March Fellowship was a Great Time

“This Fellowship was the best one I have been to” seemed to be the common sentiment that was shared about our Lodge’s March 1-3, 2024 Fellowship at Hidden Valley Scout Reservation.  But what made it so good?

Well for starters, we had Polynesian-themed activities all weekend including “how low can you go” Limbo, bowling with pineapple pins and coconut bowling balls, and a Hawaiian shirt/dancing competition. Attendees were greeted in traditional Hawaiian style having a Lei placed around their neck with an “Aloha” welcome.

We resurrected our Lodge Totem branding iron with each Brother branding their own leather disc with encouragement to introduce themselves to Brothers they did not know and have them write their name on the back of the branded disc learning a little bit about each other.   What Fellowship is complete with a healthy dose of board games, cornhole, gaming, and good ole conversation?  This Fellowship had plenty of each.  Attendees ganged up on a 500-piece puzzle and completing it in record time with each piece placed allowing the finder to shout out “Boo-Yah!” (Hearing 500 enthusiastic “Booyas” really kept the energy level high!)

The Fellowship wasn’t just all fun and games though. We performed two service projects for the Camp. We also completed a food bank project gathering and ultimately delivering non-perishable food and related items to a food bank in the York area.  We hope to make this a standard activity at all Fellowships donating the collected items to different food banks located throughout our Lodge’s geographic area. We also held a “Scout’s Own” vespers service and a Lodge meeting as well as a really fun and informative Elonagmat training meeting that will no doubt segway into more Elonagmat meetings, more Elangomats, and more successful Induction weekends.

The people who made the theme come together, whether it was the kitchen staff who made each meal memorable and iconic, or the Arrowmen who dressed and acted the Hawaiian part, all contributed to make this Fellowship very memorable and a sign of great things to come for our Lodge. All in all, it was a great fellowship and a great start to the 2024 Order of the Arrow year.  The Lodge’s September Fellowship will be held at Camp Tuckahoe on September 20-22. 2024.  If you are interested in helping plan and implement activities for the Fall Fellowship or any other activity under the Lodge’s Program (Inductions “sash and bash”, Holiday Pow Wow, or the annual banquet), please contact the Lodge Vice Chief of Program.