The Future of Santee Lodge 116
What follows is a message from the Santee Lodge adviser Robin Fowler in regards to the situation with the lodge facing the provisional charter status of the Pee Dee Area Council.
Brothers of Santee Lodge,
Are you aware that the Pee Dee Area Council is operating on a Provisional Charter at this time? Do you know how this affects Santee Lodge? In a nutshell, if the Pee Dee Area Council Charter is not renewed, Santee Lodge will cease to exist. Brothers are we going to allow Santee 116 to die without a fight? Are we going to allow the Traditions which we have worked hard to establish become a memory? Are we going to sit around this time next year thinking about Fall Fellowship, OA Week, our Native American Pageant, and saying, What could we have done to save Santee Lodge and Pee Dee Area Council? Do you want to be able to pass the Traditions of Santee Lodge to the next generation or tell them how it was?
Santee Lodge is celebrating its 75th Anniversary this year, is this our last or will see another 75 years? The choice is ours.
If you are willing to help save Pee Dee Area Council, Santee Lodge, and Camp Coker for the future, there will be a meeting, Saturday, October 27, at 4:30pm of concerned Adult members of Santee Lodge (if you were ever a member of Santee Lodge, you still are a member) at Camp Coker in the Council Ring. We will discuss the situation and look for avenues which we may take to help restore the health of Pee Dee Area Council, a healthy Council means a healthy Lodge.
Please pass this email and information to other concerned Santee Lodge members and friends of Santee . We need all of you.
If you cannot attend the meeting Saturday and are interested in being part this movement to save Santee Lodge, contact Robin Fowler at [email protected].
Yours in WWW,
Robin Fowler
Lodge Advisor of Santee 116
Jason can you tell us a bit more?? Firstly *why* is PeeDee on a provisional charter, what what is required to get them back in good standing?
While I’ve never been a member of Santee or PeeDee Council, and I’m no longer active in Scouting, I have a great feeling for all Scout councils and camps– we’ve lost too many already. I have camped several times at Camp Coker and I did my Vigil ceremony there– so it has a place in my heart.
Thanks!
Tom
The council has to meet some pretty high benchmarks to get a full charter for next year mainly dealing with membership and money. One of the big pieces for membership is the volunteer structure with fully staffed committees and support pieces like commissioners. As for the money some progress has been made but they still need to raise perhaps $50k or more before the end of the year. The council sits in the most rural part of the state so its always been a struggle to get corporate support that some more urban councils may enjoy. The camp is down to less than 300 kids/summer and a board member told me today that summer camp lost several thousand dollars this summer and the camp for the year was a $40k deficit if you factor in year round cost. I don’t have all the numbers but that is just an anecdote that was shared with me today.
I was not able to attend the meeting myself but I will share some of what I learned during the time I was at the fellowship. There are a number of indicators which must be met for the council to receive a full charter in 2014. Rather than list those let me share that it was confirmed the Dixie Fellowship hosted by the lodge at Camp Coker will go on. Sadly if the charter does not get approved that may be the last Scouting event held at the 85 year-old camp.