Be Prepared

When a scout repeats these words, he knows that this carries a big responsibility. Well over a year ago, Lester Ham, CEO of Accounts Receivable Options, was thinking these words when he was called upon to chair the Heart of America Council's year long Centennial Celebration committee. A very large part of that celebration was held this past weekend on 200 acres adjacent to the Naish Scout Reservation in Bonner Springs Kansas.

You may have read in the news that 11,000 Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venture Scouts and Scouting adults gathered from September 24-26 for the Centennial Campout. Programs were available in Native American dancing, woodcarving, scuba diving and Scout history to name a few. The scouts camped with their troops in one of three sub camps that were designated according to the location of their troop back home. There was also a sub camp for the Cub Scouts, who visited for the day Saturday. All participants were fed from Saturday morning breakfast through Sunday morning with boxed meals prepared off site.

Because there was no parking close by, all participants were directed to park in lots off site and 50 school busses were used to move the campers to camp. According to Ham, "85% of the campers were moved in by 8:00 pm Friday." Video cameras were set up on a central flag pole to monitor the camp and the campers. Volunteers working a command post were able to see where busses were needed and not needed and were able to direct them accordingly. "The cameras also became handy in finding a lost scout, and we were able to see someone stealing toilet paper from a Porta-Potty at 4:30 in the morning."

Mid-day Saturday, an announcement came out that there was a "weather event" approaching the camp. High winds and hail were expected. The scouts were instructed to return to their sub camp headquarters. What parents back home didn't know was that there were 700 staff members prepared to move the campers to safety in the event of this "weather event." With luck no severe weather occurred with the exception of occasional rain through 8:00 that evening.

After dinner Saturday night, campers started moving in for the evening's stage show. Much of the stage show that was planned was cancelled or affected by the rain. The planning committee did hit a home run by scheduling "Liverpool," a Beatle tribute band out of Kansas City. They played for nearly an hour including several encore numbers. Their music appealed to all ages from Cubs up to the oldest scouters.

Sunday morning, the scouts observed the 12^th point of the Scout Law, by attending non-denominational services in each of their sub camps. In spite of the rain and mud, the 50 busses were able to have the scouts back to their cars by 10:30.

Lester Ham attributes the success of the weekend to the careful planning of Terry Miller, CEO of HNTB Architecture of Kansas City. "Terry had a prior commitment this weekend, but was able to have the weekend planned, making it easy for me to run the event."

"We were fortunate to have the dedication of over 700 staff who helped make this weekend possible. We thank the troop leaders who brought their boys to participate."

When asked what the Council had planned for the 125^th anniversary of scouting, Ham replied, "That will be up to one of those young Cubs!"