My Fellow Brothers,

It’s been difficult for me to write this particular edition of my “Chiefly Speaking.” There’s just too much going on! With a successful Haunted Forest, NLS, Section Seminars and Brotherhood Fellowship behind us, and a promising Winter Ordeal just around the bend, I’ve been frustrated in deciding what to talk about. Because of this, I’ve decided to take a new approach in this issue and talk to you about another topic of importance: communication.

 

 At the National Leadership Seminar, which our lodge attended in early November, I had the privilege to teach about this same topic. Communication is the key to a successful Lodge and the Scouting program in general. You can help make this Lodge more successful by helping us communicate with you. There’s a few ways I would like you to help:

 

 First: Sign up for the Lodge E-Mail Newsletter. The internet has made it quick, easy and efficient for our Lodge to communicate, but it only works if you and your fellow brothers sign up. Go onto www.O-SHOT-CAW.org and sign up online!  

 

 Second: Regularly attend Chapter meetings. One of the best ways you can receive quick information about what’s happening in the Lodge is by simply being involved in your Chapter. As a past Chapter Chief myself, I can’t stress enough the importance of getting out to these meetings and getting involved. We especially need more adults to be getting involved and going to the Chapter meetings along with the boys in their troop. Many OA Brothers don’t have rides to the Chapter meeting, so I challenge every adult in this Lodge to find at least one other brother who needs a ride and do their “good turn daily.”

 

 Last, but not least: Encourage your Troop OA-Rep to get involved. Many troops have an OA-Rep, but unfortunately don’t use them. We need your help in encouraging our Scoutmasters in getting the OA-Rep involved. Our Lodge Secretary, Ramon Moreno, along with our Lodge Associate Advisor, Jon Fisher, are both working very hard to make our OA-Rep program the best in the Section. You can help by promoting the program in your troop as much as possible and making sure your OA-Rep is setting the example in attending Chapter and Lodge events.

 

 As the New Year approaches, nothing but excitement and success lay on the horizon! Get involved and be apart of the “Tradition of Excellence!”

 

WWW,

Michael Dominic Worley

O-Shot-Caw Lodge Chief 07-08

 

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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My Fellow Brothers,

For many years I have collected patches from all around the country; recently I updated my collection with two new O-Shot-Caw Lodge flaps. The first one was sold during the 2007 Section Conference, available by presale only. At the bottom left hand corner of the patch, the words “A Tradition of Excellence” are proudly sown. Coincidentally, O-Shot-Caw lived up to that phrase the same weekend it was passed out as we took home the Best All Around Lodge title for the ninth year in a row since 1999.  We also took home trophies for First Place Group Dance, First Place Group Drum, First Place King’s Cup, Best in Section Publications, Best Pre-Ordeal & Brotherhood ceremonial teams in the Section, six out of the eight “Best in Section” individual ceremonial titles, and the Golden Arrow itself… just to name a few.

 The second patch I added was our latest, standard Lodge Flap. Since this flap has been produced, O-Shot-Caw has won the National Service Award for the sixth year in a row, sent more arrowman to NCLS than any other Lodge in the Section, sent more arrowman to High Adventure than any other Lodge in the Nation and held an extremely successful LLD at the prestigious Palm Aire Resort in Pompano Beach. We have also produced an entirely new website at O-Shot-Caw.org and are hosting our first ever Winter Fellowship at Camp Jackson Sawyer in the Keys (November 30-December 2). With all these new developments, it’s no surprise that our brothers are wearing their new flap prouder than ever.

 Our Lodge is also taking the lead in the OA-Cub Scouting movement, perpetuated by the newly released National Strategic Plan. Our OA members have already begun involvement within their respective districts. O-Shot-Caw brothers are assisting with Join Scouting Nights, planning long term pack support and increasing crossover ceremony involvement. On October 6^th, 2007, O-Shot-Caw will be the support backbone of the South Florida Council Cub Scout Day Camp/”First-Nighter”.

 Overall, this year is setting itself up to be one of the best in O-Shot-Caw history. 

 Remember: “Who can knock O-Shot-Caw down??? NOBODY NOBODY YEA!”

 

WWW,

Michael D. Worley

O-Shot-Caw Lodge Chief

2007-2008

 

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

 

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Author’s Note: Please read carefully, important information below!

 

My Fellow Brothers,

 As many of our keenly observant Brothers may have noticed, I didn’t send out a July “Chiefly Speaking,” so let’s just call this one the “July/August Mega Edition.” One of the reasons I have been delayed is because of a recent event I attended called the National Conservation and Leadership Summit at the University of Indiana (also the host of the 2009 NOAC, in case you didn’t know). This 5 day event was extremely educational, specifically in the area of Arrowcorps⁵. At NCLS, our Lodge leadership started work on an exciting publication which will be published in mid September: The O-Shot-Caw Lodge 2007-2012 Strategic Plan. This plan, structured around the National Strategic Plan (which was unveiled at NCLS), focuses on an increase of service in many different areas including the Cub Scouting Program, Camp Sawyer, the South Florida Council, the Joseph Aaron Abbott Campership Fund and the Hal Hollis NOAC Fund. The plan will also integrate our current Lodge Goals for the 2007-2008 year into it as well.

 

 Speaking of Lodge Goals, the time to decide those goals (our lodge LLD) is fast approaching. As many of you have already heard about, the O-Shot-Caw Lodge Leadership Development (LLD) is being held at the Palm Aire Resort next Saturday, August 25^th. It will last from 8am to 4pm and the cost is $25 per person. Any arrowman interested in attending, who is not already an LEC Member, is highly encouraged to do so. Please contact either your Chapter Chief or myself ASAP. At the LLD, our new and future leaders will be trained in various aspects of Lodge and Chapter administration as well as important fellowship and teambuilding exercises. We are also honored to be hosting several special guests from around the section. This is an event you don’t want to miss!

 

 Now I’d like to take some time to clear up some confusion and rumors floating around.

 

#1: The Fall Ordeal:

The Fall Ordeal is being held the weekend of September 28^th-30^th at Tree Tops Park in Davie. This is nearly the perfect venue for our Ordeal and is very easy to get to. More information when the time gets closer. All eligible brotherhood candidates are HIGHLY RECCOMENDED to seal their ties at this Ordeal if possible. I am also strongly recommending all my brothers in Gokhos and Paldani, who live 5 to 10 minutes away from the park, to please stay and actually camp in opposed to going home at night. It’s very tempting (I personally can account for this, living less than 5 miles away), yet it’s not the appropriate thing to do.

 

#2: The Haunted Forest:

Many rumors have been floating around about the Haunted Forest, so here are the facts: The Haunted Forest is being held Saturday, October 20^th. The location as of right now is still TBA, yet it seems to be leaning toward Markham Park. I will get back to you on that ASAP.

 

#3: The Lodge Website:

Many people who read my last E-Mail have been disappointed when viewing O-Shot-Caw.org and finding no updates. I would like to explain… Our Lodge has just employed a new Website Committee Chairman, Matthew Glinski from Pooca Tooka, who has been working non-stop on creating an amazing new website. Matt owns his own web server, so he has been building the new Lodge website on a different URL address, yet I have been told by him that his brand new website will be fully functional on the O-Shot-Caw.org domain by the end of the week! I have been working closely with Matt on this project and have seen the site myself. It includes a Trading Post (which will be fully functional by the LLD), a Chiefly Speaking Blog, RSS Feeds, Individual Chapter web pages, full photo galleries, updated Patchwork downloads, updated news and calendars, event registration and much, much more! I would like to thank Matt for his hard work thus far and encourage all O-Shot-Caw members to visit the site this weekend when we will hopefully be up and running on the regular Lodge domain.

 

 I would like to thank both Gokhos and Paldani Chapters for their work this summer. Paldani Chapter hosted a free Luncheon at the West Broward Masonic Lodge earlier in July with 3 very special guests of honor: Our Southern, Central and National OA Chiefs Alex Gomez, Don Hough and Evan Chaffee. They answered questions, talked about High Adventure, promoted Arrowcorps⁵ and ate a lot of great BBQ. Thanks to Paldani for hosting this incredible and impressive event.

 

Gokhos Chapter helped out in a different aspect with the Council Volunteer BBQ at Camp Seminole in early August. They cooked and served food, set up tables, broke down tables, cleaned up trash and a lot of other messy stuff a guy like me hates doing in the 97 degree summer heat… all in the spirit of servant leadership. Thank you Gokhos Chapter for representing O-Shot-Caw Lodge so well through your simple acts of cheerful service (a little side note: Gokhos’ Chapter Chief Justin BakerRobinson, on behalf of his Chapter, actually volunteered to do this before anyone in either the Council or the Lodge asked them or anyone else to do so… this is the true spirit of cheerful service).

 

 I am extremely proud at how the year is progressing thus far. Although we are temporarily without a camp, we are making due in style and everything is flowing smoothly. The Lodge Executive Committee this year may be one of the best I have seen since I became an LEC member back in 2002. Let’s keep the momentum up, and that powerful O-Shot-Caw spirit high!

 

WWW,

Michael D. Worley

O-Shot-Caw Lodge Chief

 

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Above: O-Shot-Caw Vigil Honor brother and Southern Region Chief Alex Gomez teaches a class at NCLS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My Fellow Brothers,

Welcome to the new and improved O-Shot-Caw.org. Your Web Team has been working around the clock to make this site one of, if not the best, in the entire nation. I will be posting regularly on my Blog to keep you updated on all things O-Shot-Caw.

WWW,

Michael Worley

O-Shot-Caw Lodge Chief

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