Boy Scout Board votes to expand year-round programming to community at-large
The Winnebago Council of the Boy Scouts of America, headquartered in Waterloo, voted Thursday March 31 to continue serving outside youth organizations and expand its marketing outreach of Camp Ingawanis, to more community groups.
In an effort to be more of a community resource, the camp located southeast of Waverly was re-branded as the “Ingawanis Adventure Base.”
Having served Scouting programs for 90 years, the camp has hiking and mountain-biking trails, cabins and campsites for rent, horseback riding, shooting-sports ranges, a high-ropes confidence course, a team-building course, a rock-climbing wall and a zip line.
The main dining hall is great for group gatherings such as weddings and family reunions. Aquatics include an onsite pool, plus access to the Cedar River; which is great for activities like canoeing, kayaking, tubing, or fishing.
The camp has equipment available for rent including cross-country skis and snowshoes for winter outings. It also has RV hookups and family style camping.
The camp will still be the home base for Scouting activities, Day Camps, and Scout-unit camping, but will no longer host a Boy Scout Resident Camp during the summer months. Those programs will be shared with multiple surrounding-area Boy Scout Camps.
Future plans for Camp Ingawanis include a new entrance and a four-seasons building to be used as a multi-purpose outdoor education center, program center and training center. The building also will house camp offices, and group overnight sleeping accommodations.
Tony Thompson, Winnebago Council Board President, explained, “The reason for this new direction is to address the current demographics and council finances. It’s simple, we have a lot less Scouts than we had 20 or 30 years ago and we wish to leverage our fiscal resources better serving the community as a whole during the summer months. Furthermore, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are abundant with other Boy Scout camps within 125 miles.”
Scout Executive Todd Wordel further emphasized, “Our new model will allow us to host outside groups’ summer camps, Vacation Bible Schools, team-building, Church activities and other community events. We can earn usage fees while not incurring the costs of staffing or overhead on our side. Our Scouting Troops and Packs will still be able to use the camp year-round for their programming, the camp will become more profitable, and the community will have access to our beautiful property.”
Weekend programming for Scout groups and non-Scout groups will be ramped up 52 weekends a year with feature weekends focusing on merit badges in STEM activities such as Astronomy, Welding, Farm Mechanics, Engineering, CAD, Digital Technology (New) Geocaching and Multi Media. Traditional outdoor programs and badges will always be available such as Camping, Cooking, Canoeing, Hiking, Wilderness Survival, Nature and many more.”
For more information visit the Winnebago Council Website at www.winnebagobsa.org.
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