Boy Scouts of America | Hawkeye Area Council

The Archdiocese of Dubuque is pleased to announce the selection criteria for the Bronze Pelican Award.

Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa
The Bronze Pelican Award
Selection Criteria

A. Presented by the Archdiocesan Catholic Committee upon recommendation of the Selection Committee for the award.

B. The Bronze Pelican Award is presented to Scouters who are involved at the local parish or deanery level. Successful nominees will be evaluated on their unselfish effort in support of Catholic Scouting as one of the Church's ministries to youth.

C. Any registered Scouter in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, may submit nominations for the Bronze Pelican on pages 1 and 2 of this form.

D. The nominee should be an exemplary Scouter of Unquestionable character. The final selection will be made on the basis of the nominee's contributions to Catholic Scouting and support of the Church's programs to, with, by, and for youth.

E. The Bronze Pelican may be presented to registered adult Scouters who have given unselfish service for a period of ten or more years. Such involvement may include:

1. Serving as a leader or assisting with the Catholic Religious Emblem programs.

2. Promoting Catholic Scouting activities by leading or serving on an event committee.

3. Advocating for Catholic content in unit, district, and council program planning.

4. Serving on a LocaI Catholic Committee for Scouting.

5. Serving on the Archdiocesan Catholic Committee for Scouting.

Return nominations to:
Rev. Mr. Michael Klappholz
c/o All Saints Parish
729 29th St. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403

Nomination form available here

Also available is the St George nomination form

Registration Forms are Now available online to be filled in electronically and submitted via email.

Click here to go to the July 6th Kernels game, or here to go to the August 3rd Kernels game.  Links to the forms are located under the Registration Instructions on each page.  For questions, contact Tammy at 319-862-0541 or tammy.erickson@scouting.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Leadership for Five Seasons Class Teams Up with Boy Scouts to Improve Camp Accessibility
(Cedar Rapids, IA, April 26, 2012) – The Leadership for Five Seasons class of 2011-12 is partnering with the Hawkeye Area Council, Boy Scouts of America to modify local camp facilities to better accommodate differently-abled individuals. The project, which will be conducted on Friday, May 4, 2012, will allow individuals with barriers to mobility to fully access and participate in the camping experience. Such barriers include wheelchair-bound individuals, and those with physical and cognitive disabilities such as Down syndrome.

Some of the activities that will be undertaken on the project day include modification of four restroom areas to fully accommodate wheelchairs, installing grab bars in bathroom facilities, installation of new and enhancement of existing limestone wheelchair paths throughout the camp, and installation of informational placards around camp to educate and inform about accessibility.

In addition to improvements to the camp facilities, the class is planning to make a generous donation to the existing campership fund that provides scholarships to Scouts with financial challenge. The class is also hoping to raise enough funds to purchase a utility vehicle, like a Gator, to help facilitate easier movement of differently-abled camp attendees around the site.
This project is one of several efforts underway to improve accessibility at the Howard H Cherry Scout Reservation. Additional funds and project labor have been received from a variety of local, regional, and national organizations to support the purchase and installation of a swimming pool chair lift, wheelchair accessible concrete camping pads, and full accessibility to the rifle and archery shooting sport ranges.

Hawkeye Area Council currently serves over 50 youth with physical or cognitive disabilities through the Trailblazers program. These youth fully participate in all of Scouting’s experiences, while learning in a tailored environment suited to their individual needs. Thanks to this project, many of these youth will be able to fully participate in camping activities this summer. This camping experience is the first of its kind across the Midwest and will attract youth from across the nation to participate in programs delivered locally in Eastern Iowa.

Leadership for Five Seasons is a program developed and managed by the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance to prepare emerging and existing leaders in the Cedar Rapids area to be community trustees. The goal of the program is to empower and inspire diverse individuals to actively lead in shaping and enhancing our quality of life - supplying the community with informed, skilled leaders willing to serve as active volunteers. There are 34 members of the 2011-12 class.

For more information on this project please contact John Myers at 319.350.9983 or john.myers@scouting.org.
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To the Editor:

Here in our Corridor of Iowa City, Washington and Cedar Rapids, we have wonderful communities that care and are concerned about its youth.  This is evident throughout our schools, parent groups and other organizations.  Recently, you may have heard about financial problems affecting Boy Scout councils in the state of Iowa.  Unfortunately, like many non-profit groups, many organizations have had to trim back spending, cut programming and, in some cases, investigate liquidating camp assets.

This is not the case with Scouting in the Corridor.

2011 was a remarkable year for Boy Scouting in our area.  Our local council, the Hawkeye Area Council, served over 7,000 youth in our local area.  The Hawkeye Area Council ended 2011 with one of the highest youth market shares out of all 295 Boy Scout Councils throughout the country.  Financially, we have ended recent years with small operating surpluses to assist us in future planning. Last year, we actually expanded our camp footprint and invested even more resources in our camp located in rural Linn County.  Lastly, we are able to serve those most in need and deliver Scouting to all youth in the corridor.

2012 is turning out to be an even better year of youth service.  We have funding in place to construct new Tornado Safe Rooms at our camp to enhance safety.  This spring our youth membership, which has been trending upward over the last decade, is growing with a very high number of our members staying year to year!  Later this summer, we will announce exciting news of a new national Scouting retail destination that will be piloted right here in the Corridor. Also, our new Special Needs camp is bringing in Scouts from all over the country and delivering Scouting’s promise.

How is this all possible?  It is possible through the great leadership of volunteers working with involved staff.  Our fiscal management oversight is conducted through an open process with experienced community leadership and involved board members.  Our Strategic Plan for 2016 includes investing with a long-term vision as well as covering short-term needs.  We continue to lay the groundwork for Scouting’s service to our eastern Iowa youth for many years to come.

Check us out on our website at www.hawkeyebsa.org  or on Facebook at “Hawkeye Area Council” or Twitter at @HawkeyeBSA.  

Thank you Corridor for your support!

Sincerely,
Michael Stallman
Board President
Hawkeye Area Council, Boy Scouts of America
 

Good morning from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea! The crew of the USS Vella Gulf and I are about halfway through an 8-month deployment conducting Ballistic Missile Defense of Israel. Since leaving the states we have had an opportunity to see: Rota, Spain; Constanta, Romania; Sevastopol & Odessa, Ukraine; Souda Bay, Crete (Greece); Augusta Bay, Sicily; Naples, Italy; and Haifa, Israel. During our last underway replenishment we received several bags of the popcorn you sent, and we’ve been enjoying it ever since. As an Eagle Scout and a former Philmont Ranger, I was very happy to see the Boy Scouts represented in a care package to our ship; thank you for thinking of us.

And now for the motivational speech…I encourage all of you to pursue your Eagle Scout as much as you can as early as you can. Once you learn how to drive and move on to high school it becomes more and more challenging to complete. As you get closer to turning 18 and prepare to leave home for school or a job, it may become all but impossible. It may not seem like it, but earning your Eagle is still looked at by many people as a big accomplishment once you finish high school. I became an Eagle in February of 2007 and graduated from the Naval Academy in May of 2011. During my time in college, several of my closest friends were Eagle Scouts, and we participated in events every year to help other Scouts advance. Even if you have no desire to join the military, you will be able to call yourself an Eagle Scout for the rest of your life. At the same time, remember to have as much fun as you can...advancing shouldn’t be looked at as an obligation. I promise that getting there is more than half of the fun, but you have to take ownership of that process yourselves. Don’t make your meetings all about watching movies and playing videogames. Get out to the high adventure bases and see things you may never see otherwise. You’ll probably learn things about yourselves and each other that will change your lives forever. Enjoy the ride, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Scouting, the military, or life in general.

Thanks again!

-Erik
Former Senior Patrol Leader
OA Brotherhood Member
Troop 181 Plano, TX

Respectfully,
Erik De Sousa
ENS USN
1st Lieutenant
USS Vella Gulf (CG 72)