[BobD]

Hey everyone,

Peter passsed this on to me and asked me if it would be OK to post in the forum. Since I'm an Eagle Scout of course I said yes <grin>.

Really, It's for a good cause. Scouting is one way to really reach out to a new generation of carvers. Peter did say the letter would be posted in other places (so this may be a repeat for some people) and said I could edit it, but I left it how he wrote it.

Bob

The 2005 Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree is taking place this summer at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. The Woodcarving Staff at the Merit Badge Midway is asking for your help financially. To raise funds for our activities, we are selling the two patches shown below for $10 each. At the 2001 Jamboree, we had over 1500 Scouts carve at our booth, with some 900 of them completing the merit badge. To earn their badge, Scouts have to complete an in the round carving, usually a neckerchief slide, and a small relief carving. WCI magazine has published two articles about our activities, a Spring 1999 article about the previous Jamboree, and a Summer 2004 article about the neckerchief slide blanks that one of our staff members produces for Scouts to carve.

The Boy Scout National Office provides us with a big 20 by 80 foot tent and lots of picnic tables and chairs, but we have to come up with everything else. Prior to the Jamboree, we have to prepare some 5000 neckerchief slide blanks and about 2000 relief blanks. We need carving knives, relief carving sets, Kevlar gloves, and thumb guards, enough to allow about 40 Scouts at a time to carve. We need a bandsaw for cutting out additional blanks on site and a sharpening station to keep all those knives and gouges sharp. The majority of the wood and other equipment is being donated, but we still need funds to cover setup of our booth, for pegboard and lumber for display areas, for hardboard and 1 by 4’s to cover the tables and make bench stops, for pens and paper, for all those little things that no one thinks about but you have to buy anyway in order for the program to be successful. Oh yeah, and we need first aid kits and lots of bandaids, too.

We will have some 32 volunteer adult staff members. No one gets paid, in fact, it costs each staff member $600 to attend, not counting the cost of travel to the Jamboree and the almost two weeks of time spent there.

Please send your donations to me at the address below. Please feel free to contact me by, mail, phone, or email if you have any questions at all. We thank you for your support.

F. Peter Tolcser

41 Berzin Road

Nassau, NY 12123

518-766-2962

tolcser@nycap.rr.com

[Clifford_Parker]

Having also been a scout, scouter, Den Leader, and Scout Master I know all of the "little supplies" that I bought "out of pocket" each year added up to hundreds of dollars. I can see where those same supplies for the National Jamboree would be even more costly.

I am sure that those who are doing this will use as much of the "leftover" supplies as possible but, as the letter said, there are all of the set-up costs and the "little things" that add up quickly.

Bob,

Thank you for supporting the BSA!

[Lightningbolt]

Thanks for posting this Bob. I also grew up with a troop of scouts as a kid and I presently serve as scoutmaster of 60+ boys. The scouting program including the much anticipated summer camp made a significant difference in my life way back in the 1960's and I continue to see it making a big difference in other kids lives today.

I strongly agree that scouts is the most perfect place to encourage and to foster the next generation of carvers at a very influentual age... an activity and lifetime hobby that is much more beneficial than all of the negative influences of today's media, music, and cultural changes. Woodcarving isn't optional in my troop and is something that everyone is expected to learn!!Catching them while young is the key!

In the near future and as time permits I will post my own method of teaching the woodcarving merit badge with photos of the two required carving projects that I've developed and have proved very successfull. In recent weeks I've noticed a lot of requests for projects from begining carvers on this forum and by following the requirements for this merit badge is not only a good introduction to carving for boy scouts, but a good beginning for anyone interested in carving.

Sorry for the rant, but this program has my greatest support.