They had preliminary meetings with 4 youth:
Trevor Poole, David Schellenberg, Kevin Pelletier, and Ricky Termath.
The youth decided to pursue the Air Search and Rescue focus.
The 1st Sun Valley Group Committee was approached and asked if they would consider sponsoring our new Venturer Company. As they were a relatively new Scouting Group, they had some concerns such as whether or not they were expanding too rapidly and would a Venturer Company be a financial burden. After presenting ourselves at a Group Committee meeting along with our 4 youth members, their concerns were discussed and the Group Committee decided after long discussions that a Venturer Company might be a good idea and we were granted sponsorship under the 1st Sun Valley Scouting Group banner.
A ceremony was held in April 1996 at the Sun Valley Mall to invest our advisors and youth members into 1st Sun Valley Scouting Group and our Venturer Company was born.
As time went along, it became increasingly apparent that CASARA was not interested in using our group (something about insurance) and the idea was finally put to rest in the winter of 1996-97.
During the winter of 1996/97 we were informed that Emergency Preparedness was starting up a new program aimed at Scouting called "I Am Prepared". There was a program in place for the Cubs and Scouts, but not for Venturers. We were asked to be the "guinea pigs" for such a program and that there was money available for training courses to get it going. The proposed requirements for attaining the
"I am Prepared" award were:
-Standard First Aid with CPR
-Emergency Radio Operators Course and
-Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Course
In May of 1996, our 3 advisors along with Trevor, David, and Michael Bell and Crystal MacClure from 1st John de Graff Scouts attended a proclamation signing ceremony at the Legislature with Mr. Brian Pallister, Minister of Government Services to proclaim Emergency Preparedness Week. We had lunch with the Minister and some other government representives in the Members Dining Room.
In June, Bob, Jamie, and Don attended an Emergency Preparedness course at the R.C.M.P. building in Winnipeg for 5 days. They were exhausted but certainly a lot smarter (but not nessessarily wiser or is that the other way around) than when they went in.
Another youth, Brian Hardy, joined us temporarily in the spring of 1996 and in June 1996 we went on service to the Peguis District Cub Camp with 4 youth and 3 leaders. Brian didn't return in the fall but we got 2 other boys:
Derek Kozak
Steven Slusarchuk
During the winter of 1996-97 the youth members all completed their Standard Level of First Aid c/w CPR. We also conducted a winter camping course culminating in a weekend out at Hadashville spending Saturday night outside in some winter shelters. The radio course and Red Cross course took a back seat for a while as plans were underway to go to CJ'97 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
During the planning stages for CJ'97, Bob's friend Rainer Muller in Germany asked if he and 2 of his Rovers could attend the Jamboree with us. We said yes and the plans started. It turned out that Rainer could not make it but he asked if the two Rovers could attend anyway. Again we said yes and that is how Sebastian Lohmann and Christoff Plattner became honourary 1st Sun Valley Venturers and our very good friends. Thanks very much guys for coming, you made a good time even better. (We still can't speak German, though)
Our CJ'97 contingent consisted of the following members of the group:
David Schellenberg
Kevin Pelletier
Steven Slusarchuk
Trevor Poole
Don Schellenberg, Advisor
Bob Poole, Advisor
Sebastian Lohmann, German Rover
Christoff Plattner, German Rover
Jamie Krilyk, Advisor, Offer of Service-Care Corps
There isn't enough space here (well there probably is, but I won't fill it now) to write about everything that happened there, but suffice to say, CJ'97 was great and everyone had a great time.
The one other outstanding thing was that we were also joined at CJ by Troop 515 from San Antonio, Texas. It was great to see them again and we enjoyed their hospitality for some TEX-MEX food. We'll see you again guys!
Nathan Buschau
Daniel Schindel
In the fall we were again offered the option of taking Amateur (HAM) Radio and the group voted to go for it. We offered early entry to Venturer Company in January for anyone who was interested in moving up anyway and could then take the Amateur Radio course with us.
We were then joined by:
Crystal MacClure
Graham Poole
Melissa Power
Michael Bell, and
Cindy Bell, Advisor
We now had 12 youth members and since Don Schellenberg had "retired", we had 3 Advisors.
Ken Barchuk was our instructor for the Amateur Radio course and we thank him for his time and patience during the 4 months it took us to complete the 50 hour course. As of the writing of this piece, we have 11 youth and 2 Advisors who have earned their Amateur Radio licences.
We were informed that if a group was to take on Amateur Radio, there would be some grant money available from Emergency Measures Organization through Scouts Canada to help get equipment. We thank them for their support. To show our committment to this project, our Company went out and raised a substantial amount of money to get the support equipment necessary to use the radios and equipment for service at various Scouting and Community events.
To this point since taking the Amateur Radio course the 1st Sun Valley Venturers have provided Communications Services at the Peguis District Beaver Camp, Wolforee '98, and the 1998 Manitoba Marathon.
We now have another three members in our ever-growing Company:
Matt LaCasse,We hope to grow in the future thereby sustaining the group for many years.
Ryan Smith, and
Clayton Champagne
