Sometimes, an event is only in the morning, afternoon or at night. These tend to be day hikes, service projects or awareness-building activities, such as setting up a stand to promote the troop at some public event. Over the years, the troop has gone on several day trips, including: Newark Airport Disaster Drill, Long Valley Food Pantry annual wreath hanging, Community Food Bank of New Jersey, Point Mountain, Cops n Rodders Car Show, Bowl-a-Thon at Oakwood Lanes, Scout Sunday at various local churches, and more.
One popular day activity is the annual late-spring Troop Picnic. The Troop Picnic is most often held at Schooley’s Mountain Park. Here, the adult leaders volunteer to cook hot dogs and hamburgers, while families bring side dishes, snacks, condiments, desserts, drinks and more. Scouts play football, soccer, Frisbee and more; many bring water guns and play with those, as well. The scouts and their families hang out for a few hours before the scouts get together for SPL elections. The votes are counted and the current SPL reports the results to the Scoutmaster. It isn’t until the June Court of Honor a few weeks later that the new SPL is announced to the rest of the troop.
While technically not a campout, during the early years of the troop, Mr. Moon would bring his ham radio to various events and campouts so that the troop could participate in the “Jamboree on the Air.” This was an annual event when scouts all around the globe would communicate via radio (often exchanging postcards later to commemorate the contact). According the Mr. Moon, the first year the scouts were not sure they wanted to talk until he made contact with a group of Girl Scouts in Sweden—then he had a lot of boys and several Scoutmasters ready to talk.
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