Southwest Florida Council | |||
---|---|---|---|
Owner | Boy Scouts of America | ||
Location | Fort Myers, Florida | ||
Country | United States | ||
Coordinates | 26.5827801,-81.8762809 | ||
Founded | 1968 | ||
Scout Executive | Charles Vonderheid [1] | ||
Website http://www.swflcouncilbsa.org | |||
Southwest Florida Council serves Charlotte, Collier, Lee, Manatee, Sarasota and parts of DeSoto and Hendry counties. The Southwest Florida Council was chartered in July 1968, and based on membership and units, it ranks 46th out of 306 councils in the United States[ citation needed ]. The Southwest Florida Council is a geographic area divided into four districts: Alligator, Manatee, Panther, and Two Rivers. The council has an executive board of volunteers and a staff of professionals.
The council accomplishes its mission by making its program available to chartered organizations; existing organizations that have compatible goals. These groups include religious, educational, civic fraternal, business, labor, and governmental bodies. The council supports chartered organizations by providing materials and certain facilities, such as camps. The chartered organizations organize the packs and troops. [2]
The Southwest Florida Council consists of four localized districts:
The Price-Sanders Scout Reservation (PSSR) is a section of land one mile wide and two miles deep (1280 acres), located at the northeast corner of the Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area. The land has been rented from the Florida FWC since the council was founded in 1968. Since then, approximately $2 million has been invested by the council into the site. [3]
Dr. Franklin Miles Camp, or Camp Miles, is the primary camp located on the Price-Sanders Scout Reservation. The camp has numerous resources, including "a central dining hall, individual troop campsites, a health lodge, a trading post, archery, rifle and shotgun ranges, a chapel by the lake, and ecology lodge, a central heated shower facility, a training lodge, a swimming pool, [and] a boating island for aquatics." The camp also contains a COPE Course and climbing wall. [4] There are nine troop campsites, named after Native American tribes: Apache, Cherokee, Mohawk, Calusa, Seminole, Delaware, Delasioux (named for being between Delaware and Sioux), Sioux, and Miccosukee. [5]
Camp Gannet (more commonly known as the Cub Scout Family Camp) is a Cub Scout campground. It features a circle of twelve campsites surrounding a central shower and bathroom building. Five of these sites have water and electric hookups for RVs. The camp shares many resources with its parent camp, Camp Miles, including the swimming pool and ranges. [6]
Camp Flying Eagle was founded in 1929. Camp Flying Eagle is located in near Bradenton, Florida.[ citation needed ]
Osceola Lodge 564 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Owner | Southwest Florida Council | ||
Founded | 1968 | ||
Website http://www.osceola564.org | |||
Osceola Lodge 564 is one of eight Order of the Arrow Lodges in Section E-5 formally known as S-4 (all of Florida except the Panhandle, and south Georgia). Osceola Lodge was founded in 1968.
Scouting in Florida is composed of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA) local councils in Florida. Scouting in Florida has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
Scouting in Alabama has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
The Greater Saint Louis Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America was formed in 1911 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri. The council serves Scouts in the St. Louis Metro area, southeast Missouri, and southern and central Illinois.
The Narragansett Council of the Boy Scouts of America serves all of the state of Rhode Island and some of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Its several camps include Camp Yawgoog, Champlin Scout Reservation, and Camp Norse.
The Chester County Council is a Boy Scouts of America service council that serves members of the Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, and Venturing programs in Chester County, Pennsylvania and Northeastern Cecil County, Maryland. It is one of the oldest councils in the nation, and is one of two single-county councils left in Pennsylvania, the other being Chief Cornplanter Council in Warren, PA.
Scouting in Maine dates back to the creation of the Katahdin Area Council in 1920 and has continued prominently to the present day.
Minsi Trails Council is a council of the Boy Scouts of America that serves Scouts of eastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley and Pocono regions as well as parts of western New Jersey. The council serves five counties in Pennsylvania: Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Carbon, Luzerne, and Warren county in New Jersey.
The Central Florida Council serves Boy Scouts in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Brevard, Volusia and Flagler Counties in Florida. Its headquarters was previously located in Orlando, Florida and is currently located in Apopka, Florida, just north of Orlando. Its primary Scout camp is Camp La-No-Che in Paisley, Florida, adjacent to the Ocala National Forest.
The Mid Iowa Council is a council of the Boy Scouts of America that serves all Scouts, adult volunteers and Venturers in Central Iowa. This includes the area of the state capital, Des Moines.
Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation, more commonly called just Broad Creek, is the sum of eight separate areas in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The reservation is 3 miles (4.8 km) from the Maryland and Pennsylvania border within Harford County, 25 miles (40 km) from the Maryland and Delaware border, and 28 miles (45 km) from Baltimore. During the summer Camp Saffran focuses on older youth while Camp Spencer focuses on younger youth. Camp Oest was focused on younger youth, but that operation moved to Camp Spencer in 2016. Camp Oest is now used for large events, such as Woodbadge and NYLT. During the off-season Camp Oest, Camp Saffran, and Camp Spencer are open for weekend tent and cabin camping. Five other less developed areas of the reservation used for outpost camping and hiking are called Camp Cone, Camp Finney, The Pines, The Hemlocks, and OA Hill. The facilities at the reservation are used by 36,000 youth each year, 17% of whom are not affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America.
Northeastern Pennsylvania Council, with headquarters in Moosic, Pennsylvania, formed in 1990 from the merger of Forest Lakes Council and Penn Mountains Council of the Boy Scouts of America. It covers the metropolitan area of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The council serves Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Wayne, Wyoming counties, and portions of Susquehanna county.
Samoset Council is a Boy Scout council headquartered in Weston, Wisconsin that serves north central Wisconsin. Founded in 1920, the council gets its name from an early Boy Scout camp in the Town of Harrison named Camp Sam-O-Set. The council is served by Tom Kita Chara Lodge of the Order of the Arrow.
Mississippi Valley Council is headquartered in Quincy, Illinois, and is served by Black Hawk Lodge, Order of the Arrow. This council serves Scouts in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. In 1994, Saukee Area Council merged with Southeastern Iowa Council to form Mississippi Valley Council. The Mississippi Valley Council is one of 22 local Scouting councils in Illinois.
The Winnebago Council is a council of the Boy Scouts of America (#173). The Winnebago Council serves Scouts BSA, Cub Scouts, adult volunteers and Venturers in 17 counties located in North Central Iowa. Including: Black Hawk, Grundy, Butler, Franklin, Wright, Hancock, Winnebago, Worth, Cerro Gordo, Mitchell, Floyd, Bremer, Chickasaw, Howard, Winneshiek, Fayette, and Buchanan.
The Yocona Area Council of Boy Scouts of America serves 12 counties in northeast Mississippi including Alcorn, Benton, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Marshall, Prentiss, Pontotoc, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union, and Yalobusha. The council headquarters is in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Yocona Area Council, supported by 1,100 volunteers, and 130 chartered partners, serves approximately 6,500 youth annually in one of five programs: Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Venturing, Learning for Life, and Exploring.
The Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America offers programs in 58 counties in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. The Mid-America Council was formed from a merger of the Covered Wagon Council and the Southwest Iowa Council in 1965. The first recorded Council in the area was in 1918 as the Omaha Council. In 2000 the council merged with the Prairie Gold Council that had been located in Sioux City, Iowa.
Istrouma Area Council serves Scouts in both Louisiana and Mississippi, primarily in the Greater Baton Rouge Area and Florida Parishes. Specifically, the council includes Scouts from the following parishes: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. James, St. Tammany, Washington, and Tangipahoa. Wilkinson County is the sole Mississippi county in the council.
Gulf Stream Council is a council of the Boy Scouts of America in southeast Florida with the headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens. Founded in 1914, the Gulf Stream Council serves Scouts in Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Okeechobee, Glades and Hendry counties. Throughout its area, it serves over 24,000 youth.
The South Florida Council is a 501(c)(3) organization chartered by the Boy Scouts of America to serve Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties in South Florida. As of 2022, the South Florida Council had a membership of more than 20,000 youth and adults in traditional and in-school and after-school programs. The South Florida Council is Platinum rated charity by Guidestar and a Four out of Four-star rated charity by Charity Navigator.
Greater Tampa Bay Area Council serves Scouts in West-Central Florida with the council headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Youth are served in the following nine counties: Citrus, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sumter. Greater Tampa Bay Area Council was formed on May 1, 2016 by the merger of Gulf Ridge Council with West Central Florida Council.