2010 BSA Jamboree

Early Wednesday morning, July 21, 144 boys and 16 adults from the Kansas City area, left the Blue Ridge Bank parking lot on the journey of a lifetime. These scouts and scouters, divided into 4 troops, are representing the Heart of America Council at the 2010 Boy Scouts of America Jamboree at Fort AP Hill near Bowling Green Virginia. The BSA has held a jamboree roughly every 4 years since 1937, with the exception of the World War II years. What makes this gathering special is the 100^th anniversary celebration of Scouting in the United States.

The boys travelled by bus to the Jamboree, stopping along the way to visit the St. Louis Arch, The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio, Monticello, and Gettysburg. They stayed in motels, college dorms and spent several nights at the 4-H Youth Center in Washington D.C.

The first BSA Jamboree was held in Washington DC in 1937. It had originally been scheduled in 1935 to celebrate the 25^th anniversary, but was postponed due to a polio epidemic. 27,238 attended this first gathering including newsman Lowell Thomas and a special visitor President Franklin Roosevelt.

The scouts from the Heart of America Council, which represents 18 Missouri and Kansas counties in the Kansas City area, will join more than 45,000 others who will attend the 2010 Jamboree. These scouts will participate in a variety of activities ranging from boating, swimming and other water sports to archery and rappelling. There are also opportunities for the scouts to work on merit badges while at the Jamboree.

The scouts will be visited by several celebrities over the course of the ten days, authors James Patterson and Christopher Paolini, NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to name a few. The week will be highlighted by a stage show on Saturday night, "A Shining Light Across America."

John Burre, former scoutmaster of Lee's Summit Troop 220, is serving at the scoutmaster of Heart of America Council Troop 1134. This troop is made up of boys from the south eastern part of the Council. "The boys have been training and preparing for this since October," Burre shared. Tuesday, the second day in camp, "was the first arena show.  Robert Gates, Army paratroopers, and Miss America were among those who entertained us."

Burre is assisted by Steve York, Lynn Houston(both of Lee's Summit Troop 262) and Jack Starr of Kansas City Troop 16. Starr is the youngest assistant scoutmaster attending with the Heart of America contingent. It is his responsibility to encourage the boys and help them get to their activities. "We have been making sure the boys engage in activities from shotgun shooting to patch trading," he relates.

If you would like to keep up on the boys attending the Jamboree, check out the site at http://www.bsajamboree.org/.