in great detail.  Rather than publishing two or three a year, we have put out four timely issues to help keep members informed and involved.  The only way that lodge members will know what is happening in our lodge is if they receive current information in a timely manner. We have also been working on improving our communication by creating an e-mail list-serve, which allows the executive committee to instantly send e-mail communications to everyone involved with our lodge and on the mailing list.  Please update your e-mail address if you are not receiving Lodge e-mail.

We have had a productive year, and I hope to see many more.  During the next year I would like to see more youth become actively involved in our lodge.  It is the youth that helps our lodge grow and to stay active; they’re the ones that will take our lodge places and carry on our traditions in the future. 

In closing, I would like to quote Dr. E. Urner Goodman, Founder of the Order of the Arrow:

"Let it be remembered that the Order of the Arrow was created to help the unit - to help it present its membership a better ideal of the inner qualities of the good Scout camper. Qualities of character, like cheerfulness and service, are hard for a boy or a man to understand in the abstract. They come easier when seen in human life. Let us realize the significance of the Order in the unit - for the unit is our best hope in Scouting."

Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the evening.