Englewood Shopping District
By Scott Howell

What a wonderful morning Troop 282 had for raising the flag of our country on June 11, 2011 for the Englewood Shopping District Flag Day. As a Boy Scout one of our Aims is to show good citizenship. I can’t think of a better way to show good citizenship than to honor our Country’s Flag by raising it for a festival honoring the America Flag. I would like to thank those scouts, leaders and parents who showed up at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning to honor our countries flag. For those who didn’t show up well you missed out on a great honor for you and your scout troop.

I would like to ask the scouts to please respond back to this article by telling your scout troop what the Flag of your Country means to you?.

Flag Day was first observed in 1877. A celebration was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States by the Second Continental Congress. In that year, Congress asked all public buildings to fly the flag on June 14th. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Flag Day as a national celebration, but it was not officially recognized until 1949, when President Harry Truman signed the National Flag Day Bill.

Bernard John Cigrand is known as the "Father of Flag Day" and, in 1885, he was working as a 19-year-old schoolteacher. He placed a 10-inch 38-starred flag in an inkwell on his desk and assigned his students essays about what the flag meant to them. He typically called June 14th the "Flag’s Birthday." From that day on, Cigrand dedicated his life to inspire all Americans about the real meaning and majesty of the American flag. He spoke around the country promoting patriotism, respect for the flag and the need of the observance of Flag Day.

Flag Day is not an official federal holiday, and Pennsylvania is currently the only state to recognize it officially as a state holiday. Typically, the week of June 14th is designated as National Flag Week and, during this time, the President of the United States will typically issue a proclamation urging United States citizens to fly the flag proudly during that week. The flag is also displayed on all government buildings. In some cities, there are parades and events that celebrate the flag and everything it represents. The largest Flag Day celebration is held in Troy, New York, and typically attracts around 50,000 people.

(See more pictures from the Flag Day in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)

By Scott Howell

First let me say thank you to the scouts, leaders, brothers, sisters, dads, moms and grandparents who came out on a rainy Wednesday evening May 24, 2011 and helped with placing flags on the veteran’s grave sites. What a great honor for a scout troop to be selected by Mt. Washington Cemetery to come and take part in honoring our veterans. I hope everyone understands how important this service project is and what it means to the families of the veteran who we honored by taking the time to walk through the cemetery to place the America Flag at each grave site.

As I have walked through the cemetery many times to perform this wonderful service project each time I placed the flag of this great country at the top of the grave marker. I would thank that veteran for his or her service to his country by being in the armed forces to protect and stand up for all of our freedom.

If you didn’t take the time to drive through the cemetery when you left on Wednesday evening I hope some time this weekend you will take the time to take your family and go back to the cemetery to take a slow silent drive through the cemetery. It is a wonderful site to see all the flags of those veterans who cared so much to give part of their short time on earth to their country.

Memorial Day 2011 is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 30 in 2011). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. soldiers who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War. It was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day often marks the start of the summer vacation season, and Labor Day its end. Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family get-togethers, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events such as the Indianapolis 500 auto race, held since 1911 on Memorial Day.

(See more pictures from this service project at Mt. Washington Cemetery in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)

By: Mr. Gentry

On Saturday, January 15th Troop 282 met at the Vaile Mansion to help move all the holiday decorations back up to the 3rd floor storage. There were a lot of boxes, tubs, miscellaneous containers, and Christmas Trees. It seems like there are 4 floors because of the 14 foot ceilings, and all the stairs. It is a neat old building with lots of character and elegance. If you view the rest of the photos in the Troop 282 Photo Collection you will see what I mean.

All the boys did a great job of working together to get the job done. Afterwards they were treated with pop, cookies, donuts, cake, and other tasty snacks. We received many compliments and thanks. Everyone was happy to help out.

(See more pictures about this service project in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)

By: Mac McLeod

For this year’s food drive for Fairmount Food Pantry the Boy Scouts and their families collected food for seven weeks, putting out approximately 10,000 bags and collecting over 35,000 items. This is the sixth year Troop 282 has had a food drive for the pantry, and each year it gets bigger.

This food will support the food pantry for almost the entire year. We serve Northwest Independence. The boundaries are the city limits to the West, Sterling on the East, the Missouri River on the North, and 23rd Street on the South. This food drive not only helps people in need, but it will also free up funds to do other things like upgrade the windows in the pantry house and put siding on all three buildings.

Along with the Food Drive, Troop 282 also came to the Fairmount Christian Church to help assemble 325 holiday food boxes for needy families. The food boxes consisted of the following items. A 12 lb. turkey, a 5 lb. ham, or a baking hen. Brown and service rolls, butter, mac & cheese, canned vegetables, green beans, corn, canned soup, ramen noodle soup, instant potatoes, canned fruit, hot chocolate, cookies and candy bars. These boxes are truly for those less fortunate during Christmas.

The Fairmount Pantry would like to thank to Boy Scout Troop 282 and everyone that contributed to this great community service project. This project could not be done with out everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to help.

Thank you so much,
Mac McLeod
Chrm Food Pantry

(See more pictures in the Troop 282 Photo Collection of the 2010 Food Drive.)

by Mr. Gentry

Saturday Dec. 18 at Walmart, Troop 282 did their last Community Service project for the Christmas Season.

As many of you know Troop 282 rang the bells for the Salvation Army from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM at all 3 doors of Walmart. It’s a great thing to do during the Christmas season and we found most people to be very friendly and generous.

Curren and myself had the 3pm to 5pm shift at the South door. We happily rang the bell and tried to give everyone a "Merry Christmas" as they walked past. It was a little cold but we were dressed pretty well and just needed to move our feet every now and then to keep them warm. We heard that some of the other Troop 282 families at earlier shifts were singing Christmas Carols and that someone even had Christmas music playing while they rang the bell. It’s great to hear that everyone had a good time volunteering.

I want to encourage everyone that’s out there, if you haven’t come out to ring the bell, you should. We considered it an honor and a privilege to ring bells for the Salvation Army!

We couldn’t get a picture of everyone, but we did get a picture of a few of the many families that helped, go see them in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.

And the winner is… Jacob McLeod with a guess of 35,265!

35,622 was the actual total number of items we collected for this years Food Drive for Fairmount Pantry.

Fairmount Pantry and Boy Scout Troop 282 would like to say THANK YOU to everyone that contributed to this great community service project.

We set a goal of 30,000 items this year and with the help of many participants, including the generosity of the Citizens of Independence, we reached our goal and then some with a total of 35,622 items collected.

In case you didn’t know, Troop 282 and their families went door to door in the neighborhoods of Independence passing out over 10,000 food drive bags and picking up items for seven weeks from October 23rd to December 4th. The boys also collected food from their friends, family, and neighbors. All the items collected were donated to the Fairmount Pantry located at 800 S. Hardy in Independence, MO.

An online contest was held here on our troop website. The Boy’s submitted their guess at the total number of items collected. The boy’s guess that was closest to the actual total number of items collected won! The grand prize winner will receive 1 can of pop each week for a year.*

*This challenge has ended and was only for the Boy Scouts of troop 282. The one can of pop will be awarded after each weekly Scout Meeting for one year starting 12/27/2010. The winner must be present at the end of the scout meeting to claim his can of pop. No carry over or accruing of pops will be allowed.

The Independence Chamber of Commerce Thanks Boy Scout Troop 282.

Once again Troop 282 carried the American Flag for the 62nd Annual Independence Halloween Parade, organized by the Independence Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, October 30, 2010. Troop 282 would like to thank Matt Copeland, Ryan Muller, Nick Dunlap, Jacob McLeod, Ray Blann, and Jeff Dunlap for volunteering to be part of this great event.

It is the largest and longest running Halloween Parade in the Metropolitan Area. The chamber says about 5,000 people attend the parade each year. The parade included floats, school marching bands, dance clubs, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles, tractors, classic cars, and hundreds of ghouls and goblins.

Check out the Independence Chamber of Commerce Fan Page on Facebook for photos from the 2010 Halloween Parade!

Troop 282 would like to thank the boys and families who helped out at the Vaile Mansion on Sunday, October 31st, bringing down all the Christmas decorations from the 3rd floor. The Vail Mansion will be elegantly decorated with wreaths, garland, and greenery with touches of shiny silver that will enhance the beauty of the mansion as they celebrate a "Victorian Silver Christmas".

Curren Gentry said, "I think we have the easy part, just think of all the hours it must take to set up all these decorations." The boys and their families were treated with donuts to thank them for a task well done!

Be sure and visit the Vaile Mansion’s "Victorian Silver Christmas" Nov. 26-Dec. 30, 2010 (Closed Dec.23-25). For more information go to the Vaile Mansion website at www.vailemansion.org.

(Go check out more pictures from this service project in the Troop 282 Photo Collection.)