Author: 124GSM

Dear Scouts & Families,
 Thanks for *bearing* with us while we implement a new (hopefully more streamlined/eco-friendly) registration process!

Below are the links to register scouts & adults online.

Please note that once you hit submit you’ll be prompted to 

(1)PAY and

(2)FILL OUT & SIGN* the 

(a)YOUTH Emergency Info & Releases

(b)ADULT Emergency Info & Releases

ONLINE REGISTRATION LINKS

OTTER

TIMBERWOLF

PATHFINDER (ages 11-17)

CHIPMUNK

ROVER/PARTICIPATING ADULT**

**All adults that will be present during scouting events need to register & a background check will be done. There is a $20 fee for the BG check.
*There are a number of ways to e-fill/e-sign the Emergency Info & Release forms. For example through Adobe Acrobat for free.

Simpson Family Fund Grant to Local Redwood Ranger Scouts Help Support Kids and Families 

In Wilderness and Camping Education and Wilderness Adventure

The 124 Redwood Rangers, the local chapter of the Baden Powell Service Associates USA,

Based in Arcata, thanks and applauds the Simpson Family Fund and Green Diamond

For going above and beyond in supporting inclusive scouting with an $8,500 grant.

The primary purpose of the requested grant provided a cargo trailer for camping and wilderness trips.  This trailer will allow more families to attend 124 Redwood Ranger events, and will allow leaders to carry extra supplies for families who borrow equipment. Additionally, this grant helped sustain our scholarship fund for annual dues, trip fees, equipment rental, and allowed over 50 scouts, leaders, and parents to attend a winter cross country ski and snowshoeing excursion in January 2020. The Simpson Family Fund grants are coordinated locally by Green Diamond Resource Company.  Green Diamond Vice President and General Manager, Jason Carlson said: “We are honored to coordinate grants on behalf of the Simpson Family Fund that benefit our local community.  This grant helps the scouts experience and learn about our natural resources.”    

The Baden-Powell Service Association (BPSA) was formed in the U.S. in 2006 as an independent 

and traditional-style scouting association. The principles and methods originally drafted by Robert Baden-Powell in 1907 have been developed and refined in scout associations around the world. BPSA’s program harkens back to the origins of scouting: promoting self-reliance, good citizenship, training in habits of observation, and loyalty. Our badgework and program are simple, our uniform is minimal. We teach real outdoor skills and engage in adventures, campouts, and community-building. Service is one of our core tenets, as we create a culture where children and adults ask, “How can we help?”  The 124 Redwood Rangers has two Group Scout Masters’: Rover Knight Daniel Bixler and Rover Joy Debryun. You can reach Daniel and Joy by email or phone: (707) 407-5774, 124RedwoodRangers@gmail.com.  The USA BPSA website is located here: https://www.bpsa-us.org/about, the 124 Redwood Rangers website here: https://124redwoodrangers.org/.

Admin  · 56 mins  · 

Hello 124 Redwood Rangers, Rovers and scouting parents,

I am passing this message on to you from our National BPSA Leaders. This is a time in history when citizens, leaders, and common humanity have stepped up to listen, and to respond to fundamental existential insights about our names, statues, methods, and ways of living. Our Chief scout sent this email recently and I pass it on to you, not to inform you so much, but to prompt all of us. Each of us has a part in modern scouting, in the USA and the world. Our voices have never been as important in this movement, these changes will be guided by our responses, our participation, and our passion. 

Yours in scouting,

Daniel Bixler, 124RR GSM, CA Commr’

THIS WAS PASSED ON BY OUR CHIEF COMMANDER SCOUT AMBER:

Dear Scouts,It’s such a privilege to write that – Dear Scouts – because scouts, and especially the Rover Scouts of the BPSA, are some of the finest people I know. I haven’t met each and every one of you yet, but I know how much I would enjoy hiking and swapping songs with you. Even though we haven’t met, we are held together by our common scout promise and law – which includes a call to service and help where it is needed, and being a friend to all. That same law and promise make it our privilege and duty to take part in the current reckoning with systemic racism.Just as the present contains multitudes, and as so many are facing the very different realities of life experienced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, history is always more than one story. The more clearly we see the continuing effects of history on the present, the more pressing it is to choose carefully what we carry forward with us. While we scout in method and manner outlined by Robert Baden-Powell, and he contributed undeniably to the worldwide scouting movement, his biography is complicated. By retaining his name as ours, we associate too closely with his entire legacy, including his racism, imperialism, colonialism, sexism.On Sunday, June 28, there was a meeting of Regional, District, and Training Commissioners, Board members past and present, and other nationally involved Scouts. Though no formal vote was taken, there was consensus on two points:-We need to change our name.-The name change must be the launch of a journey to examine our entire program and organization.Lisa Heller eloquently summarized what many were saying: Let’s seize the moment and change the name which is so bothersome and so problematic. The way forward is to build the group we want to be a part of. Our name is a signalling device. It will signal what’s important to us. If it signals what we are not, that’s a problem.Although we have resolved that we must change our name, we don’t have a new one yet. To find a new name that more accurately reflects how and why we scout and our desire to be a welcoming, inclusive, diverse, equitable, anti-racist, socially just organization, we must reflect deeply on who we are, what is important to us, and what we want our future to look like.With the understanding that the BPSA is truly run by the dedicated GSMs and Rovers across the country, you are all called to be a part of this discussion. We are already working at preparing surveys and other formats for feedback and discussion, and as always, you can contact the board at hq@bpsa-us.org or use the patrol method to talk to your GSM and Regional & District Commissioners. Your input truly matters, and as with all things in our all volunteer organization, we can only do what people are willing to put the work in to do. Considering what I know about BPSA Rovers, I think this will be an incredible journey.Yours in Scouting,Amber, Scouter Jantar

2020 has been a tremendously difficult year on a variety of levels. Scouting can be an essential activity during difficult times as exemplified by our motos’ “be prepared” and “service”. The scout community , readiness, and service, are staples of resilience, an agent helping individuals in a community maintain their health and wellness during difficult times.

However, having the time and energy to schedule and perform another activity is completely overwhelming for many families. Though by shifting our lens one can observe scouting is not just wearing a uniform, dutch oven cooking, and group activities. The motto’s, promise’s, and scout law’s show how we apply the patrol method in our daily lives, in how we treat our friends and family, and in our neighborhood and community relationships.

I have been in contact with BPSA-US HQ, and our Western Commissioner. There are three main areas discussed: Covid 19, Stay at Home proficiency badge, and there is a discussion for starting anti-racism activity within the BPSA-US.

The Covid 19 recommendations for BPSA groups are to consult with our local public health and utilize their guidelines for meeting and scout activities. The discussions I engaged in were during the commissioners meeting. There are groups all over the U.S., from Texas, New York City, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Oregon. Each area has specific challenges and rates of infection,. One can also fall back on the CDC guidelines as needed:: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/activities.html​.

The BPSA-US board decided to create a new skills proficiency badge. This badge would be placed above the left chest pocket, next to the 10 year and inclusivity badge placements. This is proposed to be the scouting at home award. Here is the first draft of the requirements:

Proposed requirements:

1) Explore a local park on your own or with your family. Do at least one of the following:

a. Pickup trash along a trail (bring bags and gloves).
b. Find a Geocache (see​ http://www.geocaching.com​)
c. Identify and record 5 different trees, 5 different flowers, or 5 different

animals.
2) Complete at least one requirement toward a proficiency or special proficiency badge(s) for your section.
3) Communicate directly with your section or patrol leader(s), either through a phone call, text, email, video call, or virtual scout meeting (remembering to follow Youth Safety Guidelines on Electronic Communications)
4) Do something to help a neighbor (unrelated to you). [Ex. Mow lawn, run errands, make a card or sign.]
5) Learn (or invent) a new outdoor game you can play with your family.
6) Take a selfie in your uniform, wearing a mask, and send it to your Scoutmaster

Here is a link of these requirements and art work drafts:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tmj26x9yIFH1iVnHuYwJH_6IuBGsZYDWKgR pZ8LW4Mg/edit?usp=sharing

Regarding anti-racism activity the BPSA-US Chief Commissioner, Amber Wiley, wrote:

P​ roposal for Anti-Racism Plans, ​I think we will have the best chance for great outcomes if we divide the work into three parts:

Vision/Goal setting Action Plan Implementation

I propose we start with 2 meetings to develop a vision. Being mindful of the need to listen to and include people of color, I hope we can muster as many as possible for this phase. Being mindful of the diversity of our membership and their different places in the journey of understanding and involvement with DEI and particularly issues of race, I want to be sure to include them as well. It’s also necessary to include people from every region.

I am proud to be a scout leader in the face of these difficult times, however scouting has many challenges today. I am inspired by our leadership addressing and refining

Social Justice and equity. I am excited to continue our scouting with your families and in our communities.

I can stand behind all of the organizational decisions of the BPSA. I am inspired by the efforts of the Western Region Commissioner and our Chief Commissioner. Although I have low motivation and feel tired by the end of most days, my scouting is renewed and I am looking forward camping and scouting with each of you and your families.