Order of the Arrow, Egwa Tawa Dee Lodge #129

Egwa Tawa Dee Lodge’s Chapter Alignment
The Chapters of the Lodge are like the Districts of the Council.

Chapter Reports

Springtime is our busiest time of the year with unit elections, camporees, AOL ceremonies, conclave, and ordeals. All I can say is WOW. With successful elections and an impressive call out ceremony completed it was time for Conclave. Elangomats we could not do it without you. The T-shirts were great. With 3 brotherhood opportunities past, only 50% of our eligible ordeal members have went through. Those ordeal members who do not go through at the spring Ordeals should plan to seal their membership at the fall make-up Ordeal at Camp Allatoona.on November 8th

Our Ceremony Teams were superb. We were completely mesmerized by our Brotherhood team as they gave two academy award-winning performances. The drum added another dimension to the performance. Our hats go off to our set up teams as well. As our eyes glazed through the glaring lights of candles, smudge pots, campfire, and torches to a well lit background of our OA Flag and sashes hung over the ropes. Big thanks to Wayne Hicks and Bernie Fischer and Ricky Williams.

Also big thank you to our Arrowmen who will be participating at ArrowCorp5 in June; they are Ricky Williams, Clay Williams, Scott Conner, Zack Voyles, and Ethan Gordon. Our Chapter will continue to meet the 4th Thursday of each month through the summer months. We hope to see you. Check our chapter website calendar.

At the Conclave, Nagatamen members received medals for our Pre-Oredal team and our new Brotherhood team was evaluated. Nagatamen has been fairly busy planning and preparing for the induction of new members this season. We have been putting together a new program to encourage long term, active membership from our brothers. This summer Nagatamen will be helping out with OA days at Bert Adams and have our Brotherhood Ceremony team and trail lined up if needed. In addition, Nagatamen will host its annual New Member Orientation at Jackson Lake to encourage active membership to our new brothers.

At Webelos Woods, which was hosted by our district, we cook and served lunch, and conducted a course on the transition from Webelos to Boy Scouts. That night we performed a campfire for all the cubs and their parents. At Conclave we had one ceremonialist, Colin Potts, medal in the Vigil ceremony. We also had several of our brothers compete in events including Jake Sandlin competing culinary delight, and Andrew Weaver, Michael Remer, and Colin Potts competing in Dizzy Dean. The WSR Ordeals brought us 22 new brothers and our ceremonies team did an excellent job with both Pre-Ordeal and Ordeal ceremonies. Our Arrow of Light and Crossover team performed 22 ceremonies this season and did a great job with every single one. We are also looking into a new program for brother retention, which is being reviewed by our chapter. Chapter attendance has been soaring, at our last meeting we had to find more tables to seat everyone, with our adults having to line the walls. At our next meeting we will search for a more seating arrangement as we expect to continue to gain activity.

2008 Quality Lodge

Quality Lodge recognition is a mark of a successful lodge with good programs, active and trained members, and a strong record of supporting the council and other branches of Scouting. Lodges that are truly successful should look at these requirements as a minimum standard of expectations of your service to the council. As such, use these requirements as a starting point in planning your goals for the year.

As a new lodge officer or adviser, you may ask yourself: “Where do I start?” Yes, this list of requirements can seem intimidating at best, but this Guidebook is designed to eliminate that intimidation. As you begin to plan your new lodge yearly program, use it as a resource to establish your lodge goals, and work those goals toward achieving National Quality Lodge.

Why strive to be a National Quality Lodge? Because it is expected of you! The National Quality Lodge petition was designed, not only to recognize success, but also to establish the standard for lodges in fulfilling their purpose to their council.

2008 Quality Lodge Guidebook

Guide for Officers and Advisors

The National Order of the Arrow Committee recently voted to make materials more readily available to lodge leaders. As a result, the Guide for Officers and Advisers is now available online. This book provides support for lodge and chapter leaders. It reflects the current policies concerning the organization and administration of the Order of the Arrow Lodge. All lodge and chapter officers and advisers should have a copy.

Guide for Officers and Advisors