OMOS Troop 123 BSA

August 2001

Oct 15, 2001

St Bernard Picnic, A Success

Members of Troop 123 spent the weekend of August 4,5,and 6 in Depauw, Indiana. We camped on a farm, a courtesy of Mr.& Mrs. Berger. Activities started Friday evening when Mr Berger lead us to his ponds and pastures where the boys had an opportunity to see his gigantic catfish and feed the horses and cows. It was amazing to hear the cows being called in to be fed. I didn't realize a human voice could get so loud.

During the day on Saturday a Leader training program was conducted. This program was geared to the Scouts interested in holding leadership positions in the troop. We had a mall but great group of Scouts and was one of the more pleasant programs of this type we participated in. On Saturday evening we attended mass at St Bernatd Catholic Church in Frenchtown, Indiana. After mass we went to the local Methodist Church. Imagine, going to church twice in one night!!. Actually, the methodist church was hosting their annual fellowship dinner which was open to the public for a donation. Their menu was much better than the one was had prepared so we readily changed plans and agreed went. Mrs. Berger made the donation for the entire group!! Thank you Mrs. Berger.

We woke up Sunday and went back to St Bernard Church to help with the summer picnic. In the early hours we carried items out to booths andcarried pies and cakes to their designated areas. I never saw so many pies in one place at one time.

Once the early morning work was completed we stationed ourselves on the highway, and in the parking lots and kept the flow of traffic on the road and in the parking lots moving. The actual picnic started at 10:00am and by about 2:00 in the afternoon more people were leaving than arriving. We did such a great job and the picnic managers were so happy that we came that we were publicly thanked via the PA system. We were then relieved from the traffic detail, enjoyed walking around the picnic for a while and returned to Louisville. A job well done!!

Flaget Trail
The 55th annual Flaget Trail will be conducted on Saturday, August 18th at the Trappist Monastery, Abbey of Gethsemani, Trappist, KY.

This year, once again, Troop 123 has been asked to host the afternoon games and activities. It seems that once you do a job well, you are asked to do so over and over again. Mr. Evans did commit himself to the project and agreed to try to get wupport from the Troop members. None of the other troop members are actually obligated to participate at this time. However, this type of activity is an excellent opportunity to further learn and practice leadership skills.

Mr. Evans will be leaving for Gethsemani during the afternoon of Friday August 17th and will be camping on the monsastary grounds Friday night.If anyone else is interested in camping they may come out on Friday afternoon or Friday evening. If the Scouts decide to camp, at least one other adult, beside myself will have to come with them. Friday evening will be spent actually laying out and setting up the activity areas.

Individuals not interested in camping may come out for the day on Saturday. They should plan on arriving at the monastary no later than 8:00am.

The main Saturday morning activity will be a tour of the grounds an buildings. The afternoon activityies will be determined by us. Meal plans and costs cannot be determined untill we find out if the Troop will make this a day activity or whether they will camp out for the weekend. The same can be said for our return time.