Mikanakawa Lodge 101

 Mikanakawa Lodge Reaches Top Lodge Attendance for SummitCorp with 52 Members!! 

       Mikanakawa Lodge rallies it’s members for SummitCorps 2011 sending 31 youth, 7 adults and 14 staff, for a total of 52 Mikanakawa Lodge Members to SummitCorps 2011 in West Virginia.   Mikanakawa also had the top lodge attendance for the ArrowCorps5 projects at 86 members.
 
       When the call was sent across the country for lodges to participate in the four week Service Project, SummitCorps – The New River Experience, hundreds of lodges answered the call of service for building the first of its kind, Mountain Biking Trail in a National Park.  Divided into four, one week programs with a different staff and participants each week, our Order answered the call and completed the largest youth project in National Park Service history.  SummitCorps 2011 had a special meaning for the members of Mikanakawa Lodge of Circle Ten Council in Dallas TX.  The Incident Commander for Week 4 was lodge member Matt Walker and another lodge member, Jack D. Furst, who was a leading contributor to the Bechtel Summit and the 2013 National Jamboree.  Jeff West, Chief Ranger for the New River National Park, stated that the Scouts built world class Trails and he expected this to be the mecca for Mountain Biking in the National Parks.  This trail will be the prototype for Mountain Biking Trails built in other National Parks across the country.  The National Park Service renamed the trail the Arrowhead Mountain Biking Trail in honor of the OA members that built the trail. 

       Members of Mikanakawa served on staff and as participants.  Special thanks to Mikanakawa Lodge members David Johnson, Judy Johnson and BJ Ishmael.  These three dedicated members lead the efforts with SummitCorps Food Service Group through Mikanakawa’s own "Arrow Bistro" team for all four weeks of SummitCorps.  During Week 4, thirteen more staff members came in on Food Service, Finance, Operations, and Program.
 
       Building Trail is not light work. Each morning started with a identify and safety tool talk. The work schedule was up at 6am and on the trail by 7am and off at 4pm. We cleared corridor and leveled trail and improved drainage and more! Some of us spent time in the local community building playground equipment, cleaning and painting. On the trail we built ramps and bridges and hauled or broke rock. Each day we were greeted back at base camp to cheers and snacks. The Matt Walker said "The Chief Ranger from the National Park Service told me they were worried about starting the West Loop trail which was left for us because it was as a whole it was the most difficult trail to be built but they were shocked how on Wednesday when all the other 3 weeks saw a slump, we were more excited and working harder on that "slump day!"  They were really shocked when we had 8 crews finished with trail and several others with only an hour or two left.  That is when we started working on some speciality elements and rehabing some ATV trails (covering them up so they cannot be used in the future) and removing the invasive species (multi-flora rose) which they did not expect to get done....I repeated what I had said all week, "they save the best for last!"

       Mikanakawa also took time one night to hold a Brotherhood for three of its members. The lodge holds a Brotherhood whenever they find the time and opportunity for a quality program and ceremony. Lodge Chief Nick Clark served as Allowat Sakima. He said, “We have held Brotherhoods at ArrowCorps5 - Mark Twain National Forest, the last two National Jamboree’s and on the way to a NOAC. SummitCorps was very special because of the work on the service project accented Cheerful Service.  One of our new Brotherhood members had been an Ordeal member since 1987!”
 

       ¹The combined efforts of the trail work and the overhead to organize this event resulted in 78,544 volunteer hours, which has estimated value of more than $1.6 million. SummitCorps hosted 1404 Scouts and Scout leaders to West Virginia during the month of July, with a new crew arriving each week to construct more than 12 miles of trail at New River Gorge National River.  According to Sam Bellomy, the Youth Incident Commander for week four, “It is amazing to see the willingness of the Scouts to give their time, effort and generosity to this community by building trails for generations of community members and for people across the world who will visit this area.  Between the trail work and the charitable donations and everything this project has done for the community, it demonstrates the perfect example of servant leadership.”  

       For the majority of the volunteers, it was their first time in West Virginia.  They paid their own way to travel here and perform arduous trail work for free; leaving a legacy for anyone to enjoy for years to come.  However, the Scouts did not stop at just giving sweat equity to West Virginia.  Each week, they held a patch auction to raise money for local charities and organizations.  Trading patches—a time held tradition in Scouting, enabled participants to turn cloth into cash and patches into possibility.  Leon Brush, the Co-founder and Executive Director of Brian’s Safehouse shared his thoughts about the donations. “The connection as I see it is that all of the activities that Scouts are able to participate in with the Boy Scouts of America, are opportunities that addicts do not have.  Our ministry is to help those who have fallen by the wayside return back to the activities of life and become contributing citizens to the world we live in.  That is our goal.  To partner with the Boy Scouts and have them contribute to our organization gives us a feeling of elation, because we know what they represent, and this will help us to help others be productive citizens.  We want these individuals who have fallen to return to the values that the Scouts demonstrate.” In total the Scouts raised $15,357.50 through weekly patch auction.  The money raised will support Brian’s Safehouse, Burlington United Methodist Children’s Home, Just For Kids, Mt. Hope Children’s Health Council, Three Rivers Avian Center (animal shelter for injured and endangered wild birds), the Women’s Resource Center, and the Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia, Inc,.  Taking the OA motto of Cheerful Service to the next level they also raised more than $1000 through a bake sale.  Funds from the sale went to a Raleigh County 911 dispatcher who is suffering from cancer and struggling with medical expenses. Other organizations that benefitted from the four-week service project included the Pine Haven Homeless Shelter, located in Beckley, where 5600 pounds of food was donated which provided more than 100 people daily with nutritious meals (each meal provided 1700 calories) throughout the month of July. 

       Local organizations that provide community meals and food giveaways also received 4200 non-perishable meals valued at more than $25,000. The values of the Order of the Arrow members are reflected in the cheerful service they provided to the communities of Southern West Virginia.  While the SummitCorps trail project takes the participant along the “Evolution of the leader” in four components, (heart, mind, body, and spirit), the overall experience allowed the participants to engage in a personal connection to the land, the local community, and to one another. This is just the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the National Park Service, neighboring communities, and the Boy Scouts of America as make their new home at The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.

       ¹From the official event Press Release issued by the Order of the Arrow.  Used with permission.