December 2nd was the date of the Skyline Trail hike hosted by Troop 546 of Whittier. Participants from 688 planned to hike the 10.5 mile route but took a wrong turn and ended up taking a scenic detour. We ended up stopping at what was supposed to be the 5 mile mark but I'm sure we did at least 8.
Knights of Columbus District Dinner
Five Scouts and one Cub assisted the Knights of Columbus by serving their dinner and cleaning up after the event on February 15th. Thanks go to Jerome T. and little brother Matthew, Michael E., Phil S., Daniel G., and Jeffrey V.
The Scouts received standing ovation from the very appreciative Knights. They did a great job serving and a pretty good job of eating up the leftovers.
A couple of our costumed Scouts at St Gregory's community outreach on October 29th. Our Troop ran one of the game booths where candy was given as prizes. A spaghetti dinner was also provided free of charge.
Ten Commandments Hike
Rio Hondo District hosted the Los Angeles Area Council's first Ten Commandments hike on Saturday, October 28, 2000. About 300 Scouts walked from church to church in uptown Whittier. At each stop someone from the hosting church spoke on one of the commandments and gave a little history of their church.
Below: The starting point of the Ten Commandments Hike
Right: Central Park and the statue of Whittier's namesake.
Skyline Trail Hike
The June 2001 Skyline Trail Hike which is hosted by Troop 546 was a nice hike. As you can see below, the December 2000 hike was well attended by Troop 688. The latest hike was attended by 2 Scouts, the Scoutmaster and his assistant Scoutmaster son. The air was cool and wet. The ground we walked on stuck to our shoes and the coating got thicker and thicker till you had to clean it off to continue. We finished the 10-1/2 mile hike in 5 hours and had lots of colorful scenery to observe along the way.
DANGER - HOT COALS
Eagle Projects
Greg C had his Eagle service project on Saturday August 4th at the Whitwood YMCA. The volunteers rebuilt a wrap-around bench, a standard bench, and repainted a couple of items in the play area.
Chris L had his Eagle service project on Saturday, June 30th. The project involved over 30 scouts and adults who painted the cautionary signs on the sides of the fire pits at Huntington Beach. As the beach crowd arrived, a few of the people thanked the boys for a job well done.
The 117 concrete fire rings have the warning
painted on two sides.
(And yes, I know rings don't technically have sides, but I don't know how else to describe it).
14th Annual Pancake Breakfast
Whittier's absolute best pancake breakfast was once again hosted by the boys and adults of Troop 688. April 1st 2001 was the date. On the menu.... Buttermilk and blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, orange juice, milk, and coffee. Diners had their choice of regular, sugar free, or boysenberry syrup. We served over 500 breakfasts in about 4-1/2 hours.
Congratulations on a job well done!
EAST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE SCOUT TRACK MEET 2001
Five of our Scouts joined about 100 Scouts from other troops from all over the Los Angeles area on Saturday, July 28th, in a track meet hosted by East Los Angeles College. Michael E, Matthew E, Chris L, Tim L, and Jerome T started their morning off with a 1600 meter run. They then competed in various other events and joined in some songs while waiting for the awards. Congratulations to all five boys who each brought home at least one medal. I'll post the final medal count later this week. Many thanks to all who had a part in the event, especially Coach Bob Miller who organized the whole thing.
CATHOLIC RETREAT
Five of our Scouts and Four of our auolts participated in the Catholic retreat campout on September 28th through 30th 2001. The event was held at Veteran's park in Sylmar. Although it was a hot weekend, we managed to stay in the shade most of the time and had a good time. The grass made a great mattress so we all slept well. The menu had to be the most interesting yet. Wild boar sausage for breakfast and Elk stew for dinner. Thanks to the Enriquez family for the meat. We also had Hot apple cobbler ala mode for dessert.
NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS
Troop 688 played a small part in St Gregory's Neighbors Helping Neighbors program. Seven boys and six adults helped clean up after the event November 18th. The program provides food, clothing, and other necessities to the less fortunate in the neighborhood.
SCOUTING FOR FOOD 2001
Troop 688 and Pack 688 participated in the National Good Turn "Scouting For Food" on Noember 10th and 17th 2001. We collected 796 cans, boxes, etc. of vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, and other miscellaneous food. This was down from 1,318 last year.
Two reasons for the decrease were the current recession and the fact that we spread the work into 2 Saturdays. Our troop normally does better when the bag drop off and food collection happen on the same day. The boys worked hard and had fun. Many thanks to all who participated.
JANUARY CAMPOUT
The troop went on a campout at Oneil Regional Park in Orange County January 19th through the 21st. It was pretty cold out at night. Ten boys and seven adults were in attendance with two more adults that "couldn't" spend the night. Younger scouts were able to complete some signoffs on the trail to first class thanks to the work of the boys who have already acheived first class.
ADULT AWARDS
John Catalano, George Clinton and Ruben Soto were honored March 9th by being presented with the Mickey award at the Rio Hondo district's annual dinner.
Ruben was also honored with the Award of Merit. Past honorees of the award of merit, Elaine Catalano and Jeannie Pastrano were present as were many others representatives of Troop 688.
SPRING CAMPOREE 2001
Ten Scouts and five Scouters from our troop attended Rio Hondo district's Spring Camporee. The camporee was held at the Firestone Scout Reservation. Troop 688 hosted the slingshot event. The boys also took advantage of most of the events such as fire building, flint knapping, panning for gold, archery, arm wrestling, tug of war, tomahawk throw, spear throw, and rilflery. Greg N. received 2 ribbons for his marksmanship. Thanks go out to Willie for his assistance and to the Steads for putting on a great program.
NATIONAL JAMBOREE
Greg C and Josh V are back from the National Jamboree at Fort AP Hill, Virginia. They had a great time even though they had a little bit of bad weather on Thursday (lightening strikes, rain).
SUMMER CAMP 2001
Fourteen boys and four leaders spent the week of August 5th at Camp Whitsett in the Sequoia National Forest. Twelve of the boys earned a total of 45 merit badges. We all had a great time.
Rio Hondo held a very special Fall Camporee in memory of Ed Gray. All Eagle required merit badges were offered. 9 Scouts and 6 Scouters attended from 688. Michael E completed Citizenship in the World and 6 other boys completed the Home Repairs merit badge thanks to Papa George. The apple cobbler was a lot better this time and the ice cream added that special touch. Could this be a new tradition?
NEW EAGLES
OK, This one is big news. We now have 2 new Eagle Scouts. Chris L and Greg C appeared in front of Rio Hondo's Eagle Character Board on Monday night, October 8th. Both were approved and their applications will now be submitted to National for final approval. At 15, they are the youngest Eagles this Scoutmaster has had the pleasure of working with. Please join me in congratulating them on their new rank.
