Scout units prep for Memorial Day, plus other good news from this week

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Memorial Day — a day for remembrance of those who have died in service to our country — has always been a great opportunity for BSA units to serve their communities.

In Lewiston, Maine, Scouts placed thousands of flags at soldiers’ gravesites.

“It’s very important to every veteran who served our country,” says one of the troop’s leaders, “to remember their service.”

Read more about the efforts of these Scouts in this story from CBS 13 WGME in Portland, Maine.

Meanwhile, in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., a Scouts BSA troop cleaned and restored 48 grave markers from the Civil War and Revolutionary War, many of which had become unrecognizable over the years.

The Scouts and their families also placed new American flags on each grave.

Read more about their efforts and watch a video on the website of News 12 Hudson Valley.

Scouts BSA troop hosts multiple Cub Scout packs for camping weekend

Troop 510 in Kingsford, Mich., hosted a weekend campout and invited several local Cub Scout packs to join them. Over the course of the weekend, the older Scouts stressed to the younger Scouts how important it is to Leave No Trace, along with all the fun they have in Scouts BSA.

“You’re not just stressing being out there, but how to be out there and how to not impact the environment negatively, how to save it for the next person,” says Troop 510’s Scoutmaster.

Read more and watch video coverage of the outing at the website of NBC TV 6 in Upper Michigan.

Pack conducts Pinewood Derby race at local children’s museum

The Children’s Museum of Illinois recently celebrated a return to business as normal after multiple pandemic-era changes, and one of their celebratory events was a Pinewood Derby with a local Cub Scout pack.

The Children’s Museum of Illinois is back on track. … That means the return of a springtime Duck Derby, one of the museum’s core fundraising events.

For the derby — which races thousands of rubber ducks down a 40-foot-long water track in various heats until a grand prize duck is selected at the end of the day — attendance and sales numbers are continuing to improve after COVID slumps.

… The museum also decided to up the derby fun this year by partnering with the local Boy Scouts for its 2023 Central Illinois Pinewood Derby, making this a “double-derby day.”

Read more in this story from the Herald & Review newspaper in Decatur, Ill.


About Aaron Derr 429 Articles
Aaron Derr is the senior editor of Scout Life and Scouting magazines, and also a former Cubmaster and Scouts BSA volunteer.