On Monday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m., Venturing Crew 9 will be holding an informational meeting for young people in Palmyra and the surrounding towns. The event will take place at the Bethany Lutheran Church in Palmyra located at 617 Morgan Ave.
Over the last 60 to 70 years, Venturing Crew 9 has been a staple in the Palmyra community. The program is for teenagers and young adults ages 14 to 21. A co-ed program of the Boy Scouts of America, the venturing crew allows for participants to go out and be active.
According to the Boy Scouts of America’s website, the Venturing program aims to enable young adults to experience a program that is fun, full of challenges and adventures, acquire skills in the area of their crew’s specialty, become a skilled training and program resource for other youth groups, experience positive leadership from adult and youth leaders and be given opportunities to take on leadership roles, learn to make ethical choices throughout their lives by instilling the values of the Scout Oath and Law and have a chance to learn and grow in a supportive, caring and fun environment.
“We do some fun activities,” said Bill Isard, the leader of Venturing Crew 9. “We go on camping trips, go hiking, canoeing, sporting events, shooting and plenty more exciting events. The youth in the crew develop, organize and plan their own activities while asking advisors questions if needed. Venturing provides opportunities for leadership development, communication skills, a chance to help out the community, learn new skills all while making memories.”
The A-L-P-S model of adventure, leadership, personal growth and service is one of the main pillars of the program, however, while the organization has been teaching and developing ideals with youth for years, the level of participants has been dwindling for some time.
According to Isard, this wasn’t always the case. When Isard first started participating with the group during the ’70s, many kids were excited about joining the venturing crew. While Isard doesn’t necessarily know why the youth isn’t interested anymore, he is hoping that the open house can continue to spark interest in the group.
Venture Crew 9 meets at Bethany Lutheran Church in Palmyra and is open to the youth in Palmyra and nearby towns. Anyone who might be interested in learning more about the program can attend the open house or can contact an advisor of crew at (856) 297-3799 or
email the crew at Scoutlady@comcast.net. To learn more about the overall program, residents can visit the Boy Scouts website at scouting.org/programs/venturing.
