Year 2014, No. 1 -- January 16, 2014

Council Annual Awards Dinner - Sign up Today

The Los Padres Council, Boy Scouts of America
Cordially Invites You to the Twentieth Annual Recognition Dinner

Join us as we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Los Padres Council.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Santa Maria Country Club
505 West Waller Lane, Santa Maria

$40 per person

Recipients of the Silver Beaver

George Brown - Los Osos

Lani Collins - Santa Barbara

Brian Hascall - Nipomo

Nick Yost - Santa Margarita

Share our pride, as we honor two young Scouts with HEROISM Awards
for their Meritorious Action

Please join us for a great evening of fellowship, fun, and recognition as we celebrate another successful year in the Los Padres Council. The evening will be highlighted with the presentation of the Silver Beaver Award to four deserving Scouters

RSVP BY NO LATER THAN JANUARY 20, 2014.
WE CANNOT GUARANTEE SEATING OR MEALS AFTER THAT DATE!

To register online, click here.

For an information flyer/form to register by mail or to keep as a reminder or share with others, click here.

For further information call Ron Walsh at 686-5167 or e-mail rwalsh@bsamail.org

To print/save an informational flier for either yourself or to share with others, click here.

Scout-O-Rama

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Santa Maria Town Center Mall

For a Leader's Guide, click here.

Want to see pictures of last year's great event, go to the photo album.

For more information about this Council event and how you can participate, click here.

Scout Store Hours Changing

Effective immediately the hours of operations for each of the Council's three stores is as follows:

Santa Barbara

Tuesday – Friday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Closed Monday, Saturday and Sunday

Santa Maria

Monday – Friday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am – 1:30 pm
Closed Sunday

Atascadero

Tuesday – Friday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Closed for lunch 1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Closed Monday and Sunday

Rancho Alegre Summer Camp - Now Is the Time to Sign Up

Registration for the 2014 Summer Camp Season at Rancho Alegre is now open. Check out any one of our three great summer programs by clicking on the link below to learn about the brochure and download a brochure. When you are at Scout-O-Rama, come by the Summer Camp Booth to get more info about any one of these great programs.

Boy Scout Summer Camp - Traditional Boy Scout Camp offered for two weeks during the summer. Week 1 is July 6 - 12 (Sun-Sat). Week 2 is July 14-19 (Mon-Sat). New elements have been added to our Low COPE Course. New Merit Badges such as Sustainability, Automotive, and Kayaking are beginning this year. Over 30 merit badges as well as our Trail to First Class Program are available for attendees.SOARIN' HIGH!

Cub Scout AND Family Camp - This is a new version of our Cub Scout Camp in which the whole family is invited to participate over the July 4th holiday (July 2 - 5; Wed thru Sat). Cub Scouts can work on traditional Cub Scout advancements. Families can camp together. Boy Scouts can work on Trail to First Class Advancement items in Scoutcraft.

Lifeguard Academy - A program for older youth (male and female) who want to become Life Guards. This is an intensive program running a whole week in June in which participants receive Basic First Aid and CPR for the Professional Rescuer as part of becoming a certified Life Guard. Open to adults and non-Scouts. Every unit should have a certified Life Guard on a water outing. Life Guard participants must be at least 15 years old. Participants stay in the dorms and eat all meals in our dining hall.

Staff Applications - Applications are now being accepted for Summer Camp Staff. Click on the link to download an application and mail it to Ron Walsh at Rancho Alegre. Deadline is January 31st.

Scout Sunday/Scout Sabbath Services

Please let us know if your religious community will be recognizing Scouts during the month of February. Below are three events for Catholics. These and additional events that you notify us will be posted on the home page of the Council website.

St. Raphael's Church - Goleta, Sunday, February 2nd, 7:30 am Mass
Monterey Diocese (San Luis Obispo County) - Resurrection Parish Church, Aptos, Sunday, February 2nd, 10:15 am Mass with Bishop Richard Garcia presiding.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church - Montecito, Sunday, February 23rd, 10:00 am Mass.

World Jamboree 2015

To download a brochure on the Jamboree, click here.

To obtain a LEADER registration form for the Jamboree, click here.

The World Scout Jamboree website and online registration site will be available soon.

Cub Scout Shooting Sports Day

This popular event is back at Rancho Alegre on February 22nd. There will be two sessions: The AM Session gets underway with registration at 8:30 and lasts until noon. The PM session begins registration at 12:30 and goes to 4:00 pm. Cost is only $12 for a fun activity of bb guns, archery, and sling-shots. Cub Scouts can earn their Archery and BB Gun Belt Loops. Spaces are going fast. So go online to register. Morning Session. Afternoon Session.

Wilderness First Aid Course in April

The Los Padres Council is pleased to once again offer a Wilderness First Aid Course. This course is now required for all units that attend one of the National High Adventure Base Programs (Philmont, Sea Base, Northern Tier). It is also a great course to take for all units that are going on a backcountry trip this summer and beyond.

Wilderness First Aid is invaluable to you, the unit or trek leader, as it goes well beyond your basic first aid. When you are hours from available emergency medical services, you will be really thankful that you took this course! This course is 18 hours in length, but invaluable in the resources you will learn to use.

The course will be held at Rancho Alegre on Friday, April 4, 2014 from 3 PM to 10 PM and Saturday, April 5, 2014, from 8 AM to 9 PM. Yes, these are long hours, but will not impact your Sunday obligations. You will stay overnight at Rancho Alegre (in our dorms, so just bring sleeping bag and personal gear), have dinner on Friday evening, breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday. Note corrected dates.

A pre-requisite for the course is current (within the past two years) certification in Adult CPR and AED (automatic external defibrillator). You will need to bring a copy of your card to the course. Not currently certified? No problem – we will be offering CPR and AED beginning at 12 Noon on Friday

Costs for the Wilderness First Aid course: Los Padres Council Scouters $160 per person; Non Los Padres Council Scouters: $175; Non-scout community members $200. Costs include the course, course materials, certification card, lodging and meals. (Thanks to a grant from our National Office, we are able to offer this course at this greatly reduced price.) PLEASE NOTE THE MINIMUM AGE FOR THE COURSE IS 16.

There is an additional cost for the CPR/AED training: Los Padres Council Scouters $45 per person; Non Los Padres Council Scouters $55; Non-Scout community members $60.

THE COURSE IS LIMITED TO 10 PARTICIPANTS. PRIORITY WILL BE GIVEN TO LOS PADRES COUNCIL SCOUTERS FIRST, THEN OTHER COUNCIL SCOUTERS, THEN NON-SCOUT COMMUNITY MEMBERS

REGISTRATION MUST BE RECEIVED BY MARCH 8, 2014

You must attend all course sessions and participate fully - this is a physically demanding course. You must pass the final exam with a score of 80% or better.

To sign up go to the council website, www.lpcbsa.org and click on the link to the Wilderness First Aid Course. For more information contact Ron Walsh at 686-5167 or rwalsh@bsamail.org. or e-mail George Brown at kf6pbl@hotmail.com.

Looking for New Pictures for our Website

Many of the pictures we use at the top of the home pages of our Council and District web pages have been there for over two years. We are looking for some new action shots of Scouts doing service to the community. Pictures should be in a horizontal format and should show the best features of our youth in action. Please send your photos in digital format to the webmaster at RanchoAlegre@cox.net.

Eagle Court of Honor Resources

Many organizations offer congratulatory letters and memorabilia for a New Eagle Scout. Did you ever consider asking your Congresswoman for a flag that flew over the Capitol? How about the Marine Corps League, the Military Order of Veterans, or even the Order of the Arrow? We received a suggestion that our website should list contact information for the different community agencies which want to recognize Eagle Scouts at their Court of Honor. We ask that units submit names and contact information for these resources in their area. In addition, we will offer a template for issuing a news release on this page. Please send your response to this plea to the webmaster at RanchoAlegre@cox.net.

Get Trained!

We have some great training coming up! Here is a list with a few comments. See the links on the LPC calendar for more information.

Youth Protection Training – Let’s make sure that all of the adult leaders in our units have current training; it needs to be re-done every 2 years. One can do it online at www.myscouting.org.

Aug 30-Sep 1 and Sep 19-21 Wood Badge: This is the premier leadership training course for scouters. It helps scouters in all phases of their life, as they learn through hands-on experience how to be better leaders and followers. Highly recommended! This course is scheduled to require only one day off of work for those that work Monday through Friday.

Do you have any questions or requests regarding training? Please contact Brad Ross, the Council Training Chair, at stirmach@verizon.net. We would like to implement High Adventure Training in the council – please contact Brad if you are interested in helping put the courses together and staff the training. It’s great to be a trainer because you are learning along with the participants, and helping them to help the scouts.

Bryan on Scouting

Here are some recent notices that will make your Scouting information up-to-date as more and more Scout Leaders are subscribing to the blog of the Editor of Scouting Magazine, Bryan Wendell, to obtain up-to-date information on the Scouting world. Bryan recently published these articles which might be of interest to many of our Los Padres Council readers:

23 Bizarre But True Fundraising Ideas from Scouting's Past
Their Own Words: Watch Scouters and Scouts Say Why They Love Scouting
Tuesday Talkback: Three Big Questions To Ask Before Your Next Pinewood Derby
What Scouting Did For Me: A Recent Eagle Scout Tells His Story
One Stop Shopping for News on What's Changing in the BSA and When
At Philmont Training Center's Region Weeks, You'll Learn with Scouters Who Speak Your Language
New Boy Scout Handbook; Other Boy Scout Program Tweaks Due in 2016

In addition to these articles such as Ask the expert or special offers for Scouts, there are articles and contests with interests for all. To make this blog part of your personal reader go to this url and sign up for some very interesting and informative reading - http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/author/scoutingmagazine/

Florida Sea Base 2015

Units interested in applying for a 2015 adventure at the Florida Sea Base should participate in the lottery that is occurring in January-March 2014. For more information download this informational flier.

Ever Thought About Your Unit at Northern Tier?

Order of the Arrow

Over 125 Arrowman have already paid their 2014 Dues. Are you one of them? If you want to receive the Special Membership Patch be among the first 200 Arrowmen to pay their dues prior to January 31st to obtain it. Dues are only $15. Dues can be paid online on the Council website by clicking this link or they can be mailed using this form to the Santa Barbara Service Center (OA Dues, Los Padres Council, 4000 Modoc Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93110).

Lodge Executive Committee (LEC) meets on Saturday, January 25, at 2 pm at the Santa Maria LDS Church. All officers and advisers should be in attendance. Please have reports ready.

Thinking about attending the Centennial Anniversary NOAC in the summer of 2015? Now is the time to make your intentions known and learn about this opportunity.

Upcoming Council Scouting Events

Below you will find a list of some upcoming council-wide events for Los Padres Council. To register and/or pay for any of these events, click on the line and it will take you directly to the registration page. For events beyond the last date, click on the link to the calendar.

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