Report on the 2004 Combined Crosswinds and Hemlock Districts Camporee

On April 23-25, 2004, more than 592 Boy Scouts and 205 adult Scouters attended the annual spring camporee at Camp Reeves on the Occoneechee Scout Reservation near Carthage, N.C.

The Crosswinds and Hemlock Districts have 38 Boy Scout Troops and 29 of those Troops attended the spring camporee. Crosswinds has 20 Troops and 18 attended and Hemlock has 18 Troops and 11 attended. The Camporee Chief and his staff were delighted with the turnout and the beautifully cool and sunny weather.

The theme for the camporee was "Emergency Preparedness". The Scouts got to learn how to treat injuries in the field, what steps to take first and how to determine who needs treatment first. They practiced fire building, rescue techniques, puzzle solving and rope and knot skills.

Crosswinds and Hemlock District Troops attending were; T10, T31, T42, T50, T131, T152, T200, T202, T204, T205, T208, T209, T210, T212, T213, T216, T222, T231, T232, T244, T253, T316, T320, T331, T356, T391, T397, T431 and T431.

The Scouts spent the first part of Saturday by having their emergency preparedness skills refreshed by many unit adult Scouters. Late Saturday morning and in the afternoon, the unit patrols participated in exercises that put the learned/refreshed skills in practice. The Scouts did really well on the exercises and had fun doing them.

Ed Walsh was the Camporee Chief, Jerry Jester was the Camporee Program Chief and Bob Gamble was the Registrar. They were assisted by Jim McGraw, Roger Lear, Susan Long, Ed Williams and the District Executive, Martin Banning. The camporee cooks were Kevin John and Robbie Spivey. The Scout units operated the various skill testing areas and did an excellent job in helping teach the Scouts about emergency preparedness.

Ed Walsh thanks all of the Scouting units that participated in the camporee and especially those units that assisted with the various skill testing events. He and the staff also thanks Troop 210 for the delicious "pig pickin'" dinner that they provided for the Camporee Staff on Saturday night. Thanks also to the Order of the Arrow for operating the trading post and heading up the campfire Saturday night where 35 Boy Scouts and 9 adult Scouters were "tapped out" as new members of the Order of the Arrow.

The following were some of the Categories and the winners of that category. All of the units received some type of prize that was purchased with the camporee registration fees.

Category			Winner

Crosswinds Chairman's Award     Troop 204 (100% of 40 Scouts and 12 Scouters in
					   Class A Scout Uniforms)
Hemlock Chairman's Award        Troop 42


Crosswinds Commissioner's Award Troop 244
Hemlock Commissioner's Award    Troop 320


Overall Camporee QM Award	Troop 397
Crosswinds Camporee QM Award	Troop 31
Hemlock Camporee QM Award	Troop 391


Registrar's Awards:
First Unit Registered		Troop 131
Most Trips			Troop 232

Emergency Preparedness Activities:

BBB		  Wolves Troop 200
Flood		  Shaggy Troop 210
Hurry		  Panthers Troop 391
McGyver 	  Troop & Team 131
Stranded	  Badgers Troop 50
Terrorist	  Eagles Troop 209
Earthquake	  Eagles Troop 222
Blow Up 	  Monkeys Troop 31
Woodsman	  Troop & Team 131
Fire, Fire, Fire  Sharks #2 Troop 320
Dust Off	  Weasels Troop 231
Fire Fighter	  Buffalos Troop 10
Rescue		  Webelos Troop 253
Cause		  Troop 209

Many awards were given in the cooking contest with the winning Troops being:
Troops 50, 204, 212, 244 and 391.

Other prizes were given for entertainment and skits.  Every unit and patrol
received a participation ribbon and everyone received one of the "ghost"
patches, shown above.