Osceola District News
With a summer of adventures behind us and the excitement of the National Jamboree still fresh in our minds, we find ourselves ready to begin another great year of Scouting!
SCHOOL NIGHT FOR SCOUTING
School Night For Scouting is our most important recruiting event of the year. Each unit should have appointed a School Night Chairman to coordinate and direct the efforts of the units. In Palm Beach County, our School Night will be held on September 2nd. To help units prepare, we will be holding a training session on Thursday, August 19th at 7:00 PM. The training will be held at Spanish River Church, and is MANDATORY for all units participating in School Night events. If you have any questions about School Night, please contact Paul Cloutier at cloutierNYIT@bellsouth.net.
ANNUAL POPCORN 'FUN'RAISER
September is not just the time when we send the kids back to school, it’s also POPCORN TIME! Selling popcorn is a great way for units and boys to finance their entire year of Scouting. However, popcorn does much more than that. It teaches our kids how to interact with others, how to be organized and responsible, and it demonstrates to them the importance of the Scout Law and their pledge to be ‘Thrifty’. Each unit should have appointed a Popcorn Chairman to coordinate and direct the efforts of the unit. To help units prepare, we will be holding a ‘Popping-Off’ party on Saturday, August 28th at 10:00 AM at Spanish River Church. ALL UNITS that are selling popcorn should plan to attend this exciting event. If you have any questions about popcorn, please contact Sara Martin at rs_martin@comcast.net.
DISTRICT ROUNDTABLE MEETING
Our next Roundtable will be on September 13th at the Spanish River Church in Boca Raton. Look for more information about the next meeting soon!
SAVE THE DATE
The Osceola District Boy Scout Camporee is comming! Mark your calendar for January 21-23. The weekend will be filled with fun and adventure for the Boy Scout Troops in our district. Look for more information soon!
A SCOUTER AND FRIEND IS CALLED HOME...
Dr. Gerry Elmore, a long-time friend, mentor, and leader in the Osceola District recently passed away. ‘Doc’ Elmore served for many years as the District Training Chairman, helping develop and transform adult volunteers into unit leaders and improving the Scouting program for countless youth in our area. Below is a message posted by his wife, Deena, shortly after his passing.
The Osceola District and Gulfstream Council would like to extend their deepest sympathies to the family of Dr. Elmore and say thank-you to a great Scouter.
Monday, August 16, 2010 3:01 PM, EDT
Greetings to you Radiant Wonderful friends & family!
It is amazing how much your life can change in 2 weeks. Looking at the last journal entry of Aug 3. Most of us knew we would eventually face the loss of our Darling Doc Gerry. He seemed to know that he was ready for this transition right after Christmas. He courageously carried on sustaining his body for the next 8 months while we all got things in order and prepared for his departure. Truly your love and prayers contributed so much to his sustenance!
There were times this past month when I actually got excited for him, to be free of the feeding tube, to be free to express his Divine self, to be free to learn more and expand his soul. It was almost like preparing someone for a long, exciting adventure. Then there were plenty of tears of course, feeling the impending separation of the physical person we have known and loved.
Saturday morning one of our Divine friends and healers stopped by to share some healing energy with Gerry. He got up and sat on the couch, he walked back to the bed to nap while she supported him. She felt he still had quite a bit of strength within. I was blessed to have a Divine Angelic nurse from Hospice here with me all afternoon and evening on Saturday, Aug 14.
As the afternoon went on, I could see him drifting farther and farther from his physical self. Still, I did not have a clue how fast he was proceeding! Even Denese, our divine nurse seemed a little surprised. My wonderful brother Randy, wife Kathy and mom & dad came over Sat evening to bring me some of Randy's fabulous cooking. They had a moment to share their love with Gerry before they left. The nurse and I sat and had great conversation about God and Reiki and life, all the while she stayed very attentive to Gerry's needs.
About 12:30 Sunday morning I was on the phone with my goddess night owl girlfriend, Lauren when Denese came to let me know Gerry had opened his eyes. She suggested I come and talk to him.
I got next to him in the bed, noticed his eyes had closed & he was breathing slow & heavy. I stroked his great head of silver hair and said the prayer of protection over and over. "The Light of God surrounds us, the love of God enfolds us, the power of God protects us, the presence ofGod watches over us. Wherever we are, God is, Love is, and all is well" I told him how much was loved. He opened his eyes and looked at me, sending love back, then closed them, furrowed his brows like he was thinking about something, and took a couple more little breaths. And slipped quietly out, with beautiful columns of Angel light aournd the room. It was soooo peaceful, he looked like a sleeping child. It was 12:55, August 15.
Then I felt his sense of great relief! That joy and freedom and Divine connection! Of course, many tears acompanied this process. My girlfriend arrived shortly after, climbed in the bed with me, along with the cat. We had some lovely moments connecting with Gerry's true self.
Later, our nurse, Denese, told me how amazing I was being with him, that in her 8 years with Hospice she had seen only about 3 other passings that were so peaceful and so Divine and she was honored to be part of the process. Gerry orchestrated it beautifully. and quickly!
Now we are facing the adjustment of life here on earth without Dear Dr Gerry, my best friend. What a blessing, to have such a wonderful family, fabulous friends and amazing clients to help each other along!
Laurel arrived at 6am Sunday with her longtime friend and God Brother, Quinn. Spencer is presently in Nicaragua on a surf trip with his soul brothers. (Gerry wanted him to go!) They will be coming back on Thursday.
We are in the beginning stages of planning a memorial service and will send out another note when the location, day and time are confirmed.
Laurel would like to collect notes, Gerry stories, etc. for the ceremony and for she and Spencer to have later. She will also have notebooks available at the service for love notes. I will print out some of the beautiful guestbook entries already posted here.
If you would like to contribute something you can send it to my email address
reikideena@yahoo.com
or Laurel
lalo242@yahoo.com
or the home
1476 Audubon Blvd
Delray Bch, 33444
From the depths of my heart, I hold Infinite Gratitude for the Light that you are and have been in the lives of Gerry and myself!
Heavenly Hugs,
Deena
UPDATE MESSAGE
TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2010 10:42 PM, EDT
Hello Dear Ones!
The amazing Angels on earth and in spirit are orchestrating a Divine memorial service and celebration reception for our dear Dr Gerry.
This is the information I received regarding the memorial service for Dr. G. You may want to distribute!
The Memorial service will be at the Unity church in Delray Beach Sunday, August 22 at 4pm.
Directions to the church at the link below:
http://www.unityofdelraybeach.org/direct.html
Reception/celebration will be at the Pavillion Grill in the atrium at the Stonegate Bank building on the NE corner of Yamato and Dixie highway in Boca. 6:30-9pm
301 Yamato Road
Boca Raton, FL 33431
(561) 912-0000
If you would like to contribute you can do so in several ways~
1-Plants or flowers for the church memorial service
2-Donations to the Boy Scouts of America Oceola district or the Sierra club Palm Beach chapter
3-Donations of food or money for the reception celebration.
*To make a donation for the reception please contact Julia Hart at (561) 391-8340 or toymanjack@bellsouth.net
Laurel, Spencer and I will continue to express our deepest gratitude for your love, stories, memories and support. We look forward to sharing the life and legacy of an amazing father, husband, doctor, healer, computer geek, community volunteer, etc etc etc!
District Pages are updated by a District volunteer.
Contact them or your District Executive, Aaron Kreager if you have information for your District pages.
