We are holding a youth shooting event at Dillon Sportsman's Club North of Zanesville the weekend of July 29th-31st. This is collectively our third event. Troop 28 out of Utica Ohio held a rifle shooting merit badg weekend a couple years ago. Last year, we got Troop 33 from Newark (my troop) involved, and did a shotgun merit badge weekend with our two troops together. This year we are doing both rifle and shotgun in one weekend, and will have American Heritage Girl Troop 17 from Jacksontown Ohio participating as well. For those of you who don't know what the Heritage Girls are...they are affiliated with BSA, and can earn any Boy Scout merit badge.
Hoping to have a minimum of 40 youth participate in this years event (double that of last year). In the past, we have funded this through the Step Outside grants through the DNR, and donations from Scouters. This year, I have made it a Buckeye Firearms Foundation event and have secured some finances to make this years shoot spectacular. Not only do these youth have the opportunity to earn their merit badges, but we incorporate the NRA Marksmanship Qualification Program into our event to ecourage those who have already earned their badge to continue to participate and earn more rockers. Our game plan has been to get these youth to continue shooting after earning their badges...and give them the opportunity to earn the rifle and shotgun merit badges outside of Summer Camp.
We will be providing ammunition, firearms, food, trophies, rockers and shields, targets, clay birds, etc... Camping is free right there at the range facility, so you can come out and camp with us...have a good time helping out on the range, and we will feed you ;D all you need to do is contact me, and then get yourself there! You can do a little bailing outside fo AS ;)
We are trying to make this event an annual opportunity for Scouts in this District...with the hopes of eventually modeling our shoot around the state with Buckeye Firearms Foundation sponsering multiple similar shoots all over Ohio. If you have any questions, or need some additional information, just ask! I know this isn't an Appleseed event, but thought this might be a good place to round up some help anyway. Since we are doing both rifle and shotgun, the Instructors and Safety Officers we had last year just aren't going to cut it. We need to more than double our trained/experienced adult participation.
Thanks!
Aaron
Noted. My plans for that weekend are unclear, but I'll bear this in mind.
Para:
I would love to be involved, but I'm not certain of my availability at this time. I'll try to check my plans and let you know.
I also know of a few AS IITs that are also affiliated with Scouting, so I'll talk to them and check their availability.
Is the event open to other Scout Troops that might be interested? My son (Captain Hook) is a Life Scout and his troop would benefit from the experience. Unfortunately, he will be working at Pioneer Scout Reservation this summer so he won't be able to take part.
kah
Thanks for the replies...let me know as soon as you have a clear schedule for that time period.
My son will also be on staff at a camp this Summer, so questionable whether he will get to attend at this point.
Currently, I have so many scouts/units that want to participate...I can't open it up to others till I have registration completed for all those already on the list. However, if an RSO or Instructor were coming out to help, I'm sure we could accomodate one or two additional youth that happened to arrive with that individual :D (I'm probably crazy for saying that).
The main limiting factor right now is going to be qualified adult volunteers. The more Instructors I have, the more youth we can accomodate.
Leaving for Sea Base tomorrow evening, and will not return until the 9th...then working the Buckeye Firearms Foundation event 10th-11th http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/terror-at-beslan so don't take my lack of communication the worng way over the next couple weeks ;)
Quote from: para45acp on May 29, 2011, 10:48:58 AMCurrently, I have so many scouts/units that want to participate...I can't open it up to others till I have registration completed for all those already on the list.
This sounds like something that can be really good for both Appleseed and the Boy Scouts of America!
I'm in Minnesota so I can't help with this event. But I am going to sign up to be a rifle merit badge counselor with my son's troop this fall and try to get some events like this going in my area, too!
Checkin' schelule and would love to be there.
Doug :---
Puma...
My plan is to put together an outline for this event based on our experience from the three events combined. Step Outside grants are available across the nation...Pittsman Robertson Act money from firearms/ammunition sales nation wide. Great way to start something like this. Get to know the Hunters Ed Instructors and like people in your state. Should get you pointed in the right direction...and I will have a pretty good package for modeling our event I can send you this Fall!
Any help is welcome!! :)
Aaron
Quote from: para45acp on May 29, 2011, 11:44:34 PM
My plan is to put together an outline for this event based on our experience from the three events combined. Step Outside grants are available across the nation...Pittsman Robertson Act money from firearms/ammunition sales nation wide. Great way to start something like this. Get to know the Hunters Ed Instructors and like people in your state. Should get you pointed in the right direction...and I will have a pretty good package for modeling our event I can send you this Fall!
Thanks, Aaron. That's great news! I hadn't heard of the Step Outside grants before. Thanks for also putting together info on how to model this event in other states. That's going to be very valuable for Appleseed! O0
Aron,
You are a man after my own heart. When my son crossed over I upgraded BB and Archery from Cub Scouts to NRA RSO for Boy Scouts. My search for learning got me to my first Appleseed and from there on to Rifle Instructor and Rifle Merit Badge Councilor. Now if I can just get the time to focus on my rifleman...
My hat is off to you and your efforts. I would love to be able to help but Ohio is a bit far from central NJ. I will be bringing up the Miniseed / Libraryseed option with our Council at our year end pick nick.
I am very interested to see how the step outside grant program goes.
Good luck and please keep up informed.
Jim
Thanks for the good words Jim!
Well, I'm back from Sea Base, and the ball is starting to roll a little faster for this event. I have a couple more adults coming to help out, and could still use several more. Again, camping is free...and the scout troops will be cooking for the volunteers!
We currently have almost 40 youth already registered. Trophies and patches have been ordered. Lots of behind the scenes work done or in progress. Hoping to have a really spectacular event...
If you are FOR SURE going to come out and help with this event, please reply to this thread. I'm trying to get a solid handle on the amount of help we are going to have.
Again, I'll be out there fairly early on that Friday for anyone who would like to come out and camp with us for the weekend.
Off to Summer Camp with my troop for the week, so access to computer will be random. For sure be back on here after 4th of July.
Hope there will be a couple AS folks coming out to help.
For anyone interested, I am holding an NRA Range Safety Officer certification class on the 17th of July. If you would like any details...just ask :)
P.M. sent, let me know if you got it.
Jim.
Question: Is this a Fri, Sat, and Sun event? We have two NRA Basic Rifle/RSO and BSA Rifle Shooting MB qualified instructors who would like to help, but are probably not available for Friday.
We are camping Fri-Sun on site. The actual shooting will take place Saturday, with the possibility of a little on Sunday. We will be doing safety briefings and meeting some merit badge requirements on Friday evening. I will need people running merit badge requirement sessions all day Saturday. Sunday we will try and wrap up anything that needs completed for those that are close enough to getting done. I would LOVE to have the additional help Saturday and Sunday.
home: (740) 323-4534
cell #: (740) 403-5115
Give me a call...
Aaron
Loong weekend....
Saturday, 7 new Concealed Carry certifications = 7 new good guys armed O0
Sunday, 5 new NRA Range Safety Officers certified = at least 4 additional RSO's for the youth shoot @&)
..:..
Getting down to the wire...
Picked up the awards today, coordinated some things with a couple of the other volunteers, and my main man helping with planning. Still have some things to hammer out, but it's all coming together for a great event.
Thank you VERY much to those of you who have volunteered to come out and help!! I appreciate it greatly.
Can't wait to have an after action report on here for all of you :)
Well...all the work and effort was certainly worth it :D
With only minor growing pains, this event went off without a hitch. A REALLY BIG THANKS to all those who pitched in and gave a hand. We had over 30 adults there helping out, and without that sort of support we never could have pulled this off.
A special thanks goes out to Lee, Evelyn, Vern, Doug, and Jim who all answered the call here from the AS forums, and came out to help strictly on faith. You folks didn't know me, or the facility...but came out and dove it head first!
After action report and video link will be coming as soon as editing is done and we can get it all on the BFA website!
:wink: Thanks again :!:
BFA AAR or ours?
Doug
Found good ground in the hearts of those scouts for sowing seeds.
Doug
It will be imbedded in the BFA site, and I will put a link in this thread directly to it. I believe there will be a full length version available to participants on a dvd format. I'll know more in a couple weeks.
Ev
You got that right! I have one troop already attempting to pre-register 19 boys for next year O0 Those of us who put things together this year will be meeting a week from tomorrow to hammer out an outline with all the improvements we can come up with. Some of the volunteers have already committed to helping again next year, so we will likely be talking about dates as well.
Para:
Sounds like the event was a huge success: great turnout, receptive learners, great attitudes! Sorry I wasn't able to make it to help.
Was there interest from the Scouts and Leaders about attending some Appleseed events in the future? I know Appleseed doesn't mesh with some of the Scout protocol (magazine vs. single shot, etc), but it would be a great un-official activity for the troops to take part in.
Let us know if there is an opportunity, and how we can help!
Thanks for everything you did to make the event successful, and safe.
kah
I personally talked to some of the boyscouts and they were interested. I handed out flyers and such and I think we will see some of them on the line. See ya on the traill Ya'll
Doug
Quote from: KAH on August 07, 2011, 12:47:54 PM
Para:
Sounds like the event was a huge success: great turnout, receptive learners, great attitudes! Sorry I wasn't able to make it to help.
Was there interest from the Scouts and Leaders about attending some Appleseed events in the future? I know Appleseed doesn't mesh with some of the Scout protocol (magazine vs. single shot, etc), but it would be a great un-official activity for the troops to take part in.
Let us know if there is an opportunity, and how we can help!
Thanks for everything you did to make the event successful, and safe.
kah
I think you will see some scouts turning up at AS shoots because of this event. I have promoted AS at a district level for a couple years now, and know of a few people who have attended at least one shoot because of it. I think seeing AS volunteers comeing out and helping at the Merit Badge weekend is only going to increase that. It isn't going to hurt that my daughter is wearing her AS shirt during the interview that ended up in our promo video either ::)
Article is written, and the video is getting imbedded today I believe. As soon as it all goes up on the BFA site, I will link it here :D