2020 Year in Review - 67th Winnipeg Scout Group - Google Groups

2020 Year in Review - 67th Winnipeg Scout Group
                          Prepared January 2021
67th Winnipeg Scout Group - Overview
The 67th Winnipeg Scout Group offers five challenging programs for boys, girls and
youth age 5-26. The youngest, Beaver Scouts, is for girls and boys from 5 to 7 years of
age, and meet on Monday nights. Other sections include Cub Scouts (8 to 10,
Tuesdays), Scouts (11 to 14, Wednesdays), Venturer Scouts (15 to 17, Thursdays), and
Rover Scouts (ages 18-26, meet casually). All sections are co-educational.
The 67th Winnipeg Group Committee administers revenue and expenditures on behalf of
the five operating sections. Annual membership fees are paid by families for each youth
member and these fees are paid directly to Scouts Canada. All operating funds for the
Group are generated through fundraising activities, fees charged for specific events (e.g.,
camp fees) and weekly “dues.” Operating funds go to pay for equipment and general
group operations, as well as to offset the cost paid by members for camps and advanced
activities, such as Jamborees.
During 2020, Group members and parent volunteers organized only one major fundraiser
– the annual Christmas-tree sale. The Group would normally organize other fundraisers,
but most were cancelled because of the pandemic. The Group also facilitated other
events for members and families, including an outing to a Manitoba Moose game, and a
potluck dinner in honour of Scouting’s founder (Robert Baden-Powell). The group was
also fortunate to be able to participate with St. Aidan’s in hosting a pancake supper on
Shrove Tuesday. All of these events were early in 2020.
All in-person Scouting activities were suspended, on a national basis, from March 16 to
August 31. In September and October, we were able to hold some in-person Scouting
events, but only in small groups, and only outdoors. However, as restrictions tightened
in Winnipeg, all programming was moved online until at least the end of 2020.
In spite of the restrictions on the sale of non-essential goods, we were fortunate to be
able to proceed with the Christmas-tree sale by running the sales lot on the basis of online
pre-order with either curbside pickup, or deliver of trees and wreaths directly to customers’
homes.
During calendar 2020, overall youth membership in the group fell from 81 to 58. A number
of our youth members did not return in the fall, and we attribute this primarily to the
pandemic.
Individual section reports follow.

67th Winnipeg Beaver Scout Colony
Beaver Scouts is a co-educational section geared towards 5 – 7 year old youth.
In early 2020, the Beavers had an active winter. Some highlights were a skate and
toboggan night at the Assiniboine Park duck pond, and a visit to The Winnipeg Railway
Museum. The oldest Beavers (the White-Tails) also went to Operation Ice Cap winter
camp in January. In late February, the Beavers visited the Maskwa Project for their own
camp, where they were happy to occupy the shelters that the Venturers and Rovers had
built during their winter camp (Winter Wonderland).

After shutting down from mid-March until the fall, some of the youth moved up to Cugs
and. When the Beaver Colony was re-assembled, it consisted of all new-to-our-Group
youth. After the registration process for new members was set up by Scouts Canada,
the Beavers had time to hold one ‘in person’ meeting early in the fall. This was to do
investiture and present the new Beavers with their group/District badges and the group
Necker. It was held outside and went very well.
Since then, all meetings have been via Zoom, typically, seven or eight Beaver Scouts
participate each week in Zoom meetings. We have alternated with presentations by
Manitoba Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, Prairie Living Museum, and Fort Whyte Alive.
Each presentation was followed up in the next meeting with a short quiz about the
presentation. These have all gone very well and we have had good reviews from the
parents and Beavers.
We have had one craft-making session where the youth made snowflakes. Several of
the Beavers have started their Personal Achievement Badge program. This is reviewed
each week and the Beavers bring us up to date on their progress. This program is
monitored by our newest Scouter, Susan Collins.
Scouter Tim McManus.

67th Winnipeg Cub Scout Pack
Cub Scouts is a co-educational section geared towards 8 – 10 year old youth.
Operation Ice Cap winter camp was a focal point for the Cubs in January 2020. After
that, the Pack connected with our Beaver Colony by preparing, and then hosting, a
Beaver/Cub linking night in the Cubs’ “den” (regular meeting place). The linking night
included games, crafts and random swamp-water refreshments. After Ice Cap, the Pack
got to work preparing for, and participating in, the Manitoba Klondike Derby. They then
started making their Kub Kars (wooden toy cars that the Cubs race down a sloped
track), just as COVID hit and everything shut down.
When we were able to re-open in the fall, we started meeting outdoors in small groups,
then moved to online meetings when the lockdown forced us to stop meeting in person.
But, until that time, we had some great outdoor hikes through Assiniboine Forest, some
challenge builds in the grass and outdoor games. Online meetings were an adjustment,
but with the help of our Scouters we got a chance to build online worlds, host challenge
trivia games, and do some crafts from kits assembled by the leaders and distributed to
the youth beforehand. We will continue to have our online meetings, and plan to hold a
virtual winter camp which includes a campfire, cooking, night games and hands-on
crafts. We hope to get out again so we can get our Klondike sleds in the snow, but, in
the meantime, we will work on our training to hold our own Klondike challenge.
We have 20 Cub Scouts, six volunteer leaders and one leader in training. Within the
COVID world we live in, the Cub Scouts have adapted, and we are active but using the
mute button regularly.
Scouter Murray Gartner

67th Winnipeg Scout Troop
Scouts is a co-educational section geared towards 11 – 14 year old youth.
Our Scout Troop began the year with 24 active scouts and six Scouter volunteers, as
well as two Rover Scout volunteers. In the early parts of the year, we were able to keep
to our regular activities, which included our annual winter camp in Gimli, ScoutAmik, our
pancake dinner on Shrove Tuesday, annual potluck in honour of Baden Powell’s
birthday, and the Manitoba Klondike Derby at Camp Amisk, just south of Winnipeg.
Unfortunately, our planned activities were cut short and we resumed in September with
outdoor activities including hikes at the Bois D’esprit and Sturgeon Creek trails, and
mountain biking on Bison Butte. Once again, we were asked to go remote. We have
worked in the fall and winter to continue our program and enjoy our community of
Scouting with various challenges, activities, crafts and games on a weekly basis. We
have also started up an Instagram to help document and show off our troop, it’s
@67thwpg, or https://www.instagram.com/67thwpg/.
In the fall we had a varied membership that peaked at 14 scouts and six Scouters.
Currently, we have seven registered Scouts with more to follow, six Scouters, and two
pending Scouters.
Best wishes on behalf of the 67th Winnipeg Scout Troop
Scouter John Delaat

67th Winnipeg Venturer Scout Company

Venturer Scouts is a co-educational section geared towards 14 – 17 year olds. As the
youth progress through the sections, they are expected to take more and more
ownership of their own programming.
Venturers is a youth-driven activity, meaning that the youth are fully responsible for
planning and running their weekly meetings and outings (with the guidance of the adult
advisors). As such, activities vary as the interests of the Company develop.
2020 began with the youth providing offers of service (“OOS”) to help with the winter
camps for Cubs (Operation Ice Cap) and Scouts (Scout Amik). They held a knife-
sharpening workshop and had a camp of their own in February, to which they invited 1st
Southdale Venturers and 82nd Westminster Venturers. Some youth attended first-aid
training at St. John Ambulance. They also ran a “town” (activity station) during the
annual Manitoba Klondike Derby, in early March, along with some youth from 82nd
Westminster and some of our own Group’s Rovers. During the beginning of the year the
youth continued to play Dungeons and Dragons until all activities were postponed due
to the pandemic.
The Venturer Company started the fall session with seven Venturers and three active
Scouters. Organized activities included:
      Regular meetings Thursdays starting at 7pm via online meeting services,
      Writing letters to seniors in care homes, and
      Watching a movie “virtually” together during the Christmas season.

Dylan Delaat, Venturer Scout

67th Winnipeg Rover Scout Crew
Rover Scouts is a co-educational section geared towards 18 – 26 year olds. The Rovers
are expected to continue to develop their Scouting skills, as well as to volunteer with the
younger sections to pass on their knowledge.
As such, 2020 began with the some of the Rovers attending first-aid training for
themselves at St. John Ambulance, and also volunteering to help run the winter camps
for the younger sections, as well as at the Manitoba Klondike Derby. Some of the
Rovers also joined the Venturers in the February winter camp (the annual “Winter
Wonderland,” held of the Louis Riel Day long weekend).
Some of the Rovers are also regular volunteer leaders at the weekly meetings for the
younger sections, particularly Cubs and Scouts. This has been very helpful for the on-
line programming necessitated by COVID, as the Rovers have proved quite adept at
running on-line applications, including Zoom, and various games and quizzes.
67th Winnipeg Rover Scout Crew

67th Winnipeg Scout Group – Demographic Shift
Here is a look at the current makeup of our Group’s youth sections, and also how it has
fluctuated over time.
The number of youth enrolled in our Group has varied over the last five years. In any
given year, the younger sections (Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts) tend to have higher
enrollment than the older sections (Venturers and Rovers). However, the number of
youth in any given section also fluctuates from year to year.
Prior to this (pandemic) year, the total number of participants (Beavers through Rovers)
has ranged from 70 to 81. However, by the end of 2020, that number was reduced to
58. This is a fairly significant reduction in participation from before the pandemic started
to the fall of 2020. It is likely reflective of a reluctance to return to Scouting in the fall,
perhaps due to concerns about viral spread through in-person meetings (which were the
style at the time).
All Scouting in Manitoba has since transitioned to only on-line programming. This
keeps the youth involved and connected to the Group. However, it is not a full
substitute for the Scout method, which involves youth working together hands on, in
small groups, and with a focus on the outdoors.
We don’t expect to see much of an increase in interest from the youth and their families
until we can get back to a “carefree” mode of in-person Scouting.
The table and chart on the next page illustrate the number of youth enrolled in each
section, plus the number of registered Scouters, overall, for the 67th Winnipeg Scout
Group at calendar year-end for each of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

End of:               2016    2017      2018     2019    2020
 Beavers                               10      15        26       21      11
 Cubs                                  30      22        23       20      23
 Scouts                                11      26        28       24      14
 Venturers                             18       8         6        7       7
 Rovers                                 1       5         5        9       3
 Scouters                              22      22        21       20      25
 Total participants                    70      76        88       81      58
 Membership                            92      98       109      101      83

                        Group Demographics
 35

 30

 25                                                                    2016
 20                                                                    2017

 15                                                                    2018
                                                                       2019
 10
                                                                       2020
  5

  0
       Beavers     Cubs    Scouts    Venturers   Rovers   Scouters

67th Winnipeg Scout Group – Contact
For more information on the Group and its sections, please contact us at
67thWpg@gmail.com or visit www.67thWpgScouts.ca