Summer Issue Volume 22 Issue 2  

Written by Lodge Chief Brendan S.

Last Ordeal we found ourselves at Camp Royaneh; this fall we will find ourselves there again, but this time with a twist. We aim for this to be a big weekend with just as many candidates as the spring; albeit we also hope it is slightly drier. I encourage all of our Ordeal members to join us as staff at this event. It is a great opportunity to get service hours for rank ups as well as for the Arrowman Service Award (the OA Centennial award). To all of our members, check your eligibility for Brotherhood, we want to see as many as we can this year. If you have any questions about the requirements or process do not hesitate to ask myself or any other member of the Lodge.

Also, if any of your units have yet to complete a unit election: let me know, and please ask your Patrol Leaders Council to contact the Lodge so we can arrange a date. During the next few weeks we will restart our push to regain our membership levels in both the Miwok and Allohak chapters. Keep your eyes peeled for any opportunities to join one of our election teams. We have ambitious goals that with everyone’s support are no doubt achievable.

To register online for our Fall Ordeal, please click here.

or send your registration to the council office:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Ordeal Registration Form - cut and mail today!- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Mail this form with your check payable to "BSA - Orca Lodge", marked "Fall Ordeal"

NAME:__________________________________________________  Phone:__________________

Address:_______________________________________  City:_________________  Zip:_________

Total amount enclosed:____________________

 Written by Austin L.

NOAC is one of the greatest Scouting experiences a scout can partake in. There is no better way to meet new people and have fun all while learning and enhancing our knowledge about the Order of the Arrow. This NOAC is one for the history books due to the fact that this year, 2015, is the 100th anniversary of the Order of the Arrow. The NOAC staff has been planning some of the greatest activities for scouts to enjoy and the show staff has been working tirelessly to bring scouts a memorable experience. Here are some of the activities you can enjoy at NOAC.

1. World-class training sessions covering topics from leadership, to Native American crafts, to high adventure skills, and more.

2. Sports, competitions, exhibitions, and special events.

3. Patch trading, and time to hang out with and meet new friends from across the nation

Whether you’re into sports or patch trading or both, you and all scouts will find fun at every turn while you are at NOAC. You will truly be living the college life as you eat and live in the college dorms. NOAC is truly an experience every scout should have, as it presents fun and challenging tasks and the opportunity to meet people from all over the country.

  Written by Lodge Secretary Jacob S.

On July 7^th, our Lodge hosted a local Arrow Tour Stop. ArrowTour is one of many programs and initiatives that comprise a year-long celebration of the Order of the Arrow's centennial anniversary. This summer, four delegations of youth Arrowmen are traveling to council camps and Scouting events to bring our national centennial experience to Scouts, Arrowmen, and communities throughout the country. Our Arrow Tour stop was hosted at Deer Creek Village, adjacent to Freidman’s Home Improvement in Petaluma with the intent of inviting the general public. Representatives from Talako Lodge came to assist with our ArrowTour stop (as they do not have an ArrowTour Stop within their own lodge). Various items of both national and local importance were on display. The event was very fun and worth the time spent to staff – special thanks to those who stayed to see it through till the end of cleanup.

Written by Lodge Secretary Jacob S.

Inspired by the awesome location for this year’s conclave, your Council of Chiefs brings you “OA 100”. That’s Right! This August Conclave will be revving its engines at Sonoma Raceway. It is going to be a great end of the Summer Conclave (and a great event to follow NOAC). This year’s Conclave is August 28-30, 2015, hosted by ORCA Lodge – That would be US! The location has posed a great deal of opportunity for our lodge, giving us the ability to make this one of the best conclaves ever. The location itself – Sonoma Raceway – gives us the opportunity to meld the awesome event that is Conclave with the amazing Indycar races that weekend. Hosted right in our backyard, the drive will be much shorter then it was to go to Fallon. As we are Host Lodge, we would NEED to get as many participating as we can! The price goes up the longer you wait – Click here to register today, the price goes up on August 15. 

Written by Lodge Adviser, Mr. Kracht

With this being the 100^th anniversary of the OA, we do have a few new Lodge Flaps that have been issued this year. 

First we have the NOAC fundraiser flaps.  There are two versions of this flap.  The mylar bordered numbered sets are available for $50.  There is the non-mylar version available for $10.  All of the proceeds for these go to reducing the cost for our Youth participants to attend NOAC this year.  There are still some of each of these available.

Coming soon is the OA Centennial Lodge Flap.  This flap will be available to all Lodge members for $5. 

In addition to the OA100 version of this flap, it will also be done in 2 additional versions that are for our NOAC contingent, and our World Jamboree contingent.  After these events any leftover patches will be made available to general lodge Membership.

Written by Lodge Chief Brendan S.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2015 Orca Lodge Spring Fellowship. We were able to relax from the final weeks of May with everything from mini-golf to video games. A special thank you to Mr. Bell and Carver, who stayed the night. Any of our members (scouts or scouters) who attended, completed both the social media and centennial event component of the Centuries of Service Award. Make sure to track any progress you make toward this special award. If we missed you, you still have many more opportunities to complete the award including a fall fellowship that's in the works. Any ideas? Send them to the LEC we’ll put them on the list.

Written by Tyler W. 

Thank you to everyone that came to the tipi set up that we had recently!  I hope that everyone had a good time and learned how to properly set up a tipi and enjoyed the buffalo burgers. With our new knowledge of the size of tipis, our newly trained Arrowmen, and with the help of the lodge we can quickly and efficiently set them up at conclave. If any Arrowmen have an artistic edge we are looking for people to help us decorate the tipis in the future. Coming up in the future will be another tipi set up practice, the date and time are to be determined. I encourage everyone to come It is a great opportunity to be involved in the lodge. One of the tipis was setup at ArrowTour, and all of them will be shown at Conclave.  Thanks to Mr. Nay for sponsoring this event, the buffalo burgers were great.

Wonk-A-Tonk

Written by the Wonk-A-Tonk Chapter Advisor, Mr. Hatch 

This summer has been a very busy time for the Order of the Arrow, Orca Lodge and Wonkatonk in particular.

By now the ArrowTour has wrapped up its visit to our area and I hope you all made it to this wonderful show of what the OA is all about and the history behind it. Thank you to all of you that were there to help put on the event.

NOAC is just around the corner and the participants are getting ready to take off on a tour that looks to be a lot of fun and certainly memorable. This is going to be one of the biggest NOAC conferences ever and will be celebrating 100 years of the Order of the Arrow. Best wishes and a safe journey to all that will be participating.

The biggest event of the century for the Orca Lodge and Wonkatonk Chapter is the 100^th anniversary Conclave!  We will be holding the Conclave at the Sonoma Raceway DURING the Indy car race! All participants will have access to watch the trials and the race. This is a tremendous opportunity to show “how it’s done” to our brothers and sisters in the OA. But, everyone is needed to make this event turn out well. There will be so many things that you can help with, it would take two more pages to list. So please contact Brendan Sweeney to see where you can help.

As always, we have our monthly meeting the second Thursday of the month and August 14^th will be a very important meeting as we fine tune the Conclave planning. Your support is needed, be there!

Allohak

Written by Allohak Chapter Chief Indigo F.

The Allohak Chapter has completed several projects recently. We have led two Arrow of Light award ceremonies for our local Cub Scout pack, and we were the MC for the campfire program at our last two camporees. We have also held elections for the troops 75, 316, and 42, and we carried the banner for our local Memorial Day Parade.

Written by the Lodge Adviser, Mr. Kracht 

Orca Lodge is pleased to announce the members of Orca Lodge that will be honored with the Order of the Arrow Centurion Award.

 http://www.oa-bsa.org/pages/content/centurion-award

This once in a lifetime recognition is to honor members of the Lodge (current and former) who have helped shape the legacy of the Lodge.  Our Lodge decided to petition the National OA Committee to honor 8 individuals, covering the history and geography of Orca Lodge.  Nominations had to be separated for Youth and Adult service, with no more than half being given for Adult service.  All of our nominees for Youth service continued to give great service to the Lodge and the OA well into their Adult Scouting career.  Since Orca Lodge has a great history stretching into our Legacy Lodges (Cabrosha and Mow-A-Toc), some of our nominations were for service to those Legacy Lodges

These 8 nominees have been approved:

• David Dukeman – for Adult service to Orca Lodge
• Matthew Dukeman – for Youth service to Orca Lodge
• Steve Fini – for Youth service to Mow-A-Toc Lodge
• Viola “Kitty” Harriman – for Adult service to Mow-A-Toc Lodge
• Jason Kracht – for Adult service to Orca Lodge
• Raymond Leonard – for Youth service to Cabrosha Lodge
• Bruce Mayfield – for Adult service to Orca Lodge
• Martin Webb – for Youth service to Cabrosha Lodge

A small display about these recipients was shown at the ArrowTour stop in Petaluma on July 7.  

Formal recognition of these recipients will happen at the Orca Lodge Dinner in November.  The nomination biographies will be archived in the Orca Lodge History being prepared for NOAC 2015.

Written by the Lodge Adviser, Mr. Kracht 

Starting on the 99th anniversary of the Order of the Arrow's founding, registered members in good standing with the BSA, their local council and their Order of the Arrow lodge will be able to commemorate our organization's centennial by working to complete the Arrowman Service Award. This award, which some are referring to as "the sash patch," will be recognized as one of the few patches that have ever been approved by the national Order of the Arrow committee to be worn on an OA sash.

The purpose of the Arrowman Service Award (ASA) is to encourage Arrowmen to recommit themselves to the ideals of the Order, increase their level of service to their local Unit and Council, and participate in the 100th anniversary celebration of the OA. The award will have three categories of criteria with various requirements that Arrowmen can complete. These include components on personal growth, service to Scouting, and participation in the centennial celebration.

Breakdown of the Three Categories

The category on Personal Growth will challenge both youth (OA members through age 20) and adult (OA members ages 21 and older) Arrowmen to advance their own leadership skills by participating in or staffing a BSA training course. In tandem with "recommitting themselves to the ideals of the Order," this category also encourages each member to seal the bond of Brotherhood membership (if eligible), among other BSA advancement opportunities.

The category on Scout Service advocates for Arrowmen to go above and beyond the traditional call to service and serve in a variety of leadership positions at the Unit, Council, Lodge and National levels. This includes service benefiting the local community, the local BSA council or camp, or public lands such as a National Forest or Park.

The category on Centennial Events correlates with the national Order of the Arrow committee's objective to redouble service and programmatic offerings for the 100th anniversary. The youth and adult Arrowmen requirements for this category are the same, and include attendance at your section's 100th anniversary conclave, your lodge's sponsored 100th anniversary event, an ArrowTour event, and the 2015 National Order of the Arrow Conference.

Logistics and Process for Fulfilling the Award

Arrowmen can commence working on requirements on July 16th, 2014 and continue working towards its completion through December 31st, 2015.  All Arrowmen are encouraged to work towards the fulfillment of the ASA.

Arrowman Service Award Youth and Adult Requirement Cards

Written by the Lodge Adviser, Mr. Kracht  

Orca Lodge has submitted our Legacy Lid in honor of the Order of the Arrow Centennial.

This meandering timeline along the train tracks (which flow through Camp Noyo) shows important milestones of Orca Lodge. The original charter dates of our two legacy lodges, Cabrosha & Mow-A-Toc, followed by the forming of Orca Lodge in January 1994. Each Section Conclave that we have hosted is marked by feather coups. In 2012, we saw a split in our timeline with the Mow-A-Toc chapter being reassigned to Lo La'Qam Geela Lodge.

Written by the Lodge Adviser, Mr. Kracht  

We have had a great group of events over the last several months. I am very proud of the work that our Officers and Lodge have done. 

• First we had our first Lodge Ordeal that wasn't at Navarro or Riggs in decades.  We had a few learnings from the weekend, but overall we held a successful event.  We will return to Royaneh again for our Fall Ordeal in September.
  
• In June, we held a fellowship event designed by our officers to be an opportunity to relax after the close of a busy school year.  The chief is working on more traditional fellowship activities for later in the year.
• Finally we hosted ArrowTour for the North Bay area. was an opportunity for us to help staff & run a National level event for scouts in our Local area.  I think you all succeeded in this task.

I know there is a lot of excitement from the nearly 40 Lodge members who will be going to NOAC in a couple of weeks.  Once we get back, we will have a few weeks to finalize our staffing for Section Conclave at Sonoma Raceway.  Again this will be another event that will blend aspects of a traditional OA Conclave, with the unique offerings of our host site. (Including being able to attend the 2015 IndyCar Series final race)

Jason Kracht
Lodge Adviser

Official Publication of the Orca Lodge #194, Order of the Arrow,
Redwood Empire Council, Boy Scouts of America
Publications Adviser ~ Bruce Mayfield
Orca Spouts is a quarterly publication.
We will email all four issues.
We welcome all submissions, both articles as well as photographs.
Sending articles and digital photos via email is highly encouraged.
All photos welcomed.