Lodge Adviser Minute - First Quarter 2020

Happy New Year!  It is hard to believe that another new year is beginning.  Before that begins, we can reflect on the end of our last year with some pretty lofty accomplishments.   We dedicated our Lodge Pavilion Fireplace to our Past Chiefs, we celebrated our Lodge’s Centennial Year at Fall Fellowship, we began work on our Lodge’s donation of a second Adirondack Shelter at Albright Reservation, and we staffed the Annual Richmond Nativity Pageant in Richmond.  And finally, we capped off our year by attaining a “Thriving” status for our lodge following our new Performance Measurement Program implemented in 2019. Job well done!

Now it is time for us to focus on another exciting year ahead of us.  Our year will begin with our first Lodge Executive Meeting where our Lodge vision and goals will be revealed.  Upcoming events will include Lodge Leadership Development training in January, OA Induction/Service Weekend in March, and both OA Section Induction and Ceremonies Summit and Section Conclave in April.  Be sure not to miss out and get these events scheduled on your calendar now.

Look for changes in 2020, big and small.  Just a few things to mention. We look to complete our OA pavilion with finished bathrooms, kitchenette, and administration rooms.  We look to raise three new flagpoles at our pavilion as well. Look for improvements to our ceremonial ring and a proper dedication of this ring to our beloved Finance Adviser lost this last year.  We will also bring back the Chapter of the Year Award that’s been absent for a couple years and again challenge our chapters with friendly competition to see which chapter stands out among the rest.  These are just a few snippets of things to come in 2020.

I am asking each of us as members of this great Order to set our sights high in 2020.  To continue our lodge’s past success, we must set our goals high and exceed expectations to ensure our future success.  This will not happen if become complacent with our processes and actions. Let’s challenge ourselves to improve in every aspect of how we set individual, committee, chapter, and lodge goals and then continue to be mindful of them throughout the year.  By doing so, I hope we can look back at another year and be proud of what we accomplished knowing each of us made a unique difference in Nawakwa Lodge 3.  

Yours in Brotherhood,

Gary Gibbs

Nawakwa Lodge 3 Adviser

Lodge Adviser Minute - Fall 2019

Lodge Adviser Minute:

Brothers, as I write my first Lodge Adviser minute, I am still reflecting on the privilege of being part of this great lodge, now a centennial lodge ending its first hundred years and embarking on another.

We are certainly ending the centennial year in fine fashion by hosting a historical Conclave, having built a new OA Pavilion, and with an upcoming Fall Fellowship where our centennial celebration continues.  It’s great to relish in past accomplishments because they reflect our history.  But now we need to focus on our future.  Even with a great past, we cannot lose sight of moving forward to a brighter future.   Our challenges remain the same.  The focus of effective funding, increasing membership and delivering a great program for our members. 

As your new Lodge Adviser, I am humbled by the opportunity to serve this lodge and to each of you individually.  I have found it to be a daunting task with great responsibility.  I have appreciated all of the kind words of support and encouragement I have received from many of you.  I can assure you that I will do my best not to let you down.   I am excited to have the opportunity working with each of you as we continue our journey welcoming another century of scouting.  It is awesome referring to our lodge as a Centennial Lodge.  How many lodges can boast that accolade?

So what has been recently accomplished?

We completed our Summer Service Weekend with 189 members attending.  Summer tends to be light, but after experiencing record numbers attending Conclave from our lodge, I could not help being a little disappointed.  However, much-needed service was done in camp putting up tents in preparation for Summer Camp.  In the process, we proudly inducted 33 new members as Arrowmen, converted another 17 Ordeal members to Brotherhood, and 3 new Vigil members were recognized. 

So what is in store for the rest of the year?

Our new OA Pavilion is taking shape.  The slab of concrete was in plain view at our Summer Service Weekend.  By this publication, surely we will see more progress on a daily basis.  With the blessings of good weather, we should see our pavilion completed by August with a formal dedication made by the Fall Service Weekend in September.  No one will be more excited than our very own past Lodge Adviser, Michael Lynch for this will be his lasting legacy.  Michael has led this effort from its inception.  Many thanks for all of his dedicated hours seeing this through to fruition.

Chapters should be busy readying their election teams in time to begin our unit elections scheduled from October 1 through February 15.  We have asked our units to start early and get on their Chapter’s calendar and schedule their election and visit from the Chapter.  Even if a unit does not have eligible candidates for an election, it is still imperative to schedule a unit visit by their Chapter.

Our next scheduled event is our Fall Service Weekend scheduled for September 13 – 15.  We hope all our members will consider registering for this last service weekend of the year.  Our dinner plans will focus on the dedication of the Mack T. Ruffin Leadership Training Center.  We also need your help readying our camp for the winter.  We also encourage any of those eligible to complete their Ordeal as well as current Ordeal members eligible for Brotherhood membership.  Please do not forget that effective immediately, the waiting period between induction and eligibility for Brotherhood membership has been reduced from 10 months to only 6 months.  Finally, our last big event for the year will be our Fall Fellowship where we will spend our weekend celebrating our Centennial Year.  Many plans are being made to make this a fun and memorable event.  You really do not want to miss the celebration.  How many Centennial Celebrations do you have the opportunity to be a part of in your lifetime?  No work, only fun and fellowship will be allowed.

Yours in Brotherhood,

Gary Gibbs

Nawakwa Lodge 3 Adviser 

Lodge Adviser Minute: January 2019

Brothers,

   Once again, I open this adviser minute with a simple challenge... Its show time in the Heart of Virginia Council and NAWAKWA LODGE 3 and we are now just a couple months...13 weeks...away from the biggest Conclave in our Sections history as of this adviser minute.

   Our challenge is to get every Lodge member who has paid Lodge dues over the past couple of years to recommit themselves to values of our Lodge and help us celebrate our Centennial year in 2019 by attending Conclave as a delegate or staff volunteer or attending one of the upcoming work weekends prior to Conclave in order to help us prepare our camps for our conclave guests and ensure they are in pristine showcase condition.

Read more: Lodge Adviser Minute: January 2019

Lodge Adviser Minute: May 2019

Brothers,
In the previous Adviser minute, I opened with a simple challenge…It was show time…time for our Lodge to host the centennial celebration of the Order of the Arrow in the great State of Virginia.  To not only host the centennial celebration, but to make it the largest in Virginia history and in Section SR-7A history.  WOW!!!  Did you ever step up to the challenge…Over 1,260 Arrowmen and guests surpassed not only the section goal of 1,200, but Nawakwa Lodge had 428 of our Arrowmen in attendance, making this one of the LARGEST Lodge contingents ever.  

Our Lodge provided a huge service to our home camps with over 1,400 hours of service over three separate work weekends.  Our Conclave Service Lodge Committee, under the leadership of Matt and Mark, along with countless Nawakwa Lodge members serving as Conclave staff made this one of the BEST and Largest Conclaves in our history, in spite of the Friday night power challenges.  Our partnership with the Section’s Conclave leadership to facilitate all of the training, fellowship and service will be the hallmark in which all future Conclaves will be measured for years to come.  I am extremely proud of our Arrowmen who supported our leadership’s efforts to make our central theme of “Great Friendly Customer Service” not only a great slogan, but a personal commitment to every Conclave participant from all our Virginia Lodges.  Well done!!! 

Read more: Lodge Adviser Minute: May 2019

Lodge Adviser Minute: November 2018

Just a quick update to all Lodge members on a few important items, especially the unfortunate news that we will need to cancel for the second year in a row, our traditional December Service event at the Carillon (Richmond Christmas Pageant), due to continuing renovations of the Carillon Tower.

First, a huge THANK YOU to all the Lodge members who attended this past weekend’s Fall Service/Induction and Fellowship event, including the new Ordeal members completing their OA Induction and to the Brothers who committed themselves to Brotherhood, Cheerfulness and Service as new Brotherhood level members.

We had a great time this weekend as we were able to successfully combine three separate events, Service/Induction Weekend, Vigil Honor and our annual Lodge Fellowship Banquet, into one awesome experience…despite the very cold temperatures and sometimes rainy conditions.  Good thing we are all experienced Honor Campers!!! A huge congratulations to this year’s Vigil Honor recipients, Founders Award recipients (Justin Robins, Trey Lyle and John Gasink) and to Nawakwa Lodge and Ed Beach for their James E. West Award recognitions.

The weekend was so successful because of the dedication of several individual Arrowmen who gave of themselves over the past 8 plus weeks to plan, organize and facilitate this event on behalf of all participants.  If you missed it, you missed one of the best events this year!!!   Thanks goes out to our Lodge Officers and the Lodge Executive Committees, Registration and Finance Committees (Razz, Scott and Robert), Administration, Program and Communications as well as our Ceremonies, Dance, Special Events/Spirit, Food Service, Health Services, Ordeal, Museum and all our Chapter Leadership…THANK YOU for a job WELL DONE!!

It is also time to be paying your 2019 Lodge Dues.  www.Nawakwa.org/Dues Wearing your Lodge Flap on the BSA Field Uniform is an indication that you are an active dues paying member of Nawakwa Lodge.  Annual Passes for 2019 are also available.

Don't forget CONCLAVE!!!  Register TODAY!!! Conclave 2019 registration

A quick update on our Lodge OA Pavilion for your consideration and help…We are hopeful and VERY EXCITED to be signing our contract with the General Contractor on or about November 19th in order to meet our required dedication date of April 2019 for the Lodge OA Pavilion in time to serve as host/service Lodge for our Centennial Conclave event.   I promised all our donors and members that WE WILL BUILD this Nawakwa Lodge OA Pavilion and it is gratifying to be narrowing in on a possible ground breaking date.  

Unfortunately, due to not being able to fully fund the full construction costs at this time, even though we have reduced to overall costs through negotiations with the builder and asking local companies for donated materials, we will need to have the general contractor start with a phased approach which will include the shell of the OA Pavilion with no fireplace or interior finishes (kitchenette, restrooms…etc.) in the building portion of the pavilion, although they will be plumbed for future completion.  These will need to be completed in a future phase as the funds become available.  We will continue to aggressively campaign and fundraise for the full cost of the building and hopefully the remaining $150,000 can be raised quickly without adding to the growing cost of a phased approach.We need your support NOW more than ever!!!

You can go to www.nawakwa.org/donate to see the various donations levels, even if it is only $100 and even if you have already donated something, every donation is critical to our success in getting the FULL OA Pavilion built.  In addition, each donation level is entitled to a limited edition Nawakwa Lodge Patch Gift set. Please consider your donations are not necessarily about the patches but primarily to bring the reality of a great addition to the overall program options being offered at the Heart of Virginia Council Camp at Camp T. Brady Saunders.

Thank you all for your continuing and Cheerful Service!
Yours in Brotherhood,

Michael Lynch  |  Lodge Adviser

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