Camp Chawanakee

serving the youth of California, Nevada, Arizona
Florida, Montana and Hawaii since 1947

Celebrating 63 Years in 2010

News

December 4 2009: The 2010 Camp Leader's Guides are here
 We are pleased to announce that the 2010 Camp Leader's Guide has bee finished and has already been mailed out to the all troops that have already put down their deposit for camp. This guide contains a lot of information about what your unit can expect at camp and should help you to plan your summer activities accordingly. Not only can you share the Information CD with your entire troop you can view and download the guide from the Sequoia Council website as well.

You can view the 2010 Camp Leader's Guide or Download it to your computer.

August 12 2009: Getting ready for 2010
As 2009 comes to an end we are starting to gear up for the summer of 2010 at Camp Chawanakee. As such there will be some changes around here shortly as we update things for 2010. Please be patient with us and we will get the new information you need up as soon as we can. For right now though you'll want to know two things.

First off the council office will start taking reservations for Camp Chawanakee on September 1st 2009. To make a reservation you will need to call the Fresno Scout Service Center at (559) 320-2100 and ask for Extension 107. When you call to make a reservation we will discuss what sites are still open and find one that works for you. You'll then have three weeks to get your paperwork and a deposit into our office. We will be giving out the 2010 reservation form then as well as offering you the chance to sign up online. *Please Note* There will be a lot of people calling our office this day. We will be answering the calls in the order which we receive them. As such you may be asked to leave a message on the camping voicemail and wait for us to call you back. We appreciate your patience on this.

Secondly we are pleased to announce that this for 2010 there will be no increase in fees for Camp Chawanakee. So you can now start planning your budgets appropriately.

As more information becomes available we will let you know. If you have any further questions feel free to contact Joseph at (559) 320-2100 Ext 107 or Joseph.Potthast@scouting.org.

July 8 2009: Trading Post Updates
Hello everyone, Mike Gerardi has asked me to make some changes to the Online Camp Trading Post. There has been some confusion regarding pre-ordering patches. You will automatically get the 2009 camp patch as well as the Tribe Segments at camp. You do however have to purchase the Tribe of Chawanakee Patch. The patches in the store were for if you needed extra patches above and beyond what you were getting at camp. In order to stop any more confusion from happening we have removed all patches from the Camp Trading Post for now and will put them back up when camp is over.

June 23 2009: Horsemanship Merit Badge Update!
We will be offering a partial in Horsemanship Merit Badge. Scouts will be able to pass off requirements 1a, 1b, 2,3,6, and 7 in camp at no cost. This will be offered during 5th period on Tuesday and Wednesday. If a trail ride is taken, the scout will be passed off for requirements 11a, 11b, and 11h in addition. The cost for a trail ride is $30.00

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

June 20 2009: Horsemanship Merit Badge
Due to unforeseen difficulties, we are canceling the Horsemanship merit badge for the remainder of the 2009 season.
We will still continue to offer trail rides through Shaver Stables.

June 17 2009: Horsemanship, BSA Lifeguard, & Saturday Arrivals
Camp Director Pete has asked me to pass this on to everyone. There are a few amendments that need to be made to classes and Saturday Arrivals.

First off for anyone in the Horsemanship Merit Badge there is a new class schedule. It is from 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM and only on Wednesday and Thursday. If you are enrolled in the class you will still be put in a 5th period because we cannot change the periods this late in the game. If you want to sign up for a 5th period class you'll have to do so on site at camp. As always you still need to have a driver take you to the Shaver Lake Stables.

Also National has a new age limit for BSA Lifeguard. You must be at least 15 (at the start of the week) in order to sign up for BSA Lifeguard.

Finally camp has had to change some policies in light of the H1N1. The gate to camp will be closed until Saturday at 5:00 PM when it will be opened to let the Saturday arriving troops come in. It will then be closed again until 11:00 AM on Sunday when it will open again for the troops coming in on Sunday.

If you have any further questions regarding these changes you can call the Camp at (559) 841-2117.

June 15 2009: Adult Trainings
Program Director Kevin has asked me to pass this on to all adults coming to camp. The Youth Protection and Risk Zone trainings are no longer being offered at camp this summer. We will be taking them off the website shortly. The reason for this is because they are offered through the MyScouting website's online section.

June 5 2009: Updates on Camp and the website
Hello everyone,

As were are at the deadline for troops coming session three I'd like to go over some last minute updates.

First of Camp Director Pete has asked me to advise anyone taking COPE both youth and adults that you must have a class 3 medical form filled out to take COPE. This is a national requirement. We've added it to the COPE Classes now as a prerequisite.

Second I'd like to take a moment to remind all units coming that if you are changing the number of scouts and adults coming to camp you must CALL the Fresno office and talk with Joseph in order to do that. Simply deleting a scout from www.chawanakee.com does not count as dropping the scout and if you don't call the office you will have to pay for that scout just like the informational letters before have said.  The same goes true for all adults coming to camp as well. The numbers on your Fee Settlement Forms are the final say.

Lastly in an effort to help out the troops coming at the end of camp we're happy to announce our Online Trading Post if now, well online. So go ahead and pre-order all the items for camp that may want from Camp T-Shirts to the Merit Badge Supply Tickets. If you submit your order and pay online quickly we can guarantee your items will be set aside and waiting for you at camp.

May 22 2009: Don't forget Troops that are coming Session 1
Just a quick reminder, today is the final day for you to change your numbers that are coming to camp. After today you CAN NOT drop anyone. Also don't forget you must call the Fresno Scout Service Center and talk with Joseph to change your numbers. Dropping a scout or adult off of the roster on www.chawanakee.com does not count.

May 20 2009: Back up and running
Hello everyone,

As you can tell we are done upgrading the www.chawanakee.com site. We appreciate your patience over the past few days while we got some new sections up on line. The first and foremost area that might interest you is our new online trading post. We have got some new items this year that might interest you. The best part is you can order the items now and they will be waiting for you when you get to camp.

Now for some regrettable news. When the site was getting upgraded there was a problem with the install. I ended up having to restore the site from a back up. The good news is the last backup was on Friday May 15th at around 3:00 PM. This however means that ALL activity on the site from Friday after 3:00 PM through Saturday May 16th at 11:00 AM is not there anymore. If you logged in and changed anything after May 15th and before today (May 20th) then it has been lost. I'm sorry for the trouble but the good news is there was a backup so not that much was lost.
 

May 11 2009: Getting Ready for camp 2009 to start
Hello all,

Can you believe that it's only five weeks until summer camp 2009 at Camp Chawanakee officially starts? Where has this past year gone to? There are a few things we'd like to remind all units that are attending camp this summer. First and foremost is to make sure you're reservation is up to date. What this means is be sure the number of scouts and adults that you have coming to camp is the same that is on your reservation sheets. The Fresno Scout Service Center just sent out new copies of your Fee Settlement forms last week. When you get them be sure to make sure they are accurate. If there is anything that needs to be added or taken off be sure to contact Joseph at (559) 320-2100 Ext 107 or Joseph.Potthast@scouting.org to make sure these changes get taken care of.

The next thing is to be sure your scouts and adults are signed up for their classes for camp. If you haven't already log into www.chawanakee.com and start signing them up for classes. Don't forget you can sign up for classes up until the Thursday before you go to camp. On that day we will cut off registrations.

Finally I'd like to give you an outline on what to expect at check in. When you get to camp it will be in your best interest to be ready in advance to help speed up the check in process. There are a few things that you can do to help your unit be ready. Check in starts at 1:00 PM at the Camp Office. What will happen is your troop will be assigned a tour guide from our staff who will take your scouts and adults on a tour of camp. It will include a stop at three key locations. One will be a medical checkup so make sure you have the proper medical forms and for each scout and the consent for minor form. Another stop will be your swim check at the water front so be sure each scout has swim trunks on under their clothes and a towel handy. The third important stop will be at the Camp Dining Hall to review the food setup as well as get a meal shift assigned. While the troop is doing that we will ask for one to two adults stay behind at the Office to make sure all the check in paperwork is in order. They will need to have a copy of your troop roster to turn into the office as well as be able to show the troops tour permit. If any adjustments need to be made then the troop fees will also be settled up at the time. Please note we would prefer to have all troop fees taken care of three weeks before camp as this helps to speed up the check in process. However we do understand that sometimes things happen and we need to make adjustments. Also they will receive the unit's check in packet as well as adult bathroom keys at this time as well.

As always if you have any additional questions or comments feel free to contact Pete Maskovich, Kevin Friedrich, or Joseph Potthast at the Fresno Scout Office.

April 29 2009: General Updates
Hello again everyone.
Camp Director Pete and Assistant Scout Executive Mike Gerardi have asked me to pass on a new development to all units. As of right now all classes do not have an age limit except for COPE. COPE for a scout has an age limit of 14 and Adult COPE has an age limit of 18. This is the new standard and overrules all previous publications.
Another thing to point out is that the Motor Boating and Theater Merit Badges are not being offered this year. I know that some troops out there have had scouts signed up for them in the past but they are no longer in those classes. If you want to sign them up for another class you will have to do that.
Also as a result of these changes a few reports have been wrong as they are still showing the cancelled classes still. I'd like to thank the two troops that helped me find those report so quickly. If you find any more reports or pages that have errors please bring it up to my attention at Admin@Chawanakee.com.

April 15 2009: Updates on Program for 2009 Summer Camp
Greetings all, I've been asked by the Camp Director to pass on some new information to you all.

First off I'm sorry to say that we have to cancel the Motor boating Merit Badge. The reason is unfortunately our camp motorboat for the class is no longer running. For those who had scouts signed up in this class we will be removing them from the class so be sure to check and see if they want to sign up for a new class in that period.

Secondly is the cost of Horsemanship is $30 instead of $25. It was changed to $30 in the Camp Leader's Guide but not on the website. We apologize for this error.

Another change is that Citizenship in the world no longer has an age requirement on it as well as the Star Scout Prerequisite has been removed as well.

There have been a few other changes to the Prerequisites so be sure to check the reports so your scouts can try and get everything taken care of before camp starts. A reminder though, A prerequisite does not need to be done in advance in order to take a class at camp, however if you don't do it before hand you will not earn the badge by the end of the week.
 

March 16 2009: www.Chawanakee.com Site Update and MB news
Hello all, some of you encountered a bug today regarding changing a person's birth date or not being able to delete someone. That bug has been fixed and thanks goes out to those who helped find it.

Another change that has been made to the site is the Horsemanship Merit Badge. It used to be listed as needing sessions 2-4 but now it is session 5 only. This is correct. If you check your leader's guide it says the class runs from 1:30 - 3:00 at the Shaver Lake Horse Stables. There has also been a change regarding the age limits on First Aid and Rifle Shooting Merit Badges. They are now 11 for Rifle Shooting and no age limit for First Aid. Camp Management wishes to offer it's apology for any inconvenience this may have cause you.

February 24 2009: Camp Leader Guides, Logon Passwords and More!
Hello everyone. There are a couple of things to update you on today. First and foremost you should have received your copy of the 2009 Camp Leaders Guide CD. On this CD is detailed information that your unit needs to successfully plan your stay at Camp Chawanakee. Also included on the CD are several forms that you'll need including the new 2010 Medical Form. For those who are not aware National has release a new medical form that will take effect in 2010. It will be used by both youth and adults and will be good for any scouting event from National Jamboree to Local Summer Camps. It is only good for 12 months though unlike the Class 3 Medical Form which was good for three years. However this does not take effect until 2010. For the summer of 2009 you can use either the standard Class 1-2 for those 39 and younger, Class 3 for those 40 and over or the new 2010 form. That's right if you want you can use the new 2010 form this year, as we will accept all of these forms.

The next thing you should be aware about is the Logon Information for www.Chawanakee.com was NOT included in the Camp Leader's Guides. In order to get the Guides out to you sooner we opted to mail the guides without the Passwords. Yesterday February 24 we mailed out the logon information to each unit that has paid their January Payment. If you have not received your passwords by the end of this month then it means you might not have made your payment. Also included in this mailer was the information for the 2009 Camp Leaders Meetings. There will be one in Northern, Central, and Southern California. If you want to get your hands on the flyer right now be sure to check out the Downloads page and get it there.

Now that you have your logon codes you can start to enter the scouts and scouters who are coming to camp this year. You can start to sign up for classes starting March 16th (which don't forget is the date your second payment is due!)

As always if you have any questions feel free to contact the Fresno Office.
 

January 28 2009: January Updates
Greetings everyone, in the wake of all the payments coming in for the January Payment I just wanted to give everyone an update regarding a few things. First off in regards to the Camp Leader's Guide it is still being reviewed and has not yet gone out in the mail so don't fret about not having gotten yet. It's just taken a bit longer to finish then expected. When the edits are done and the Leader's Guides do go out to everyone who made the January 15th payment I will post something about it here on both the Sequoia Council Site as well as the Chawanakee Online Merit Badge Site. If you haven't made your January Payment yet though you can expect a call shortly to make sure your unit is still planning on coming to camp.

On another note there are a few units that have called up regarding the new 2010 Medical Form put out by National. Just so that everyone is aware yes you can use this new medial form for this summer of 2009. We will also accept the Class1-2 and Class3 Medical forms this summer. However next summer starting 2010 Camp Chawanakee will only accept the new medical form put out by National.

Also in response to some questions form units yes we are planning on having a Camp Planning Meeting for both the Central and Southern California Areas. However no dates have been set for that yet. When they are confirmed though you can expect the news to be posted here.

Lastly regarding Merit Badge Signups I'm pleased to announce that you'll be receiving your logon information with your leader's guides shortly. With this logon you will be able to log into http://www.chawanakee.com and start registering the scouts and adults who are coming to camp. However you will not be able to sign them up for classes until March 16th. This way everyone has a chance to log in and become familiar with the system. Also when you're logged in you'll be able to print out reports showing when Merit Badges are being offered and what pre-requisites are for each badge.

As always if you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask.

December 23 2008: Coming in 2009
Well the finishing touches are being put into the 2009 Leader's Guide and production will start very shortly. We will mail each unit a copy of the Leader's Guide after they make their January 15th payment of $75 per person (both scout and adult) that is coming to camp. They will also be available online at both www.seqbsa.org as well as www.chawanakee.com.

However you can get a sneak preview of some of the changes that are coming about. If you look at the list of merit badges offered at camp you'll notice that we've stopped offering the following Merit Badges: Fingerprinting, Citizenship in the Nation, Computers, Oceanography and Theater. In the near future we will also be updating the list of requirements for each badge as certain merit badges have been updated by the National Boy Scouts of America.

Also I would like to take this moment to introduce to you the leadership for Camp Chawanakee for 2009. Returning this year as Camp Director is none other then Pete Maskovich. New this year to Camp Chawanakee is Program Director Kevin Friedrich. You can reach either one of them at their respective e-mails: CampDirector@chawanakee.com and ProgramDirector@Chawanakee.com.

Finally don't forget that you can make payments online this year. The process is simple and guarantees your payments get into our office in a timely fashion.