Information For Conclave 2021

Conclave2021 LogoFellow wearers of the arrow, Greetings and Salutations!

We hope this finds each of you well, staying safe, and keeping those you are in contact with safe.

Our next major event is our annual Conclave where we will gather with our sisters and brothers from lodges from around Georgia and Alabama. The scuttlebutt is that there will possibly be some current national leadership there as well. After having to go on a sort of hiatus in 2020, it will be good to share time with others who have accepted the obligation to provide leadership and service to our lodges, councils, units, and all Scouts and Scouters.

Here are some details for those of you that will be a part of the Mowogo Lodge contingent at this Conclave for you to prepare for:

First, from our Section Adviser, Brother Greg Moore of Coosa Lodge, are the precautions for keeping other participants and yourselves safe in light of our current public health concern:

  • Each individual is responsible to follow the current local guidelines, socially distance themselves, wash their hands and wear masks as required. A new bath house has been constructed and has individual bathrooms. Each lodge is responsible to manage the COVID declarations each participant is expected to complete and to ensure that their members tent only with close family members.
  • I believe that temperature checks are part of the check in process, so ensure that your members understand that if they have a fever of 100 or more, they should not attend and will be turned away.
  • Meals will be served in clamshells. I am sure that Withlacoochee will have hand sanitizer available. There won’t be enough seating for everyone at one time in the Vulcan Pavilion, but there is room to spread out into other pavilions close by, or bring your own chair and sit under the trees.
  • The amphitheater doesn’t have enough socially distant seating for all registered participants, so bringing your own chairs or planning to stand will be necessary.
  • Bottom line: lodges will need to ensure your members understand the expectations of their participation, and each individual will need to understand that while we are doing many things to mitigate the risk, we cannot eliminate it. Neither the section officers/advisers, nor the service lodge will be policing your members’ behavior. As a general statement, should a concern be brought to my attention about a given lodge’s member(s), I will bring that to the lodge adviser in question to address.

Attached to this email is a “Participant Statement” and a “Covid-19 Pre-Screening Questionnaire” for you to review and use to prepare for this event.

Also, you will need to provide your own tenting and bedding for this event.

No matter what we might personally believe or think about the state of the public health situation we are living through today, as Scouts and Scouters we believe in concerning ourselves with the concerns and beliefs of others. As we share time and space with our fellow sisters and brothers from Georgia and Alabama, please remember that we have dedicated ourselves…

“…to be unselfish in the service and devotion to the welfare of others…”

While there is much to reflect on in that part of our obligation, please take some time and think about how others view you in the course of your daily life. What does really mean to be unselfish, not just when we wear our uniforms but every day? What does it really mean to devote ourselves to the welfare of others? And how can we demonstrate both in relation to the current public health situation with other members of the Order from around our Section? How do we treat others who may not or do not share our exact beliefs? I would say that our responses to these questions may shed light on our understanding of the Scout Oath, Law, Motto, and Slogan as well as the ideals of the Order of the Arrow.

If you have signed up for this coming Conclave that is being hosted by the Withlacoochee Lodge that serves the South Georgia Council, please read through these attached documents. There will probably be more information coming soon and we will pass that along as it is shared. If you haven’t signed up yet to come, registration is still open and the cost will be $60 and youu can register here: Conclave | Section SR-9 (sr-9.org). The Conclave will be held at Camp Patten (247 E Burnt Church Rd, Lakeland, GA 31635) and will last from Friday evening through most of Sunday morning.

We expect to have Mowogo Lodge members participating in ceremonies, dancing, and various training presentations. Two of our youth are serving as program chairs for this Conclave so let’s be prepared to support them in these important roles as well. As we deal with the adaptations to be prepared to keep each other and ourselves safe, please practice patience and understanding as we make this journey and share fellowship with others celebrating our traditions and the practice of our shared values.

Yours in Cheerfulness,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

Section SR-9 Elections

Greetings, fellow wearers of the Arrow!

As we approach the time for our Conclave, there are several things that help to keep us aware of some of the more important parts of the Order of the Arrow and our traditions. These include ceremony team evaluations, celebrations of native American culture including various dance exhibitions, training of various kinds including Chapter operations, communication techniques, and participating in another level of youth leadership in action and for the coming year. For our newest members, Conclave is a time for gathering with other Scouts and Scouters that have been chosen by others to serve and lead in their units, districts, council, and our section (SR-9) that covers most of Georgia and Alabama.

Mowogo Lodge is one of the largest particpating lodges to Conclaves in our section. We have enjoyed having many ceremony teams, dancers, and youth that have taken on section leadership roles. Two of our own currently serve as committee chairs for the Council of Chiefs for our section. The Council of Chiefs is comprised of elected youth leaders that include each Lodge Chief for each member lodge and three elected positions including the Section Chief, the Section Vice Chief, and the Section Secretary. Any youth arrowman can run for these section-level offices and compete with youth leaders in the Order of the Arrow from around Georgia and Alabama. However, there is a process to qualify for running for a section office.

Attached is the "2021-2022 Declaration of Intent to Run For Section Office." If you are interested in running for and serving as a Section Officer, you must complete this letter and make arrangements to meet with the appropriate individuals to discuss your intent and obtain their signature on this document. This process is critical. If you want to run for a Section Office, you will be representing Mowogo Lodge in the Section and that is something that we all take some pride in. This Letter of Intent must be completed and turned in during the Section Candidates meeting on the Saturday, April 17, at the Conclave.

There are several other opportunities to compete and get involved in at Conclave. If you want to know more, please reach out to your Chapter Chief and any of our Lodge Officers. For our newest members, please consider joining us at this year's Conclave at the South Georgia Council's Camp Patten near Lakeland, Georgia the weekend of April 16-18. Today is the last day to register without a late penalty ($42). After today registration will be $60. You can follow this link: Conclave | Section SR-9 (sr-9.org)

Yours in Cheerfulness,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

Springtime for Mowogo

Greetings, Fellow wearers of the Arrow!

We hope this finds you healthy, staying safe, and doing your part to keep others safe.

One year after Spring Fellowship 2020 was cancelled we find ourselves with renewed hope and brimming with enthusiasm. The next two weekends offer a change for Mowogo Lodge from one shared event without a worry of contagion to two carefully planned events. Both will celebrate and honor the best traditions of the Order of the Arrow and specifically Mowogo Lodge. And you will be a part of the success of both.

This weekend Mowogo Lodge will execute a first, an induction-only event solely for providing access for those honored by their Scouting units to join Scouting’s National Honor Society. Our Lodge Leadership have planned this event to meet all appropriate safety protocols to protect all of our Ordeal Candidates and the minimal brothers and sisters needed to ensure a safe and meaningful experience. Currently, we have very close to 100 Ordeal Candidates that have registered for this event. Considering the absence of being able to share time and space together for essentially almost a year now, that number speaks volumes to the viability and vitality of our fellowship and the purpose of our Order.

The following Saturday, March 27, Mowogo Lodge will host another Day of Witahemui like the two Saturdays in May of last year when Mowogo came together to prepare Rainey Mountain to be one of only three camps to try to operate a Summer Camp program in 2020. With all of the traditions of the Order of the Arrow we respect, the culture of service that is deeply ingrained into the spirit of Mowogo Lodge is the envy of lodges and councils around the country. Serving as Lodge Adviser, I have learned that what seems routine and a part of the Order of the Arrow to us: providing service and leadership to our council properties, is not as prevalent in all BSA councils as we enjoy in Northeast Georgia. Word of our two Days of Witahemui in 2020 spread throughout the Order and I have been asked from some outside of our Lodge how that happened. It was another instance where I realized the impact our service has not only in preparing our camps but also the example Mowogo Lodge sets for others to aspire to.

As with other aspects of life, to survive and thrive we must be able to improvise, adapt, and overcome situations that we encounter that disrupt our expectations. While no one wishes to have two separate events, our Lodge Leadership have spent a great deal of time and expended much effort to create both of these events to bring the Black Bear out of its deep and much too long hibernation. For those serving to provide a very meaningful experience for our Ordeal Candidates this coming weekend and for all of you that will participate in providing service and leadership during the Day of Witahemui, thank you. You are Mowogo Lodge. Our very soon-to-be new Ordeal members will be encouraged to attend and serve on March 27 if they are able so they can see by your example what it means to be a member of Mowogo Lodge.

Our Section Leadership is moving forward with planning and preparing for our Conclave to be held at Camp Patten in Lakeland, Georgia on April 16-18. And Mowogo Lodge is planning to be able to hold a more traditional Pre-Camp Fellowship May 14-16. Of course, the plans for both are contingent on the status of public health concerns. So, please do your part to keep yourself and others safe so we can be rid of this scourge and share time and space yet again.

To register for the Day of Witahemui, please follow this link so we can be prepared for the number of members that will be there:

Register for the Day of Witahemui

Stories of how Scouts collected metal scraps during the wars of the early part of the last century to massive service effort provided by the Order of the Arrow to our national parks in the early part of this century, service and leadership are the foundation of our shared purpose. We did not let COVID-19 completely stop us from providing service in 2020. We are beginning to see the light at the end of this tunnel as we work to make both the Spring Induction Event and the Day of Service events we can be very proud of as we look back on this strange and difficult time.

If you are going to be at one or both events, thank you. If you are going to be at only one event, please keep those serving the other event in your thoughts. Both are important and both serve our purpose.

Yours in Brotherhood, Cheerfulness, and Service,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

Spring Induction & Day of Witahemui

Sisters and Brothers of Mowogo Lodge, we hope this message finds you safe, well, and doing your part to keep those around you safe too.

As we enter 2021, our Lodge leadership has been very busy working hard to wake the Black Bear from its much too long hibernation. And we want to share these plans with you so that you can help us navigate the trail ahead for Mowogo. I continue to be amazed by the dedication and enthusiasm our Lodge leadership demonstrate and share for our mission and the vision they are working very hard to bring to life. As we continue to negotiate risks associated with the Pandemic, our leadership have developed a plan and has started its execution this week.

First, there will be a Spring Induction Event. This will be a first for Mowogo Lodge as we will focus solely on conducting an Ordeal for our Ordeal Candidates from 2020 and from the first few weeks of 2021. This will not be an open lodge event for all lodge members to participate in nor for all Ordeal Candidates as complying with safety protocols means there are maximum limits to manage. This event will be minimally staffed with only those Elangomats, Ceremonialists, our Lodge leadership, and adult Advisers necessary to ensure the quality and safety of the event for all involved. If you are asked to be a part of this, please give it serious consideration and follow up with the lodge officer who has reached out to you.

For all of our members, we will host another Day of Witahemui on Saturday, March 27, at Rainey Mountain similar to those we hosted last May. This will not be an official Lodge event and no program will be provided. It will, however, offer a chance for all of us to be a part of the world class service to our flagship camp that Mowogo is known far and wide for and share some fellowship we all have missed. There will be no registration fee but please register for this using the link below so we know you are coming. This will be a day-only activity and we are going to ask you to bring your own lunch. We will provide an evening meal for you to eat there or on your way back home as a way of showing our appreciation for providing service to Rainey Mountain.

Click here to register for the Day of Witahemui

While this is not the Spring Fellowship we had hoped for in 2021, this plan will help us recognize those Scouts and Scouters who have been chosen by their fellow Scouts and Scouters to be a part of the Northeast Georgia Council’s Honor Society and to provide the service that is an essential part of our lodge culture. Our Lodge Chief and the Lodge Executive Committee have put in a great deal of time and thought to make these first events of 2021 a reality. Emails have been sent out to Ordeal Candidates just a couple of days ago. If an Ordeal Candidate reaches out to you to ask about this Induction-only event, please feel free to connect them with their Chapter Chief, their Chapter Adviser, or any lodge officer or adviser.

Thank you for your continued dedication to the ideals of Scouting and the Order of the Arrow. More information will be forthcoming. I hope to see you at one of these events!

Yours in Brotherhood, Cheerfulness, and Service,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

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