Fall 2018 Issue Volume 25 Issue 2  

Upcoming Events

Lodge Dinner

Brendan Sweeney - Lodge Treasurer

In celebration of another fantastic year Orca Lodge will be hosting its annual Lodge Awards Dinner on Saturday November 3, at Saint John’s Catholic Church (208 Matheson St) in Healdsburg. Going along with a fantastic meal, prepared by Orca Lodge’s very own cook staff, will be an extensive program.

All throughout the evening we’ll be recognizing the support of our members, and presenting four of our most prestigious awards: the Silver Fluke, the Founder’s Award, the James E. West Fellowship, and the Vigil Honor. All of this will be alongside a slideshow of photos from the Orca activities and events of 2018.

Please join us for this dinner and celebration. Social hour will begin starting at 5 P.M, followed by dinner at 6 P.M. Registration will be going live on the council website: http://www.redwoodbsa.org/Event.aspx?id=1094.

If you have questions as to the lodge officer elections please refer to the its separate article in this newsletter. We look forward to seeing everyone next month.

Please note, the Commissioner Summit will be held the same day and location.  This is the fall meeting of all unit commissioners, roundtable commissioners, and administrative commissioners from all 3 districts. All interested Scouters, regardless of current position, are welcome to attend. The Summit will include special sessions on the newest programs of the BSA, and keynote addresses from Area 3 guest speakers.  Adults are encouraged to participate in both events.  (http://www.redwoodbsa.org/Event.aspx?id=1378)

NLS & DYLC

The National Leadership Seminar (NLS) is a weekend training program focusing on leadership development. Run by the Region Chief and his Advisers, it provides an in-depth look at leadership skills and techniques. An NLS discusses how these skills can be applied in your role in the OA and in other aspects of your life. The National Leadership Seminar is a weekend conference on the skills and attributes of leadership. It is intended primarily to enhance the leadership skills of the Order of the Arrow’s key youth and adult members as they seek to improve their services to the Boy Scouts of America and the greater community. Near the end of the seminar, participants make a contract with themselves to apply the skills studied in the seminar on projects in their lodge, council, and community.

Registration will begin at 5:00 p.m. Friday evening. The first sessions will start promptly at 8:00 p.m.. The seminar will conclude at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon after a closing recognition banquet lunch. Participation for the entire weekend through Sunday is required for recognition of completion of the NLS and DYLC courses; please do not register unless you are committed to attending Friday evening through Sunday in entirety.

Adults age 21 and older are eligible to attend the Developing Youth Leadership Conference (DYLC) and do not necessarily need to have previously attended NLS but it is recommended. Adults who are currently or will soon hold a lodge-level or chapter-level adviser position are encouraged to attend DYLC. The NLS training is open to anyone seeking to hone their leadership skills applicable to Scouting as well as daily life. Adults who are unsure which might be best for them should talk to their lodge adviser for guidance or e-mail training@western.oa-bsa.org.

Brendan Sweeney - Lodge Treasurer

Set aside Saturday May, 18 2019 in your calendars so you can join your fellow Arrowmen for some time on the shooting range. Orca Lodge will be holding its first shooting sports fellowship in five years, and we want as many of our Arrowmen to attend as possible. All attendees will have the chance to practice their shotgun, archery, and rifle skills under the tutelage of the Redwood Empire Council fieldsports staff.

To our youth members: take your last fresh (or at least sulphurous) breath of air before heading into the end of the school year. Improve your grades by reducing your stress with an afternoon of vaporizing clay pigeons. And, if you are a Venture scout, you may also qualify to shoot some of the more interesting pieces in the council’s arsenal.

Astute calendar keepers may notice that the Fellowship is just two weeks after the 2019 Spring Induction, which is by design. A big part of this weekend will be welcoming our new members to the lodge with an exciting activity that will cement their membership in the order and encourage long lasting participation.

Keep your ear to the ground for the final event details in the coming weeks. With those will come the event sign-up so you can confirm your attendance. We look forward to seeing all of you next spring.

Recent Events

Section W-3N Conclave

Landon R. - Lodge Vice Chief

Hello my Brothers,

On September 14, 15, and 16 the lodge went to the Section W-3N Conclave. We had a low representation but the highest spirit, as per usual. This year our part of the conclave was Activities, where we had a good participation in most activities put on. At the final show the lodge was generously gifted a check for recovery from the fires last year by the section. In news on the Section our new Section Chief, we have Ryan Thomure, Section Vice Chief Tyler Tocci, and our very own Rudolph Lautner as Section Secretary. Another great conclave for the year and we’re looking forward to the next one at Camp Wolfeboro.

Erik C.

Twice a year we have Inductions to bring in new members into our lodge. This past weekend October 5th-7th we had our Induction at Camp Royaneh with a fun-filled weekend. We had six youth and one adult Ordeal candidate go through. Through the course of the weekend, we took down all the canvas tents left up in camp, winterized the pool, ranges, and cleaned gutters. After a long day and the Ordeal ceremony, we got two new Brotherhood members and four new Vigils.

Congratulations to Brett Carver, Dave Smilie, Bryce Polkinghorn, and Erik Carver. To see their recognition go to the Lodge Banquet where they will be presented their sashes and certificates. Thank you to everyone who came this weekend to make it a great Induction ceremony.

Other News

Lodge Elections

Coming up at the November 3 lodge dinner all youth members have the opportunity to run for any Lodge Office. All Arrowmen under 21 are considered viable candidates for office, however they need to be prepared to commit themselves to their position. The following are available to anyone who meets those criteria, and are paired with a description of their duties:

Treasurer -

The Treasurer is responsible for developing a Lodge Annual Budget, with the support of the Lodge Key 3. They are also responsible for operating the Lodge Trading Post at major events such as the Induction Weekend, or the Lodge Dinner.

Secretary -

The Secretary is in charge of maintaining and taking the minutes of all Lodge Executive Committee meetings, and in developing the semi-annual newsletter.

Vice-Chief -

The Vice-Chief works closely with the Chief and acts as a stand in for the Chief in his absence.

Chief -

The Lodge Chief is the chairman of the Lodge Executive Committee and is responsible for: planning/overseeing all LECs, holding  Key 3s, representing Orca Lodge within Section W3-N, and ensuring a high quality program for Lodge members.

Anyone interested in running for any of these positions should be prepared with a two minute speech to be presented at the Lodge Dinner. Nominations by youth members may be made during the LEC and Lodge dinner and cannot be ‘self-nominations.’ Anyone interested should meet with the Lodge Adviser to discuss their interest.

My Brothers,

I would like to congratulate our new ordeal and brotherhood members from the recent induction. I look forward to seeing you all at the lodge dinner coming up in November. We will be holding our elections for the four lodge positions. If you have any interest in these positions and have any questions, please email me at: chief@orca194.org It has been a great year and I am honored to have served as your 2018 Lodge Chief. I look forward to seeing you all at future events.

Yours in Scouting,
Tyler W.
Orca Lodge Chief

Chapter Notes

Allohak

No Report

Miwok

Aloha from the sunny beaches of southern Sonoma County. Your friendly folks from the Miwok Chapter are here with another report for our Brothers of the Orca Lodge. And we have some big plans y’all might want to hear about. You see, aside from soaking up the sun and surfing gnarly waves, the Miwok Chapter also enjoys the cold winds of winter. And this coming December, we are hosting a Winter Fellowship for the entire Orca Lodge. That means we’ll do the planning, and you guys come on up and have some fun. The fellowship will be Friday-Saturday, December 7-9 at the Loon Lake Chalet, west of Lake Tahoe. Registration and more details will be up soon so stay alert.

In other news, Rudy L. from the Miwok Chapter was recently elected Section Secretary for Section W-3N. Congratulations Rudy! That’s all we have from the Miwok Chapter - remember Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind.

So in the words of our founder, Lord Baden-Powell: “Good luck to you and good camping!"

Wonkatonk

David C.

In the recent past the Wonkatonk chapter has had its members participate in a joint chapter meeting with Miwok, a conclave, and the monthly chapter meetings. We are also having our fall induction and we will soon have new brothers joining us. This coming week, we will have a chapter meeting, Thursday, Oct. 11 (6:30 pm) at Scandia which is also open to all Lodge members.

Also upcoming in December we will have a chapter meeting to hold elections for the chapter positions. 

2019 marks the 25th anniversary of our very own Orca Lodge #194. To commemorate this auspicious number the lodge executive committee will be minting a brand new lodge flap. Of course first we will need a design, so with that in mind we are announcing a lodge wide flap design contest. Starting as of the publishing of this newsletter we will be accepting submissions of lodge flap concepts until Saturday, October 27. The selected concept will be announced and presented at the Lodge dinner on Saturday, November 3.

There are some requirements for this contest including standard lodge flap stipulations.  The patch must:

1. Contain "Orca 194", "WWW", the BSA trademark, and the OA trademark.
2. Be a standard cut, one-piece flap.
3. Clearly identify itself as a 25th anniversary patch ("25th" or "1994-2019" or etc...).
4. Contain at least an identifiable part of an Orca (e.g. a fin or tail).
5. Not contain any materials from Peanuts.
   

Submissions should be made to the lodge treasurer, Brendan Sweeney. Further, anyone who has questions, has never designed a lodge flap before, or does not have access to photo editing software, should also reach out to the treasurer. We look forward to your submissions.

For a listing of historical Orca Lodge patches, you can visit the Lodge History project.

In addition, 2019 marks 100 years since the formation of the beginnings of what is currently Redwood Empire Council.  In July of 1919, the Petaluma Area Council was chartered.  The council will be marking this occasion & you may want to incorporate some Council History in your design as well

Jason Kracht - Lodge Associate Adviser

One year ago this afternoon, I repaired the sprinklers & put up the Halloween decorations in the front yard.  One year ago this evening I attended the first webinar about the upcoming Lodge History project for 2018.  One year ago, I had taken some time to review some music to play with the Stanford Band Homecoming the next weekend.  One year ago today the North Bay Wildfires ripped through our communities and changed our lives forever. On the night of October 8-9, 2017, over 10 wildfires broke out in Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino Counties.  Over the rest of October 2017, we all worked to hear from friends and loved ones to make sure that they were safe, and we reached out to help those that had lost everything.  When all was done, we had 11 members of Orca Lodge, and over 110 members of Redwood Empire Council that were among the thousands in our communities who lost their homes.

Members of Redwood Empire Council have helped our community and our members in many different ways.

Sifter Box project – As was done after the Valley Fire in Lake County, members from across the Council build sifter boxes that were made available for fire victims.  This project was done at Friedman Brothers in Santa Rosa and Home Depot in Rohnert Park.  In addition several Scouters were making these at their homes before the Council Wide project.

Explorer Scouts – The CHP Explorers worked to clean and fuel up CHP vehicles between shifts so they were ready for the next shift.

Pack 1 – Held a Halloween Costume drive for people in the community in need.

Troop/Crew 32 – Hosted the Thousand Thanks Pancake Breakfast to honor the First Responders and raise over $20,000 for victims of the fires.

Sugarloaf Ridge State Park – Eagle project to rebuild the Planet Walk that burned in the fires.

In addition to reaching out to the community, help was also provided to scouts and scouters who were affected by the fires:

Uniform Fundraiser – The Council started a fundraiser to raise funds to replace uniforms for those that lost their uniforms in the fires.  Several Eagle Scout awards were also replaced for former Scouts in the community that needed to have theirs replaced.

Troop 707 – Troop 707 had all of their equipment destroyed.  Other Troops from the greater Bay area helped them get back on their feet: https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/01/22/troop-707-california-fires/

Orca Lodge – Worked to replace the OA sashes of our members who lost them.  Also provided an Orca Lodge “fishing shirt” for these members.

Section W-3N – Held a “GoFundMe” fundraiser that raised $2000.  This money will be used to pay for Scouting events & scout gear for the Orca Lodge members affected.

Western Region, OA – Held a fundraiser that collected over $1300 to help Orca Lodge replace some of our Trading Post materials that were lost in the fires.

National Committee, OA – Provided replacement National Awards to replace those that were lost in the fires (Vigil Certificates, Founders’ Awards, Centennial NOAC Sashes, Centurion Award).

Today I am thinking over the past 12 months.  I have talked to various neighbors today that I never knew before.  Each of us has something to share about our experience.  Tomorrow morning I will go visit our lot, take some 1 year post-disaster photos and join in a remembrance with my Coffey Park family.

Thank you to everyone who has helped our community over the last year.  Thanks for providing a place to stay during the fires.  Thanks for listening to our stories. Thank you for finding the smallest of mementos in the remains of our home. Thank you for contributing time and/or money to one or more of the projects above (and countess other projects in our community).  

Dear Orca brothers:

We are approaching the Centennial Year of the Redwood Empire Council BSA, which will be calendar year 2019.  Orca Lodge and its predecessor OA lodges have contributed mightily to the success of Scouting in our area.  We will be looking to all Arrowmen to help with this year of celebration and engagement with all our Scouting families, alumni, and members of the community.

We will be looking for youth and adult Arrowmen to assist with a number of Centennial activities, including an Eagle reunion in Rio Nido, a Centennial day in the park in Petaluma, and several regular council events enhanced for the REC-BSA Centennial year.  But most especially, we will be looking to Orca Lodge and our three chapters to give leadership to the Centennial Camporee on October 4-6, 2019.

Please think about how each of you would like to help with any of these activities, especially the Camporee.  You may send a note with your thoughts to our Lodge Key 3, and we will make sure that you have an opportunity to help.

Thank you for all you do as a cheerful servant in Scouting.

Yours in WWW,
Charlie Howard-Gibbon

Adviser's Minute

As the year comes to an end lets look back on the new friend we have made. Stop to think of a fellow arrowman you met at an induction weekend, a chapter meeting, conclave, or even NOAC.  Finding  new friends, and new opportunities to grow is what is in our future.  Lets keep the fellowship of cheerful service in mind as we move into the new year

Brian Wills
Orca Lodge Adviser

Orca 2018 Leadership

For the latest Orca Lodge calendar, please visit:

www.redwoodbsa.org/oa/calendar

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.
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