After 46 Years, Rising Arrow Day Camp Comes To An End
April 13, 2022 at 11:26 p.m.
After 46 Years, Rising Arrow Day Camp Comes To An End
By David [email protected]
In 1976, McCleary, who turns 81 this summer, had his first day camp for Cub Scouts on his property south of Warsaw. Nine boys took part under an old Sycamore tree that no longer exists. Every year after that, the camp kept growing.
“We were averaging over 200 kids a year out here,” he said, until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
McCleary said when he started in Scouting as a Scoutmaster, there were about eight active local Cub Scout Packs. Now, he estimates there’s only two or three.
When the day camp started, it was for five days, but McCleary couldn’t get the Scout leaders to do it for that many days, so it was cut back to three days.
“Several of these leaders, I can name, have been with me over 30-some years. The longest is around 35 years, and that’s Cheryl Merchant, and Dave and Larry Haines. My key people, most have been with me over 20 years,” McCleary said.
He said the day camp was a good one and he figured out over the years that the campers needed to be put together by age groups. The programs were then based on the ages of the Cub Scouts.
“But I can remember we used to have camp outs back here, too, for the little kids. Our yard over there where the camp is was packed with tents and stuff. Really, really packed,” McCleary recalled.
During the three-day day camp, he said, there was a trail for Scouts to hike, and shooting sports (like BB guns and archery) were conducted at the shelters. There was a snack bar with “all kinds of stuff and the Scouts could work toward earning their badges. Magicians would be brought in for the 200 kids on Friday nights.
“It was always the third week of July - Wednesday, Thursday and a Friday,” he said. “... We would have all kinds of stuff in here. Canine units. Police departments, fire departments, EMS.”
McCleary recalled that one year - in the late 1970s or early 1980s - he had a farmhouse but got tired of renting it and fixing it.
“We marched the boys all down there. There was quite a few then. And we set the house on fire and then a few minutes later we called the fire department. They came rushing out. The kids really ate that up. It was neat to watch how (the firefighters) worked. The kids got a kick out of that,” he said, noting that he “made sure that everything was entertainment.”
Everything, though, also had to do with advancement and Scouts moving on to the next rank.
“We were averaging 200 kids a year. Then this ‘flu bug’ hit. First year, of course, we didn’t have anything. Last year, we had 60 kids lined up and that was it. This year, here we are in the middle of April and we only have 12 kids signed up. So it’s a lack of participation and I can’t operate like that. I can’t wait until the last minute to order shirts, patches and things like that and get my staff lined up,” McCleary said.
Talking to his camp staff earlier this week, he said they all agreed that the camp wasn’t worth having for just a dozen children.
“Normally, at this time of year, every year, we’d have at least between 150 to 175 by this time every year. We saw that wasn’t going to happen. I was sure this would be a build-back-up year. I really, really was sure of it. But for some reason the parents don’t think that way anymore. We’re into a new era of parents that - my personal opinion - don’t really care what their kids do as long as it’s easy on them,” McCleary said. “So, without any participation it’s not going to happen. And since I’m 81 this summer, and some of my key people are getting old, too ... it’s just a matter of, you don’t have any young people coming up and doing what needs to be done.”
Another issue, McCleary said, is that he’s being taxed so heavily on his property where he has the camp.
“I’m paying taxes on all these buildings, but yet we don’t have (things going on in them). I’ve got to get rid of these buildings that cost me nothing to put up. I’ve got two buildings in the back and they got me down as a tax at $10,000 each. I built them both for less than $200. Both of them for less than $200, and they want to charge me $20,000 for assessment? Something is wrong with the program. Something is really wrong,” he said.
McCleary said the former Clay Township assessor wouldn’t assess the buildings because McCleary was doing community service with them. When a new assessor took over, they told him they couldn’t do that because of state requirements.
“I didn’t mind at first, but now without any cash flow, income coming in, since I quit my job last July, I can’t do that any more,” he said.
McCleary does have a pension plan.
He said he’ll probably still let the Boy Scouts use his property because they won’t need any of the stuff that the Cub Scouts did.
He became a Cubmaster for the Cub Scouts in 1975, he estimated, and a Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts in 1977. He started out with Pack 3715 at Jefferson Elementary because that’s where his children went to school and they wanted to be Scouts. For a time, he was the Cubmaster and Scoutmaster simultaneously, but it got to be too much so he had to pass one on.
“My kids were in Scouts, they wanted to be in Scouts, and I liked the program and the program back then was good. People wanted to do things with their kids but you don’t see that a lot anymore. There’s very few,” he said.
In 2004, McCleary received the Sagamore of the Wabash for his work in Scouting. He said Jean Northenor was instrumental in him receiving that state award.
He hopes that by the end of May he’ll have an Eagle Scout Court of Honor. “I’ll have 117 Eagle Scouts under my belt, and that’s got to be a record, so to speak, for one Scoutmaster,” he said.
While McCleary has many things he’s proud of regarding his time involved in Scouting, the end of Rising Arrow Day Camp is still a bitter pill for him to swallow.
“I’m really sad, that’s for sure. I feel really bad. I was really looking forward to this being our comeback year, and after 40-some years I will definitely miss it because it was fun watching the kids have fun out here. They had smiles on their faces, and I knew I was doing something good for our community. I spent over half my life doing community service through the Scouting program,” he stated.
In 1976, McCleary, who turns 81 this summer, had his first day camp for Cub Scouts on his property south of Warsaw. Nine boys took part under an old Sycamore tree that no longer exists. Every year after that, the camp kept growing.
“We were averaging over 200 kids a year out here,” he said, until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
McCleary said when he started in Scouting as a Scoutmaster, there were about eight active local Cub Scout Packs. Now, he estimates there’s only two or three.
When the day camp started, it was for five days, but McCleary couldn’t get the Scout leaders to do it for that many days, so it was cut back to three days.
“Several of these leaders, I can name, have been with me over 30-some years. The longest is around 35 years, and that’s Cheryl Merchant, and Dave and Larry Haines. My key people, most have been with me over 20 years,” McCleary said.
He said the day camp was a good one and he figured out over the years that the campers needed to be put together by age groups. The programs were then based on the ages of the Cub Scouts.
“But I can remember we used to have camp outs back here, too, for the little kids. Our yard over there where the camp is was packed with tents and stuff. Really, really packed,” McCleary recalled.
During the three-day day camp, he said, there was a trail for Scouts to hike, and shooting sports (like BB guns and archery) were conducted at the shelters. There was a snack bar with “all kinds of stuff and the Scouts could work toward earning their badges. Magicians would be brought in for the 200 kids on Friday nights.
“It was always the third week of July - Wednesday, Thursday and a Friday,” he said. “... We would have all kinds of stuff in here. Canine units. Police departments, fire departments, EMS.”
McCleary recalled that one year - in the late 1970s or early 1980s - he had a farmhouse but got tired of renting it and fixing it.
“We marched the boys all down there. There was quite a few then. And we set the house on fire and then a few minutes later we called the fire department. They came rushing out. The kids really ate that up. It was neat to watch how (the firefighters) worked. The kids got a kick out of that,” he said, noting that he “made sure that everything was entertainment.”
Everything, though, also had to do with advancement and Scouts moving on to the next rank.
“We were averaging 200 kids a year. Then this ‘flu bug’ hit. First year, of course, we didn’t have anything. Last year, we had 60 kids lined up and that was it. This year, here we are in the middle of April and we only have 12 kids signed up. So it’s a lack of participation and I can’t operate like that. I can’t wait until the last minute to order shirts, patches and things like that and get my staff lined up,” McCleary said.
Talking to his camp staff earlier this week, he said they all agreed that the camp wasn’t worth having for just a dozen children.
“Normally, at this time of year, every year, we’d have at least between 150 to 175 by this time every year. We saw that wasn’t going to happen. I was sure this would be a build-back-up year. I really, really was sure of it. But for some reason the parents don’t think that way anymore. We’re into a new era of parents that - my personal opinion - don’t really care what their kids do as long as it’s easy on them,” McCleary said. “So, without any participation it’s not going to happen. And since I’m 81 this summer, and some of my key people are getting old, too ... it’s just a matter of, you don’t have any young people coming up and doing what needs to be done.”
Another issue, McCleary said, is that he’s being taxed so heavily on his property where he has the camp.
“I’m paying taxes on all these buildings, but yet we don’t have (things going on in them). I’ve got to get rid of these buildings that cost me nothing to put up. I’ve got two buildings in the back and they got me down as a tax at $10,000 each. I built them both for less than $200. Both of them for less than $200, and they want to charge me $20,000 for assessment? Something is wrong with the program. Something is really wrong,” he said.
McCleary said the former Clay Township assessor wouldn’t assess the buildings because McCleary was doing community service with them. When a new assessor took over, they told him they couldn’t do that because of state requirements.
“I didn’t mind at first, but now without any cash flow, income coming in, since I quit my job last July, I can’t do that any more,” he said.
McCleary does have a pension plan.
He said he’ll probably still let the Boy Scouts use his property because they won’t need any of the stuff that the Cub Scouts did.
He became a Cubmaster for the Cub Scouts in 1975, he estimated, and a Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts in 1977. He started out with Pack 3715 at Jefferson Elementary because that’s where his children went to school and they wanted to be Scouts. For a time, he was the Cubmaster and Scoutmaster simultaneously, but it got to be too much so he had to pass one on.
“My kids were in Scouts, they wanted to be in Scouts, and I liked the program and the program back then was good. People wanted to do things with their kids but you don’t see that a lot anymore. There’s very few,” he said.
In 2004, McCleary received the Sagamore of the Wabash for his work in Scouting. He said Jean Northenor was instrumental in him receiving that state award.
He hopes that by the end of May he’ll have an Eagle Scout Court of Honor. “I’ll have 117 Eagle Scouts under my belt, and that’s got to be a record, so to speak, for one Scoutmaster,” he said.
While McCleary has many things he’s proud of regarding his time involved in Scouting, the end of Rising Arrow Day Camp is still a bitter pill for him to swallow.
“I’m really sad, that’s for sure. I feel really bad. I was really looking forward to this being our comeback year, and after 40-some years I will definitely miss it because it was fun watching the kids have fun out here. They had smiles on their faces, and I knew I was doing something good for our community. I spent over half my life doing community service through the Scouting program,” he stated.
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