Will Green has worked to schedule our Pack for an overnight at the Riverbanks Zoo this spring! There are three available overnight programs at the Zoo, and we were able to get the "Coastal Close Up" program reserved. We will be sleeping in the underwater viewing area for the seals! Each Cub will need to have a parent or guardian present. There are many rules which govern our campouts, and we will need a same sex parent or guardian present for each of our Cubs. Females with females, and males with males. Those with multiple Cubs do not need to maintain the 1:1 ratio.
There is unfortunately a 40 person maximum for this event so we will not be able to take everyone; however, we will be sure to keep this in the rotation along with the campout on the Yorktown so that it will come up as an opportunity every 2-3 years and each Cub should be able to go as they age up through the Pack. For this reason, we will prioritize oldest Cubs first and work our way through the Pack. We will initially start by not allowing non-Pack member siblings, but we may be able to let some join us if we are able to accommodate every Cub who wants to go and we are still under the maximum allowed number of people.
Cost is $85 per person, and this includes dinner, breakfast, and full admission to the zoo on the following day. These dates fill fast, and the only available night we were able to make work for the Pack to avoid things like spring break, long weekends, holidays, etc. is Friday, March 20th. I know this is inconvenient for many due to the commute up to Columbia on a Friday evening, but I'm hoping with this much notice that we'll be able to make things work for most. The program itself does not begin until 6PM and runs until 9AM the next morning. There is a minimum of 25 participants which needs to be met, so please let your Den Leaders know ASAP if you are willing to commit so we know if we'll have enough participants to continue or if we should cancel and get the deposit back.
More details can be found at
https://www.riverbanks.org/education/school-and-group/overnights. Contact your Den Leaders with any questions. They'll consolidate the list and forward them on to me. - Matt Levin
