Scouts back in Linden

The scouts have made their way back to linden thanks to the work of the community and a couple of caring people. Julie Evans and Berry Jackson have said with the community interest, and plenty of youth who wanted to be a part of the scouts it has been a wonderful time bringing scouts back to

Linden. It was then just a matter of putting it all together. The recent push for a scout troop happened recently at the Veterans ceremony at the Cass County Court Houses a couple months back.

Julie and Barry have their own background on how they got started. For Julie she was involved with a troop that meets at the Atlanta Library. Barry was already a committee member for troop 312. He started being a troop leader when his grandson and one of the leaders talked him into participating. His grandson came up to him with the troop leader behind him and said, “papa I think you would make a good leader, and then the leader was right behind him and says ‘see you next week,” remembers Jackson.

Once they decided they had the interest of the kids they they organized an interest meeting a couple Thursdays back, November 7, where the signed up seven kids ranging from 11 to 18 who were ready to be scouts. The area scouts new that they wanted to see a new scouts facility near Linden to reach other places like Kildare and Hughes Springs. With the support they have received from Linden it has been a win-win.

One of the new scouts was Chloe Evans, daughter of Julie Evans. Only recently were girls aloud to participate in Scouts. Chloe is excited to be a part of the new troop she says. It gives tomboys like her a chance to do outdoorsy and adventurous things like camping. For Chloe Scouts of America was a better choice than Girl Scouts. Many girls who have switched over because they align with more in the purpose and vision of the scouts. For Chloe she is excited to do more things.

Currently they only have enough leadership for the troop. However, there has been a lot of interest for the younger kids to do things like cub scouts and once they have enough leaders to to get some of those groups going they will branch out. Currently the goal is to start strong and continue to build the troop.

The way the scouts work is that they have their own jobs and organize their own meetings and activities. The scout leaders are there to help facilitate and keep the kids safe, says Julie. The youth are excited about their first activity. They will be going to NASA in Houston soon. They already have about three small camping trips on their radar says Chloe. The hope is that they can build up to a big one.

For Jackson, this is his fifth year being a part of the scouts. He came over from Queen City when he found out their was a need for leaders here in Linden. He has served as Tiger Leader, Wolf Leader, Assistant Cub-Master, chairman, and scout master in which he has enjoyed ever bit of it.

The building is open up every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The official meeting times are the first and third Thursday of the month.

Youth that are interested can show up on any of those Thursdays to sign up right away. They are looking forward to connecting with more youth in the community.