Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
In 1976, Dick McCleary helped start the Kosciusko District Cub Scout Day Camp with nine boys under a sycamore tree in a cow pasture.
This year, McCleary expects about 200 Cub Scouts from around the area at the Rising Area Reservation, 400 S. Packerton Road. The camp area encompasses 60 acres of McCleary's 105-acre farm.
"First of all," McCleary said, "they get their advancement and rank. They meet new friends. They have an outdoor scouting experience. It's a learning experience.
"It's fun and games, but it's not fun and games as you would think of it."
He said the day camp was successful because of one simple factor.
"The whole program is only as good as its leaders, and luckily we have a good group of leaders," he said. "Our day camp is a local thing run strictly by volunteers."
There are about 30 to 40 people on staff at the camp every year. The 10 people who make up the principle staff have been with the camp for more than 10 years, McCleary said.
"They all take off work to do this," he said. "They're devoted to the cause and they're taking their vacation days to do this."
That doesn't mean the day camp doesn't have its conflicts. Their most recent conflict has been with the Anthony Wayne Area Council.
Last week, the council told McCleary to raise the day camp fees from $20 to $30 per boy and the participating boys will get their patches later than they have in the past. McCleary said he would not raise the fees because some boys would not be able to pay the extra $10. The council backed off, he said.
"You got people who don't know our program, who don't care about our program, trying to tell us how to run our day camp," he said.
"The whole principle of the thing is for these Cub Scouts to advance in rank," he said.
He said the council is supposed to work for the volunteers and boys, not the other way around. As for the patches, McCleary said, "When I need them, I don't have them." He said they are always late.
McCleary said he works hard to make sure the Cub Scouts are provided with the best possible programs. He attends a National Camping School every five years to learn more. He pays $180 out of his own pocket to go and takes time off to do it.
While the boys are at the camp, there are plenty of opportunities for them to learn and have fun while trying to earn their next rank.
"We have Indians, to people from the sheriff's department, to people with exotic animals, and all kinds of programs. We try to have different programs each day," McCleary said.
Those programs do not come cheap. And even though the camp is never in the black, McCleary said, if the council gets ahold of it, they will turn the camp into a fund-raiser and may not allow them to have the programs they currently have.
"It's not right for them to tell us what kind of programs we can have because it is our money," McCleary said.
The camp is held June 16, 17 and 18. Those who preregister by April 15 will receive four tokens to Camp Oasis for soft drinks, ice cream and other food stand items. The camp is held for Cub Scouts ages 7 to 11.
McCleary said the day camp is structured so the boys are always busy. There is archery, a BB gun range, a metal detector course, gold panning, a camp merry-go-round, nature hikes, memory stations, craft stations, an obstacle course and various other activities. The programs are run by certified instructors.
"Other districts in our council have designed their programs after us," he said.
The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. On the last night, the families are invited to a night of skits and awards.
