Two boy scouts made their rounds on the Osage Campus on March 7, selling beef jerky to employees of the Office of the Chiefs.
The Boy Scouts were joined by their Troop 33 leader, Randy Haddon, who is also an Osage Nation employee and former Scout. His son Hunter, Osage, was joined by fellow Scout Jason Duty, Cherokee/Shawnee/Delaware. The boys made over $200 for their trip to Arkansas where they participated in a weeklong 50-mile hike.
James Weigant, an executive administrative assistant in the Chiefs Office, tribal member and Eagle Scout, is heading up an initiative to see the need, support and possible opportunities of Boy Scouts for Osage youth living in Osage County. Weigant said surveys were mailed to Osage tribal members on March 30.
He said the Nation is also looking at possible grants to help fund an Osage Nation troop.
“There used to be Boy Scout troops in Hominy, there used to be Boy Scout troops in Barnsdall, all over Osage County and they’ve all ceased to exist for right now,” Weigant said. “This survey will see if that interest and need is still there and if that is the case we’ll have this survey to show where that need is and move forward with possibly programs, but to start we just want to support the existing programs that are there and help out Osages and Natives and children of Osage households.”
Haddon said his troop currently has low numbers due to a transition of older boys leaving and younger boys coming in. There are currently a handful of Native American boys in the troop but they are always looking for more, he said. Any help from the tribe would help pay or relieve some of the expenses for campouts, especially some of the bigger campouts which can cost anywhere from $300 per child, to more than $2,000 per child if it is a national Boy Scout event. Hunter and Jason both plan on attending the 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree, held every four years, and this year it will be held in West Virginia.
Children in Pawhuska usually stop participating in Boy Scouts due to costs or conflicting sports schedules, said Haddon, but he recently has been working to prevent some of that.
“I’m working on Boy Scout packs and events for the summer, where as in the past we didn’t have much going on in the summer but I want to keep the interest going year round so we’re not losing kids at the end of May,” Haddon said.
Weigant is receiving help from John Williams, an advisor to Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear; Richard Luttrell, who sits on the Traditional Cultural Advisors Committee; Chief Standing Bear and others.
“This I think is really exciting, if we can get some of our kids and parents on board. Just think of all the experience they are getting,” said John Williams, an advisor to Standing Bear. “We didn’t have that opportunity in the 1950s, we had Scouts but we never got to do anything. They were a bunch of farmers, ranchers.”
Haddon’s troop goes on regular camping trips in the County, where they teach the Scouts survival skills, educate them on the local plant life, wildlife, skills and techniques to survive and teach the Scouts character, dedication, teamwork and leadership, he said.
“I have been in Boy Scouts ever since First grade,” Hunter, 12, said. “What I like about Boy Scouts is just doing all the fun activities; camping, knives … spending time with my friends. I started in first grade and now I’m in sixth, so I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
He said he likes Boy Scouts so much he knows he’ll keep doing it through high school.
For more information about the Boy Scout survey, call Constituent Services at (918) 287-5555.
By
Shannon Shaw Duty
Original Publish Date: 2016-04-01 00:00:00
