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BOY SCOUT TROOP 2295
of River Edge, New Jersey
(meeting place: Cherry Hill School)
While boys usually join our troop at the start of the school year in September, or during the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts in Feburary, a boy can join Troop 2295 at any time of the year. Also, it is not necessary to have been in Cub Scouts in order to join Boy Scouts. All boys between the ages of 11 and 17 are invited to attend one of our weekly troop meetings (parents can also attend). Additionally, parents are encouraged to volunteer to be Assistant Scoutmasters (ASMs), leaders, committee members, coordinators, and to assist with any of the many tasks related to troop events.
TROOP 2295 – The Scout Year 2009-2010 Recap:
Another successful year of scouting unfolded during the 2009-2010 scout year, building upon the success of the previous two years (Yes, it was the third full year in the life of the upstart Troop 2295; the troop has had 75 boys join its ranks from July 7, 2007 through May 2011.)
During the 2009-2010 scout year, the troop came close to matching the prior year's total of 40 troop meetings, and that does not include the Klondike-training sessions and calendar-planning meetings (led by senior scouts) in which the scouts participated. While most of the troop meetings took place at the Cherry Hill School Multipurpose Room (MPR), meetings were also held at four other locations: Van Saun Park, New Bridge Center Project Room, Grace Lutheran Church, and Temple Avodat Shalom.
Troop 2295 competed in the NNJC Twin Valleys District Klondike Derby at Campgaw (Mahwah, NJ), on January 30, 2010, just as they had done in January 2009. The troop entered two sleds in the competition, and finished high in the final standings. Since Cub Scout Pack 229 and Cub Scout Pack 95 also had two sleds each at the 2010 Klondike Derby, there were six sleds representing the Borough of River Edge.
In addition to competing at the Klondike Derby, Troop 2295 participated in the following events: camping weekends, including tent, lean-to, and cabin campouts; hikes; parades; community projects; fundraisers; whitewater rafting; and various other activities — culminating with the 2010 summer camps. The community projects the troop took part in were: Scouting for Food; Project Porchlight, an energy-efficiency program; Green Day, an enivironment fair at Memorial Park; assembling Thanksgiving Food Baskets; and volunteering at a 4-H Fair. The well-attended campouts included 2-night camping at each of the following locations: Camp Turrell, Camp NoBeBoSco, Durland Scout Reservation, Camp Yaw Paw, and Ten Mile River. Troop 2295 also took part in two hikes at Harriman State Park: Appalachian Trails, to Silvermine Lake; and Lemon Squeeze, via the Whaleback. The troop marched in two parades: the 2010 St. Patrick's Day Parade, in New York City; and the 2010 Memorial Day Parade, in River Edge, NJ. Other troop activities included a Mums Fundraiser; the Twin Valleys Den Chief Training Session and Merit Badge Fair; Arrow of Light ceremonies; Court of Honor ceremonies; Scout Sabbath; calendar-planning meetings; and a day of rockwall climbing, at the Camp Alpine Climbing Center. As a result of this extremely active year of scouting, the list of past events continued to grow — Archive of Past Events.
 The many 2-night camping weekends mentioned above were not the only camping events the troop participated in — many Troop 2295 scouts participated in one or more of the three 6-night summer camps: Provisional Summer Camp, at Camp Keowa; Troop 2295 Scout Summer Camp, at Camp Keowa; and the National Youth Leadership Training Course, at Camp Turrell. There was an impressive level of participation for the Troop 2295 Scout Summer Camp week (August 8-14, 2010), with 27 scouts opting to spend a week living in tents at Camp Keowa. The summer of 2010 was the third consecutive summer that the troop chose to camp at Camp Keowa, and it was the third consecutive summer that Ed. Y organized the troop's participation. In addition to Ed, the following fathers also spent nights at Camp Keowa during the week of August 8-14, 2010: Mike O., Bill L., Jeff M., Rich M., and Lou P.. The scouts participated in many Merit Badge activities during their time at Camp Keowa; some of the activities are chronicled in the video at the top of this page.
For the 2009-2010 scout year, Rich M. and Mike O. served as Committee Chair and Scoutmaster, respectively. They continued the past success of Russell S. and Ed Y. in those roles, respectively. For 2010-2011, the Committee Chair is Kevin K., and the Scoutmaster is Mike O..
Troop 2295's Unit Commissioner the past 3+ years has been Randy A.; Randy continues in the role of Unit Commissioner to Troop 2295 and Pack 229 for the 2010-2011 scout year.
Here's a shoutout to all of the Assistant Scoutmasters (ASMs) of Troop 2295, as of March 12, 2011: Amy W., Bill L., Ed Y., Jay L., Jeff M., Lou P., Rich M., and Vikram D..
CLICK HERE TO TRAVEL BACK To 2008-2009
CLICK HERE TO TRAVEL BACK To 2007-2008
Troop 2295 at Ground Zero begins at the 4:10 mark of this video,
with the images from inside St. Paul's Church.
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The Inspiration: In September 2005 I began making DVDs and videos for Pack 229 (this was before the existence of YouTube and Facebook, thus it was an unusual thing for the time, but just a continuation of the type of thing I'd been doing since 1994.) Later I did the same for Troop 2295. This website has been a variation on (and a continuation of) those DVDs. The initial inspiration for this was a project I worked on for a friend. She had been a child star many years ago, and in June 2005 I created a documentary of her career for her to screen at filmfests and autograph shows. In creating that documentary for her, I thought of how all children are child stars, some just get higher ratings than others (although, truth be known, Mary Ellen and I knew Susan Gordon for a year or so before she broke the news to us that she'd once been a child star. She had disguised herself with red hair and unorthodox clothing.) One of the many Troop 2295 DVDs ended with The Kinks "
Everybody's a dreamer,
After a very long and difficult struggle, on Sunday, December 11, 2011, our dear friend passed away from cancer. Susan lived in Teaneck, NJ, mere walking distance from Cherry Hill School by Rod Serling's definition of that term. Mr. Serling most certainly cast Susan to play the lead role in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Fugitive," in 1962, because he knew a star when he saw one, and he loved to showcase them on his show. Susan had the good fortune (or maybe it became her misfortune?) of always having to watch our Cub Scout Pack 229 and Boy Scout Troop 2295 DVDs first, as she would "proofread" them for quality and precision (I also just liked making sure the discs worked on many brands of DVD players before I burned scores of copies.) She enjoyed it the first couple of times, but by the 10th or 20th time it probably got to be a bit much, yet she never complained and always said she liked them. She was always grateful to us for handling both her business and celebrity websites/DVDs, and she felt it was the least she could do in return.
Since Susan took the time to help with the Troop 2295 & Pack 229 DVDs, videos and websites, please take the time to visit her website and read the tribute message we have added to her Home page. Susan was my friend and one of my biggest business inspirations for many years, but she was also very close to Mary Ellen and our three sons. I'd also like to add that Susan has known Troop 2295 Life Scout David B. since he was a baby, so to a couple of his friends who once accused him in elementary school of lying about having a friend who used to be a movie star, now the facts have been revealed.
