·    Silver Beaver Nomination Form

·    District Award of Merit Nomination Form

On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa in Southwestern Florida as a dangerous, high-end Category 4 storm plowing a path of destruction through the area, along with the camps of the Southwest Florida Council.

Hurricane Ian brought extreme winds (155 mph), rain, and flooding to all areas of our Council. Damaging homes, trees, agriculture, water and electric infrastructure. Nothing escaped the Hurricanes path of destruction, including our beloved local scout camps,

It is important to remember that Restoring, Rebuilding and Renovating Scouting in Southwest Florida is about empowering the Council to continue to deliver Scouting’s Programs that help “Today’s Youth Become Tomorrow’s Leaders!”

This is why we are seeking your support.

For images of the damage to the council's camps, see this link. To help with a donation for the recovery efforts, please follow this link.

Pinewood Derby is always a fun event. The scout shop has pinewood derby cars and accessories in stock. If you would like to place an order a case of pinewood derby kits, you can contact to scout shop. 

Did your scout recently earn Eagle? The scout shop has various eagle scout merchandise and frames for sale.  

Scout Shop Sale. Ladies Dry-fit activity shirts are on sale 10 percent off. These lightweight colorful tailored fit shirts are a perfect gift for the upcoming holiday.

The Suwannee River Area Council Scout Shop is providing an opportunity for the Scouting community to help local Scout members who may be in need of uniforms and uniform items.

This help will be done through The Holiday Giving Tree program starting November 12 through December 18, 2022. The Holiday Giving Tree program works on a donation basis. A Holiday Giving tree (similar to an Angel tree) will be set up at the Scout Shop with Holiday Giving cards on it. Each card will have the first name of the Scout along with the uniform items that they need. There will also be a space for other items they may want such as books, crafts, camping items, etc. Customers and Scout supporters can purchase the item(s) in their local Scout Shop and give them to the store staff to collect for each scout.

We will keep the name of the individual(s) confidential. Only the store staff will have access to the Scout’s name and your contact information. A code will be issued that will match a card in the safe that will have your contact information, so as the donations are collected store staff will contact you so arrangements for pickup can be made.

We need your assistance to make this project a success. Please fill out this form and return to the store by November 11, 2022, for every Scout who would benefit from donations. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact the store staff by email: jennafer.henderson@scouting.org.

Thank you in advance for your assistance. With leaders like you, this program will greatly benefit our Scouting community.

The Venturing Officers Association of SRAC invites you to the Annual Venturing Bonfire. This year's Bonfire will be held on December 10 2022 from 5:00-10:00pm at Lafayette Presbyterian Church, 4220 Mahan Drive in Tallahassee.

To register: https://scoutingevent.com/664-BBF2022. More information contact Gail Schaper at gailschaper@gmail.com

Suwannee River Area Council invites you to participate in the 2022 Winter Camp!

To be held December 27-29, we have a fantastic program planned at Wallwood Boy Scout Reservation. The Leader’s Guide has been posted with preliminary merit badge offerings and registration is open on the event page here. Bring your mittens and wool blankets in anticipation for a frozen wonderland full of merit badges and advancements. Dust off your sleds and skis and join the evening activities and shooting sports!

If you have any questions reach out to Allen Blay at Allen.Blay@gmail.com or Jonathan Hutto at Jonathan.Hutto@scouting.org.

The BSA Cub Scout Team has developed new resources to assist Cub Scout Leaders to make your life as a leader easier!

Den Leader video - https://vimeo.com/569858696 

Welcome, New Lion or Tiger Den Leader: https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/510-23318-LionTigerDenLdr_WEB.pdf  

Welcome, New Wolf or Bear Den Leader: https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/510-23918-WolfBearDenLdr_WEB.pdf  

Welcome, New Webelos Den Leader: https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/510-24718WebeloDenLdr_WEB.pdf 

It is time to start thinking about vendors for Camp Cards for 2023! We are starting the process of building cards for 2023, and if we wanted any county specific cards outside the Leon County and Gadsden/Decatur cards. We’ve heard from leaders in Thomas and Wakulla Counties, so we hope to add two more cards this year. We will need help in building a card if we do want a county specific card in a new area, and we will need volunteer assistance to help secure what restaurants and locations are most wanted on your local card, so your input is key in making this happen.

Vendor Commitments are starting to be collected as of October 1st and are due December 1st. We have 12 reusable and 11 one-time use vendors per card, and only the one-time use vendor amount is fixed. We can also combine any new and old locations making your new card usable in both local and other counties. Please see here for a fillable participation letter that you can take to a local business.

The sale will begin February 9th, 2023, and ends April 28th, 2023. The cards themselves are good throughout the calendar year of 2023. The council will issue each unit cards at the February Roundtable.

Units have been very successful selling these cards. Through working with local businesses to have them participate and then allowing scouts to sell in front of the store. Some scouts have even reported they were able to earn enough to cover registration and camp fees for the entire year. For three years in a row now, scouts have sold more than $28,000 in Camp Cards to help pay their way through Scouting, including paying for summer camp. Last year, 25 units participated and the average sales per unit was nearly $1,300. A Gadsden County Pack of six scouts sold 1,250 cards, which was $3,125 in commission!

Please reach out to Jonathan Hutto at Jonathan.Hutto@scouting.org or 850.498.8086 with any interest or questions regarding Camp Cards.

FORWARD! Is the theme of the 2023 National Jamboree, Scouting’s one-of-a-kind flagship event. It’s a gathering of tens of thousands of Scouts, leaders, and Jamboree Service Team members that showcases everything that is great about the Boy Scouts of America.

The Suwannee River Area Council will be sending a contingent Scout Troop to the National Scout Jamboree consisting a total of 50 participants. The Jamboree will take place from July 19 – 28, 2023 at the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve. We will leave a few days early to have some fun as we travel to the Jamboree!

Everyone wishing to attend Jamboree must complete an online application form at https://jamboree.scouting.org/. Applicants must have a my.Scouting account with their current BSA membership number linked to the account in order to access the online application. This includes youth participants. Parents cannot use their personal my.scouting.org account to register their scout(s). If needed – go to my.scouting.org to create their account. If you need your BSA ID number, please ask your unit leader or committee chair.

·    The SRAC Website: https://www.suwanneeriver.net/2023-national-jamboree/ 

·    Register today online at: https://jamboree.scouting.org/ 

·    Cost: $3,115, with a plan not to exceed $3,415

OA Banquet Saturday, January 7, 2023, Saint Paul's United Methodist Church at 7:00pm is a dinner to recognize new Lodge Executive Committee, member awards and new members. Register at https://scoutingevent.com/664-OABanquet23

It's time to pay your OA Dues! You can pay your annual dues or signup for an "All Access Pass" which covers not only your dues, but also covers the cost of most Lodge activities for the entire year. You don't won't want to miss out on this great deal. Follow this link to pay your dues today! https://scoutingevent.com/664-OADues23

This year, the Ten Commandments Hike tours houses of worship in Tallahassee’s downtown and university communities:

For more information and to signup, please visit https://taccos.org.

Cost: $10 for all scouts and adults

Signup now at https://scoutingevent.com/664-WOWJan23 and plan to attend this fun event!

Units may organize an overnight camping element by following the unit camping procedures established for Wallwood and contacting Dennis Whisenant or 850-498-8087 to make the arrangements.

Unit commissioners help units succeed with a good program that attracts and retains youth members.

Perhaps no other members of the unit service team have a more important or demanding responsibility. As friends, coaches, and counselors of unit leaders, unit commissioners operate quietly, generally in the background. They are effective communicators, providing the resources of the district and council to the units they serve. They aid the chartered organizations that operate the units through charters from the Boy Scouts of America.

Occasionally, unit commissioners find it necessary to recommend changes in personnel or in the way a unit is operating. Such action is taken with good judgment and tact and involves the chartered organization. Units are people.

To help units succeed, today’s commissioners must be people-oriented more than procedures-oriented. They are truly a council’s front-line diplomats. Because Scouting operates mostly by persuasion rather than by legislation, commissioners must exercise the highest degree of diplomacy.

If interested, please contact the council office to get in contact with our Council or District Commissioner.

Did you know that as a registered member of the Suwannee River Area Council, tent camping at Wallwood Boy Scout Reservation is free of charge all year long? Yep! You read that right. In addition to unit camping, individuals can also make reservations to use Wallwood.

Individuals and Units must make prior arrangements and have a reservation to use WBSR, including any of the additional amenities available for rental through the camp. Reserving facilities is a process that begins by contacting Dennis Whisenant at Dennis.Whisenant@scouting.org or 850-498-8087.

The complete list of measures can be found in the WBSR Campsite Check-in / Check-out Report.

Comic by via Scout Life

If you need to purchase something through Amazon, please send a little our way! Amazon will donate .5% of your purchase price to the Suwannee River Area Council.

Please click this link to make a youth's smile grow! And, once you have signed up, remember to use this link whenever you're making a purchase: https://smile.amazon.com, as that is required for the donation to actually occur.

Thank you for any and all support that you provide!