News Updates

May 18, 2012

Future 500

The Royal Rangers Camp at Lakeview has been a blessing to the Royal Rangers of North Texas for many years. Our first building – the pavilion – was built in 1995, followed by the Ollie Henley Lodge, bathhouses, the first aid building, and other facilities. Maintenance of our existing buildings is funded in part by the Compass Program, where leaders pledge at least $10 per month. What the Compass Program doesn’t cover must be covered by other donations, or it must come out of camp fees that our boys pay.

There is no money in the Royal Rangers budget for enhancements to our existing facilities, or for the construction of new buildings. Those must be funded by gifts from individuals, outposts, churches, and businesses. We have a great need to put money into improving several of our buildings. For a list of examples, you can find a partial list on our district home page.

“How can you help?” you may ask. The answer is by joining the North Texas Royal Rangers Future 500. Members pledge to give a minimum of $500 over the next 12 months to help fund these and other projects that will make our campground even better and more useful for the leaders and boys in Royal Rangers. If you can’t pledge that much, you can still help by presenting this need to your church or men’s group to see if they can pledge at least $500. Of course, gifts/pledges for more than $500 would be great too.

To make a pledge, you may fill out the form or you may e-mail our district Royal Rangers director (jonathan.trower@hot.rr.com). Once your pledge is received you will receive a commemorative Future 500 patch to show that you have joined with others from across the district to help continue the development of our campground.

When you send in a payment, send it to North Texas Royal Rangers, PO Box 1188, Hurst, TX 76053 (After June 1, 2012 address is P.O. Box 838, Waxahachie, TX 75168-0838) and mark it for Royal Rangers Camp Improvements Fund 78-2011.

CPR Training

There will be CPR training at First Assembly of God in Mesquite (422 S. Ebrite St.) on June 2 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. The cost is $25.

Please contact Steve Whitehead by May 30th if you would like to attend this training or if you have any questions by phone at 972-948-9716 or via email at stevewhitehead@sbcglobal.net.

Camporama 2012

If you are planning on taking your boys to Camporama this summer, it’s not too late to still register. We don’t want anyone to miss out! Our 50th anniversary is too big and too important to sit out. Please continue to encourage all your men and boys to make an extra effort to attend. The national Royal Rangers office announced this week that outposts that have already registered men and boys for Camporama, they can still add additional men and boys through the end of May at the same discounted rate. However, to take advantage of this extension, you need to call the national Royal Rangers office at 417-862-2781 and give them your church’s GPH account number and the number of additional men and boys you plan to register before the end of May. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND: You will still need to register the additional attendees (just as you did for the ones currently registered) online on or before May 31, 2012, to get that lowest price! The national Royal Rangers office will be unable to register them for you, but you must call so they can activate your account to receive this offer.

If you are not yet chartered for the 2011-2012 charter year, it’s not too late to do that and save a LOT of money on each registration ($49 is what you will save, per person, if you are chartered).

Complete information about Camporama, and the registration information, can be obtained on the national Camporama website.

Are you a lead, youth, or children’s pastor? Do you know one attending 2012 Camporama? Camporama is designed to bring boys closer to God and His plan for their lives. This means we need any and all pastors at the altar during the evening services. Rev. Harry Hunt is coordinating the altar workers for Camporama. Please have all pastors contact him at hdhunt@cros.net and leave him your name, district, and contact information.

2012 Pathfinder Trip

We are having a Bronze Pathfinders Trip June 10-16, 2012. This year we will be blessing the Royal Rangers District Campgrounds. We need all Royal Rangers men and boys to come participate in this trip as we upgrade and fix our campgrounds.

We will be working on different projects around the campground in improve our facilities. We will be working on numerous projects around the camp. Some of these projects may include adding gas hot water heaters to two of the bath houses, siding on the pavilion, forming up concrete forms for the new bath house, working on the pavilion, maintenance improvements on the lodge and first aid buildings, plus numerous other possible projects. The specific projects are still being discusses and finalized. We will be staying in the lodge and buildings on the campgrounds. Plus all your meals will be provided. If you are an active FCF member (dues paid for 2012), you will also earn the Bronze Pathfinders pin.

If your outpost is chartered and your FCF dues are paid for 2012, there will be NO cost for you to be a part of the trip this year. Because of the money raised in FCF auctions, everyone’s way will be covered. If your outpost/church is not chartered or your dues are not current, you can still plan on participating but it will cost $50. You can validate both of these by looking at the district website (www.ntxrr.org).

Old Timers, please try to participate in this trip and bring your boys, because this is a perfect opportunity to mentor them for a week.

As the Fortune 500 support continues to grow, this will allow for us to have future projects to improve our camp grounds. Please sign up as an individual or an outpost today and support the campground.

Download the registration documents and make sure you submit them before the registration deadline of June 3, 2012.

2012 Camporama Silver Merit

At Camporama, you will enjoy new and exciting experiences, and this merit is designed to help you get the most from it. During previous Camporamas, campers received an activity patch for participating in a prescribed number of activities at the camp. But at this one, you can actually earn a silver skill merit that may be used to satisfy advancement requirements.

Merit patches may be picked up by adult leaders during Camporama at the Camporama Store on Thursday, July 12th. As with all other merits, your group leader will determine when you have met the merit requirements.

NOTE: Only boys who are registered campers attending Camporama are eligible to receive this merit.

Plan now to earn the silver 2012 Camporama Merit. Download the requirements today and get started.

Requirements for Gold Medal of Achievement Changing

The requirements for earning the Gold Medal of Achievement will be changing from the 2002 requirements to the 2010 requirements at the end of the year. If you have boys who have been working on their GMA, particularly boys who have completed their Silver Medal, they will most likely want to complete their GMA under the 2002 requirements. They have until December 31, 2012 to complete them under the 2002 requirements; after that date they will have to transition to the 2010 requirements. The GMA application is available at http://agwebservices.org/Content/Resources/2010%20New%20Program%20GMA%20Eform-fillable.pdf – the first and third pages are required for a boy completing the GMA on the 2002 requirements, and the first and sec ond pages are required if he is completing his GMA under the new requirements. Whenever you have a boy complete his Gold Medal of Achievement, be sure to send the completed application to the district Royal Rangers director, Jonathan Trower, so the interview may be scheduled and the processing of the application completed.

New GMA Capstone Project

The requirements for the GMA capstone project under the 2010 advancement system have been changed. It no longer is the Fire Institute discipleship program; the new requirements may be found here: http://agwebservices.org/Content/Resources/Capstone%20Project%20Student%20Info.pdf

Lifetime Service Award

Royal Rangers has an award called the Lifetime Service Award (LSA) that is designed to recognize leaders or former leaders who have given a lifetime of service to the Royal Rangers ministry. This service may have been at the local level, or in some staff position. To date, a total of six leaders from the North Texas District have received the LSA: Quinton Griffin and Ollie Henley in 2010 and J.C. and Faye Spence, Robert Grimes, Sr., and Dwite Weitner so far in 2012.

If you know someone who may qualify for this award and who should be recognized for their lifetime service to boys through the Royal Rangers ministry, you can nominate them for this award. The complete description of the award and the requirements may be found on the national Royal Rangers Alumni website at http://www.royalrangersalumni.org/LSA/tabid/2340/Default.aspx.

The application for the award may be found here: http://www.royalrangersalumni.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=xBf7rLETPvnLXjyEhLTuBg%3d%3d&tabid=83&mid=429