Attention scouts, particularly new scouts, and all adults!

There is an opportunity to have some fun, earn service hours, help train volunteers in our community, and complete a requirement for the eagle required emergency preparedness merit badge!  All at the same time!

Wow!!  What a trip!  This years Washington, DC trip was filled with a
full agenda, and a great effort by all!

The trip started with a 7:00 am departure at the church, and a full
education on the Back to the Future Movie trilogy.  We arrived at
Washington Monument State Park in Boonsboro, Md at approximately
4:00pm, this allowed camp to be set up during daylight hours.  The
area was very scenic, and the park is the home of the first historical
monument, and the Appalachian Trail passed directly by our campsite.
Many took time in to take a hike up the trail to the national
monument.

There were 34 Scouts from Troop 457 who joined with 1,111 Scout from the Greater Niagara Frontier Council this weekend to complete one of the largest service projects ever undertaken by Western New York Boy Scouts.  There were two base camps, Chestnut Ridge Park in Orchard Park, and De Veaux Woods State Park Near Niagara Falls.  We were assigned to Chestnut Ridge Park, with over 800 other Scouts.  The agenda for the weekend was packed and there was minimal spare time throughout the weekend.  

We arrived on Friday night, and set up camp near Mackinnon Lodge, our site was in a remote corner, and worked out very well for the weekend,  Two inconveniences for the weekend were an abundance of spiders on the tents, and very moist mornings.  Friday night consisted of setting up camp and a campwide cracker barrel that was enjoyed by all.  At this time we were still unsure of exactly what our work assignments for the weekend would be, and everyone was anticipating the excitement of the draw for work assignments.

Saturday Morning started with a 6:00 am bugle wakeup call, breakfast at 7:00 am, and meeting up with the buses for travel to our work assignments.  The troop was split into 3 work groups, and it was at 8:00 am when our work assignments were given, 2 crews were assigned to paint the picnic tables in shelters in the park.  (fyi there are 40 picnic shelters in Chestnut Ridge), the other crew was assigned to the carpenters shop to build benches for the park. (more on that later)  The crews worked hard all day, the shelter crews were given the task of removing staples from shelter tables (approximately 200 - 400 per table), and 4 scouts per crew were assigned this duty, brown paint was then applied to the tops of the tables and white paint applied to the bases.   (Congratulations to Aaron Boos, Nick Falkides, and Shawn Miller for winning the award of most paint applied to the body!)  Day one for these crew resulted in the completion of 5 shelters.  The other work crew, in the carpenter shop had a challenging assignment, and with the leadership of Mr. Miller, Mr. Falkides and Mr. Wilson much planning to complete the tasks at hand were accomplished.  (If you get the opportunity be sure to ask them about bolts and what the proper size bolt for the project is, you will get a very animated answer!)  Much prep work was accomplished for the task at hand and the carpenter shop crew had a very successful Sunday!  Upon return to camp we were treated to a traditional turkey supper (all meals were catered) that was enjoyed by all.  A rock band then provided entertainment for everyone, and music form the 80's was enjoyed by all.  The evening was capped of by a campwide cracker barrel which featured birch beer floats.