The 1st Assiniboia Scout group is bringing a shopping spree to Assiniboia — right in time for holiday shopping.
The Assiniboia Scouting group has teamed up with the Assiniboia and District Wildlife Federation to bring a three-minute shopping spree at the Assiniboia co-op food store on December 9. The Scouts are selling tickets that will be drawn on December 6.
The 1st Assiniboia Scout group attracts members from both Assiniboia and surrounding district. There are 25 registered this year — a healthy number considering that a decade ago the group had around 10. After a steady period of building the group has more than doubled in size.
Scouts Canada divides participants into a number of levels according to age. The Assiniboia group include the following programs: Beavers, ages five to seven years old; Cubs, ages eight to 10 years; Scouts, ages 11 to 14 years; and Venturers, ages 14 to 18 years.
Randy Gaveronski, the Scouts group commissioner, leads the Assiniboia Scouts. He is also an area commissioner for a region that stretches as far as Yorkton and down south to the Great Plains area. The Assiniboia group meets at St. George’s church for weekly meetings.
Assiniboia Scouts are involved in a number of activities throughout the year. There is no set curriculum, Gaveronski explained the local Scouts program. Each individual Scout learns at their own pace taking skills step-by-step as their age level permits. They receive mentorship from their leaders and peers as well as leadership training. Each of the Scout sections participate together in activities. They do tasks in keeping with their different age and skill levels. For example, the Beavers forage to build a fire, while the Cubs and Scouts assist. The Scouts plan short term events for three and six months ahead as well as one year plans. But not every Scout group in the province is engaged in eh same activities as Assiniboia’s group.
Some of the recent activities for the Assiniboia group saw the Scouts participating in the Remembrance Day ceremony and laying a wreath on November 11 in Assiniboia. They set up a haunted house installation at the town’s Halloween Party at the Prince of Wales Centre on October 30. They recently had an all sections event in the park. The members had an opportunity to practice their outdoor skills.
“The biggest thing is to get the members to put the ‘out’ in the Scout,” added Gaveronski. The Scouts group commissioner noted that selecting events and activities can be a challenge in today’s technology-oriented world. The organization aims to teach other types of skills as well. They plan at least one weekend a month for camps or outings.
In planning the events, Gaveronski has noticed that parents like to participate in the activities along with the Scout members so they have organized family programs. The Assiniboia Scout group runs all season events. While most events follow the school year, they do organize a few summer activities.
One of these is an eight-day summer camp that takes place in a wilderness park near Kenosee Lake near Moosomin. They also hold a winter camp to learn winter skills like making snow dwellings out of snow to camp out in.
Gaveronski explained that the Assiniboia Scouts organize other types of outings. For example, they visited the local fire hall. Another outing is an area camp for the Beavers that brings in the youngest members aged five to eight years.
Last year, they held the first ever Beavers camp at the Trossachs Gospel Camp that attracted 48 people. Some of the activities included various games with slingshots, hiking, a scavenger hunt and building a spider web. There were some unique outdoor crafts like making twig pencils. In addition, the young participants learned campfire skits and songs.
The 1st Assiniboia Scout group does local fundraising for their activities. In October the group ran a popcorn sale.
