On August 12 I learned that "the Sea Scout folks are thinking of calling an organizational meeting for Wednesday, August 22, at 7:30." The Chair of the committee asked "Could you make that and do you think you could convince enough kids?" We had one, and needed four more to meet the minimum number to charter. I laid out a flier, made 10 copies, and took them to the library admin office for distribution to the various branches. In addition, I posted a notice to the Woodbridge Community email list, plus some homeschool lists, and received a few responses, but most were "it depends on our schedule," so I was anxious. It turned out that I need not have worried; we had a total of six youth who signed up as scouts!
Yesterday morning the Chair asked me if I would be not just a leader, but "Skipper" of the "ship", since the person who previously agreed had backed out. I said I was interested, but needed to know more about it, so he arranged for me to meet with the Chartered Organization Representative and the District Executive a half hour before tonight's inaugural meeting.
The meeting seemed so small; there was no news, no planning, no events happening, just signing up the kids and some parents. A little seed, but I feel it has great potential. Our first ship's meeting is scheduled for September 19th. We shall see.
Six youth from Sea Scout Ship 7916 climbed aboard the cradled der PeLiKan to apply the winter cover. With merely a list of color codes for the hoops, and a couple of phone calls between the Skipper of our Ship and the Commodore of Friends of Sea Scouts Maryland, our unit did a great job, earning 2 free weekends aboard this training vessel! Afterward, we went to Row B to visit "Amanda Grace," our Ship's first boat, donated by a former Sea Scout. The hoops and tarps we set up on der PeLiKan are intended to keep snow off the topside, as it can damage the vessel, and it snowed the following week, so our work was just in time. Photos by Ann Cameron Siegal.
