Spring Fellowship
May 14-16
Spring Fellowship – one of our highlight events – is coming up this May! Be sure to get registered as soon as possible for service, fellowship, and fun! During this weekend, you will have the chance to seal your membership by completing your Brotherhood Honor,
help the next generation of Arrowmen in their Ordeals, and take part in our service projects all over Old Ben Scout Reservation. We’ll have many fun activities after our service such as night time games and the trading post will be open all weekend! Keep your eye out for the registration link to open!
Lodge Chief Address
Arrowmen,
We have created a great spark to start off 2021. The Lodge’s vision for 2021 is guiding us to ultimately fulfill the mission of the Order of the Arrow. Our efforts this year are being put towards fulfilling our vision so we can continue to serve the council with a program for the exemplary scouts in our area. In doing this, amidst national restructuring of scouting, those scouts will continue to implement and spread the values of scouting. I am excited to see the progress we have already made this year by training election teams, planning more fun-focused events, and doing much more to make progress towards our vision.
One of our ordeal and fellowship weekends for the year is coming just in May. This event is a great chance for every arrowmen to do their part in practicing the three OA principles: Cheerfulness, Brotherhood, and Service. I encourage everyone who is currently an ordeal to take the brotherhood class being offered. I also encourage everyone, including ordeal members, to find a committee or team (whether that’s ceremonies, service, activities, elections, special events, or anything else), so that you can take ownership of a part of the weekend. Your service in preparing the event will create an even better experience for everyone, including yourself. Please contact me so we can find the right committee for you, and I am eager to see everyone in May!
The Adventures of Acorn Boy
Acorn Boy’s Ordeal
Rank Up Cancelled
March 20
Sadly this year due to COVID-19 we will not be able to have our annual Rank-Up event, scheduled for March 19th-21st. In order to still give an opportunity for fellowship, we have scheduled an ice skating event on March 20th from 1 pm to 3 pm. To make up for the lost Rank-Up event, we are offering single day rank-up classes at MBU’s and hopefully camporees, so keep an eye out for updates on those! Please make sure to make adjustments to your calendar and look out for other events that may be rescheduled or cancelled due to COVID-19.
Recap of Winter Banquet
In January we live streamed our annual Winter Banquet! Our new lodge officers were sworn in at this event, and we looked back at all that Kiondaga Lodge achieved. We had a lot of fun live streaming this event for the first time ever, and it turned out to be a great event! If you missed the stream, you can watch the recorded version here.
Section Conclave: Rescheduled
Section Conclave has been rescheduled from April 16-18 to October 22-24 due to Covid-19 restrictions! There will be a virtual section ACT conference, a leadership training opportunity to take the place of Section Conclave on April 17. If you are interested in attending the ACT conference keep an eye out for registration links that will be shared at a later date! Because of the choice to reschedule, Conclave can now be held in person with certainty and will be a better opportunity to build brotherhood with other arrowmen in the section.
Unit Elections and Visitations
Has your troop or crew had their OA unit visitation & election for 2021 yet? If not,contact Vice Chief of Elections Logan Carter, or Lodge Chief Andy Hardgrave to schedule, or get information about completing an election. We are prepared to conduct visits online or in person. To join the OA, a Scout must be elected in by his or her peers. Check out revised OA Induction Requirements from the Order of the Arrow at oa-bsa.org. Some requirements have changed such as long-term camping and the allowed use of digital camping nights.
Need to schedule an OA Unit Election? Email Unit Relations at [email protected].
OA: High Adventure
There are High Adventure opportunities for all OA members at every one of the National High Adventure Bases over the whole summer. These opportunities include Canadian Odyssey, Ocean Adventure, Summit Experience, Philmont Trail Crew, and Wilderness Voyage. These programs are at a highly reduced price since service is given in return for the amazing experience at these High Adventure Bases. You go to these bases as an individual and are grouped with other arrowmen from across the country to come back with plenty of stories, a new high adventure experience, and lots of friends! To learn more about OA High Adventure Programs, please visit oa-bsa.org/adventure. OA High Adventure is one of the best programs our organization offers national for every single member to take advantage of.
Get involved in the OA!
There are many ways to get involved in the Order of the Arrow, but perhaps the most influential way you can help locally is within our many lodge committees. Our lodge committees consist of the Rank Up Committee, Communications Team, Ceremonies Team, Elangomat & Brotherhood Conversion Committee, Unit Visitation and Election Teams, Activities Committee, Service Committee, Selection Committee Finance Committee & Trading Posts Staff, Special Events Committee. Express your interest in joining a team on this form or by contacting the Lodge Chief.
Upcoming LEC Meetings
The Lodge Executive Committee (LEC) is a great place to share your ideas with the lodge! At these meetings we plan the events and discuss different components of the lodge’s program. If you would like to have a specific activity at the next event, or just want to get information first-hand, come join us as the next LEC meeting. The lodge calendar is up-to-date and includes all of our events and meetings. We’ll see you there!
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