MAY       16-18 Venturing Work Weekend, Camp Twin Echo 21 VOA Meeting, Flag Plaza, 6:30 p.m. 21 Council Venturing Committee, Flag Plaza, 7:00 p.m.     JUNE       18 VOA Meeting, Flag Plaza, 6:30 p.m. 18 Council Venturing Committee, Flag Plaza, 7:00 p.m.     JULY       6-12 tVT@CTE, Venturing Summer Camp High Adventure Camp For 2008 Greater Pittsburgh Council will be holding a weeklong camp this summer for Venturing Crews.  The event will be based at Camp Twin Echo.  Camp will begin on July 6 and finish on July 12.  The activities were selected from those requested in your Venturing surveys.  Some of the highlights will be White Water Rafting, Climbing, Shooting Sports, Backpacking and Biking. As with all Venturing events, music, food and socializing will be key elements of the week.   Look for more information on the council website.  You can also contact George Barron at 412-325-7968 or gbarron@bsamail.org  There are fliers and registration forms available at Roundtable and in the lobby of Flag Plaza. You can also get information by attending any of the VOA meetings held at Flag Plaza the third Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. Venturing and Council Communications Sign up for e-mails and communications about events in your district and throughout the Greater Pittsburgh Council.  In order to receive the latest and greatest information on Venturing, you’ll need to subscribe to My GPC-BSA.  It is easy if you follow these instructions. Visit www.gpc-bsa.org.  Click on the “My GPC-BSA” link in the menu box on the left side of the home page screen.  Click on the “JOIN” button on the next screen. Register by answering a few questions.  Click “REGISTER” when complete.  Log in using your new username and password. Click on “JOIN GROUPS.”  Be sure to click on the boxes for Venturing and Council Events.  Take time to click on the box for your district. After you submit these changes, you will be able to access the Council calendar and any groups that you have joined will have their activities listed on your calendar.  We will also be able to send you electronically calendar changes and announcements of upcoming events. To locate a Venturing crew near you.  Simply click on the Venturing logo on the council webpage and type in your zip code.

What is the VOA?   VOA stands for Venturing Officers’ Association. We develop an annual program plan of events to bring Venturing youth and crews together from throughout the council. Our annual coordinated program consists of youth leadership development programs, like the Venturing Officer’s Leadership Conference, and Venturing Leadership Conclave. Skill based activities, such as the annual ski and snowboard weekend, and special “Fall Activity”, which features a new skill area each year. High adventure programs such as the GPC-VOA Superactivity conducted every other year and RangerQuest – which is a weeklong sampling of local high adventure opportunities. We also work to support the operations of the council by providing Venturing support to leadership development, summer camping, youth advancement, adult recognition and membership recruitment. We also foster communication to and between crews throughout the council through our web site www.gpc-venturing.org. To support these efforts we conduct monthly meetings at Flag Plaza the third Wednesday of each month from 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. You can become involved through representing your district, becoming elected to the VOA as an officer, or volunteer to serve as a chairperson or staff member for a VOA sponsored event. Every crew is invited to send a representative to the VOA meetings to help develop VOA events. Crew 321 Holds Memorial Blood Drive by Charlie George On March 9, Crew 321 (Mt. Nebo Church, Sewickley, PA) held its memorial blood drive.  After the loss of a prominent Scouter in our community several years ago, we became aware of the importance of maintaining our community's blood supply.  Also, one of our crew members, a leukemia survivor, pointed out that without multiple transfusions when she was in preschool, our outdoor activities would have been inaccessible to her.  Finally, because the winter weather in February interrupted a number of school drives, the blood supply in Pittsburgh has become very fragile, so this project was important in the saving of many lives -- possibly even enabling some youth to come rafting or backpacking with us in the future. Rachel Donovan was our activity chairperson for this event.  Special thanks to Sam West and Brooke Templin for announcing this at Seneca district roundtable.  We set a goal to surpass the 26 donors we had last year.  Our drive was the first in which 16 year-olds could give blood with a parent's approval, and half of our donors did so for the first time.  In total, we collected 41 units.  We look forward to setting a bigger goal next year. Crews and troops interested in hosting their own blood drive should contact the Central Blood bank at least three months in advance of the scheduled date.