It’s a Contest

I’d like to make mention of two contests that might appeal to you or your Scout units. You have until this weekend to get an entry in for the first one.

Coleman “Continue Exploring” Contest 

If you are a non-profit organization and are in need of new camping gear, then look no further! Today, Coleman, a leader in the outdoor industry, is officially announcing the launch of the Coleman “Continue Exploring” Contest where one Grand Prize winner will receive up to $5,000 in Coleman camping equipment for their organization! 

The contest is open to non-profit organizations whose mission is to teach children, 18 and under, about the great outdoors and participate in group camping activities.  

Participants can enter by visiting the Coleman Facebook page now through October 31^st. In addition to filling out the online entry form, you must submit one photo of your group in the outdoors as well as what the outdoors means to your group (50 words or less please!).  In addition to the Grand Prize winner, there will be four second prize winners who will each win a prize package consisting of Coleman® camping equipment with a retail value of $2,000. 

Once all the entries have been received, Coleman will select five finalists based on creativity, originality, and their commitment to teaching children about the outdoors.  Then, starting November 5-11, Coleman Facebook fans will vote for the Grand Prize winner so log on and let us know what the great outdoors mean to you.

No purchase is necessary to enter, for official contest rules, please visit www.Facebook.com/colemanusa

Contest 2: Here at A Scouter’s Journey

Submit your favorite camping moment in the comments section of this post. The pseudo-randomly chosen winner will receive a Coleman Micro Quad Lantern. The winner for the lantern will be announced next week.

• 4 Lights in 1 – 4 removable LED light pods, each with its own on/off switch
• Light pods attach to any metal surface
• Each removable light pod is powered by (2) lithium ion rechargeable batteries, which are recharged when attached to the base
• Bright & Efficient – 75 Lumens (Lantern), 20 Lumens (Light pod) ANSI
• Runtime: up to 33 hrs (Lantern), up to 1 hr (Pod)
• Lantern powered by 4AA batteries (not included)
• Customize with (4) colored lens for each light pod stored in base
• Bottom base unscrews to access battery compartment – no tools required
• Area lights have a rubber lanyard for hanging, a clip for attaching to clothing, and a magnet for attaching to steel surfaces

Good Luck!

 

ShelterBox Ambassador Field Training

This weekend I was an attendee at ShelterBox Ambassador Field Training. I’m still processing all I went through but I can say without hesitation that it was one of the best, if not the best training, I’ve ever attended. The weekend was very well balanced between informational sessions, hands-on with the ShelterBox equipment, team development activities and participating in a disaster response scenario from start to finish. I won’t give away too many of the specifics about the training as I would like it to be just as special for future Ambassadors as it was for me. Besides that I think it’s more of a experience to be had, not described.

The attendees were divided into three teams for a weekend long mock deployment as SRT (ShelterBox Response Team) members. As “the Scout guy” in my group I was nominated to be our team leader which personally made the experience even more of a challenge and that much more rewarding. We experienced everything from going through customs in a politically turbulent foreign country to the layout and deployment of tents on the ground. However its really what happened between those points that was where the real magic was. Throughout the weekend our team was challenged, mentally, physically and even emotionally. As it turned out our team wound up being the winners of the weekend’s competition. We were all very proud, though it was hard to believe as we had so much fun during the process.

Honestly I think that everyone who attended “won” as there were so many take-aways that it was impossible to go through it and not come out of it a better Ambassador for ShelterBox. I really can’t thank enough everyone involved in this weekend who made it such an amazing experience: the SRT’s who were our trainers, my fellow Ambassadors especially my teammates, and all the support staff that gave up so much time to make this weekend as vivid of an experience as it was. What an amazing group of volunteers each and every one of them.

Viva Fredonia!

 

Countdown

In less than 24 hours now I’ll be heading off to Austin, TX for ShelterBox Ambassador Field Training.

The Ambassador Field Training is a great opportunity for new and seasoned Ambassadors to receive hands-on training with ShelterBox equipment, get a sense of what it is like on a ShelterBox deployment, learn ways to take their fundraising to the next level, meet other passionate Ambassadors around the nation and have a great time.

I’m very excited for this opportunity and hope to learn a lot. Not to mention its one of the few occasions that I’ve got the chance to camp out unrelated to a Scout function.

 

Featured Guest

I had the unique pleasure of being interviewed by Scoutmaster Clarke Green for his ScoutmasterCG podcast.  Joining me was Mark Dyer, ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) member and ShelterBox Scouting Coordinator. Here is a link to the interview, as well as a post of mine Clarke was kind enough to feature on his blog on how I got started with ShelterBox.

Listen here to the interview on ScoutmasterCG Podcast or get all the episodes by subscribing in iTunes.

 

ShelterBox Mobile App

Not too long ago I came across a service (Conduit Mobile) that let’s you build mobile applications for iPhone, Android, Blackberry… For free.
The design interface isn’t the most intuitive (being a content Mac convert) but after a few renditions I finally came out with a product I was happy with.

ShelterBox: All that’s news
Conduit let me design an app for ShelterBox that includes the contents of:
☐ RSS Feeds
☐ Twitter feeds
☐ Facebook feeds
☐ YouTube feeds
and customized sections including a What’s in the Box page and a section with links and instructions for all the ways to donate.

Besides serving the content as a web app:
ShelterBox Mobile App

Conduit also enables you to publish to the mobile (apple, android, +) app stores.
Here’s the catches:
(not really)
 To publish to the Apple App Store you need to have a registered developer account, (I don’t).
 As an iPhone guy I don’t have any Android devices to test on – (I can publish to Android for free).

So if you’re interested in helping either as a registered developer or as an android tester – email me

You can also load the app via the QR code below.