Johnsonville Scouts
Jamboree Grant
Johnsonville Scouts
Jamboree Grant
Stepping up kitchen hygiene at Jamboree
The Johnsonville Scouts have vastly improved their camp kitchen facilities and hygiene practices thanks to funding from the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust.
“We have a scout section of 30, with 18 scouts that went to Jamboree. We received $2,000 from the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust which enabled us to purchase camping equipment for use at Jamboree,” says Johann Weich, Group Leader, Johnsonville Scouts.
At the 22nd NZ Scout Jamboree, over 4,000 scouts and volunteers camped together at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton for 11 days.
“Before Jamboree, we realised during trial camps that we needed to upgrade our camping equipment and urgently update our strategy around food hygiene – especially improving health and safety at camp mealtimes”, says Johann.
Scouts enjoy their new equipment
Mealtimes at Jamboree are an important social time and give scouts a chance to chat with their friends, laugh and relive their new experiences.
“We really appreciate the assistance from the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust. The funding has enabled us to purchase a full set of cutlery and crockery for each member of the unit and
upgrade our kitchen utensils’, says Johann.
At Jamboree, the scouts enjoyed using their new plates. They enjoyed preparing meals with the new utensils and kitchen equipment. Scouts could wash their dishes at a dedicated dish-washing station. A duty patrol was on ‘quality control’ each day.
“In the long-term we would like to make our equipment available for any scout activity across the Wellington zone. We have enough gear to pop up a kitchen for 50 people and it can be up and running in two hours.”
Helping scouts with funding
Jamboree is run entirely by volunteers and is held every three years. It’s an exciting adventure for scouts with each day crammed full of action-packed activities.
At Jamboree, scouts get to experience a wide variety of challenges with their peers such as jet boating, canoeing, rafting, sailing, go karting, shooting, cycling and more.
“We do as much fundraising as we can, but grant funding really makes a difference to scouting”, says Johann. “We like to think about how our purchases can also benefit the wider community”.