This past weekend was the first camporee in North Carolina for American Heritage Girls. LJ Carroll was the director and did an awesome job. The camp was held at Durant which is a BSA camp outside of Carthage. AHG has been so blessed by the partnership that we have Boy Scouts. We had 13 troops and 176 girls from across the state. It proved to be another testament of how awesome this organization and its people are. We arrived on Friday and set up camp. I love to watch how everyone pitches in at camp. We had the kitchen unloaded and set up in no time. In our troop, we had a set of awesome dads who did on the cooking and cleaning up for the weekend. They are wonderful role models for our children on how to work together as a team and serve others. On top of all that they are entertaining also. We ended Friday evening making swaps and eating smores. You can’t get much better than that. The men were up early making breakfast for the long fun hot exhausting day ahead.
We started with a flag ceremony and then the girls went thru five stations. The girls loved making survival bracelets with red white and blue cord of course. The Explorers and up did archery and the Pathfinders and Tenderhearts did BBs. This was many of the girls first opportunity to do these activities and they had a great time. Avery Moore led a fire safety station which I heard was excellent. Dr. Anderson did a superior job with the Emergency Preparedness badge. I heard about a leg squirting blood and bear attack. Claire was excited to be chosen to be a screamer for the bear attack. Boy, they got that one right. The last station was field games where the girls traded S.W.A.P.S. more than played games. While the girls were doing the stations, I led five breakouts for leaders and volunteers. It was so great to talk to other troops and brainstorm ideas. We ended the day with a hotdog supper and group campfire. The kids had a great time doing songs and skits at the fire. We went back to camp for more smores and special camp dessert for adults. Sorry Tawana you missed it again.
The next morning we started with pancakes that the girls raved about. We had another flag ceremony and then ended the weekend with a church service. Reed from the Stanley Troop did a great sermon that kept the girls moving and listening. The weekend could not have gone better. I love what Wes from the Wake Forest troop said camporee is the Super Bowl of scouting. This one was for these girls. I heard so many stories of people helping one another that makes me proud to be part of such a wonderful organization. My family is so blessed to be part of AHG family. Can’t wait till next year. The planning has already started.
