AJAPEU Lodge Achieves Quality Lodge Status
On February 8, 2010, Ajapeu Lodge of the Green Mountain Council #592 was notified by the National Order of the Arrow Committee through Section NE-2A leadership that they have qualified for Quality Lodge status for the 2009 charter year. This is a significant accomplishment in the history of Ajapeu Lodge – marking only the third time in its 37 year history that the lodge has met all 15 qualifying standards.
The Quality Lodge program is administered by the National Order of the Arrow Committee, and is a series of 10 mandatory and 5 locally – selected standards that lodge identify jointly with council leadership and strive to achieve throughout the year. These standards include such goals as membership growth, Brotherhood conversion, communication, service provided to Scouting and the community, attendance and participation in section and national events, leadership training, and camping promotion. Achievement of 2009 Quality Lodge status allows Ajapeu Lodge to submit an application in 2010 for a maximum $5,000 matching grant towards service to our resident camps in the Order’s National Service Grant program.
In 2009, Ajapeu Lodge had 415 members in the Cub Packs, Scout Troops, and Venture Crews of the Green Mountain Council. The lodge achieved a 39% Ordeal – to – Brotherhood conversion ratio (30% is required), performed over 7,200 hours of service for the council and local communities, contributed $3,000 to the Camp Sunrise boat house project, made a $1,000 contribution to the council endowment fund in the form of a James E. West Fellowship award, sponsored one member to attend the Northern Tier High Adventure Base OA Wilderness Voyage, attended both the Section NE-2A Conclave and the 2009 National Order of the Arrow Conference in Bloomington, Indiana with 49 and 35 members respectively, contacted 75% of the troops in the council for promotion of summer resident camping, and played a key role in service to Cub Scouting through support of the council’s Haunted Harvest Festival at Camp Sunrise.
The Order of the Arrow is Scouting’s national honor society, and was founded in 1915 at Treasure Island Scout Camp in the Philadelphia Council on the principles of Brotherhood, Cheerfulness, and Service. Ajapeu Lodge has served the Scouts, Scouters, and units of the Green Mountain Council since 1972, and the Order of the Arrow has been consistently serving Scouting in Vermont since the mid – 1940’s.
For more information on the programs and services of the lodge, to join the lodge, or to schedule a unit election, Cub Scout crossover ceremony, or camping promotion visit for your unit, please contact the Green Mountain Council service center, Lodge Adviser Barry Simays ([Click for member's page]), Lodge Staff Adviser Aaron Strong (astrong@scoutingvermont.org), or visit the lodge’s page on the GMC website: www.scoutingvermont.org/ajapeu.