Boy scouts share story of 114-mile adventure.

Pictured, left to right, Troop 1145 Scoutmaster Rick Quinn (back to camera); Scouts Jake Quinn, Mitchell Kenney, and Asher Knobel; and Service Club members Jim Howell, Sally Ouweneel, Dick Johnson, Gene Jankowski and Terry Valenzano.

Boy scouts share story of 114-mile adventure.

#OceanaCountyNews #Pentwater

By Ron Beeber. Contributing Writer.

PENTWATER — The Pentwater Service Club recently heard from three area boy scouts and their scoutmaster about their 12-day, 114-mile, character-building, backpacking trek at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico last July. They recounted stories about their training, living in the rugged wilderness, and taking part in service programs.

Some members of Boy Scout Troop 1145 on an outing.

Earlier this year, the service club helped the scouts raise the final $4,000 needed so nine local scouts and four adult advisors could make the trip. The scouts were $4,000 short of their $15,000 fundraising goal, and facing a final payment deadline, after having raised $11,000 from spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts, Christmas tree sales, and various cleanup projects over the past few years.

So the service club earmarked $1,000 from its food sales proceeds – as well as contributions already made to its Pentwater Service Club Fund at the Community Foundation for Oceana County – to serve as a challenge grant that sparked another $3,000 in giving by the community in just two weeks.

“I can’t express how much we appreciate everything the Service Club, community foundation, and the news media did in our behalf,” said Scoutmaster Rick Quinn. “And I’m humbled by the generosity of all who made it possible to send everyone.”

“It was so fortunate that, several years ago, we established our Pentwater Service Club Fund,” said Pentwater Service Club President Ron Christians. “People had already made tax-deductible contributions to it by check and credit card, so we had funds readily available to donate.”

For more information, see the Boy Scout Troop 1145 page on Facebook, www.serviceclub.org, or oceana-foundation.org.