Last summer, First Bracebridge Scouts enjoyed the privilege of attending Canadian Jamboree 2007 and celebrating 100 years of scouting with over 8,000 scouts from around the world. It was an outstanding experience for all.

One of the unique opportunities was the contact with a scout troop from Kenya. These two leaders and eight youth were sponsored by scout troops from the Maritimes to attend the jamboree. The sponsorship works through the International Brotherhood of Scouting. Canadian scouters work hard to raise money to support a scout troop in another country such as Kenya.

First Bracebridge Scouts and other groups in the Whispering Pines area have expressed an interest in joining this exceptional program. By choosing a troop in Kenya, these Canadian youth have the opportunity to be in contact with the youth they are working to support.

Ronnie Mdawida Mwachia is a young man working with World Corps Kenya to improve village life in his native country of Kenya. During the fall of 2005, Mdawida lived in Bracebridge for three months as part of a Canada World Youth exchange, staying with the family of Peter and Kathy Wood in Bracebridge.

Keeping in touch by e-mail, the Woods have learned of Ronnie’s keen desire to teach the people of his village and others to lead healthier, more productive lives. To aid in fulfilling his vision, the Woods have created the Ronnie Fund to finance various village initiatives. Their fledgling website is www.easysite.com/theronniefund.

After several years as a scout leader with First Bracebridge, Peter Wood is working with all Whispering Pines scout youth to raise funds to send to the Kenyan scouts via Scouts Canada International Brotherhood. Scouts Kenya will choose a scout troop to link with First Bracebridge and other participating groups in the Whispering Pines area.

Mdawida will be invited to attend meetings with the Kenyan Scout troop to bring greetings from Whispering Pines Scouts and tell of his time here. He even spent one weekend camping in Algonquin Park on a beautiful late September weekend with the First Bracebridge Scouts.

In return, Mdawida will take photos and e-mail them along with information of the Kenyan scouts to Wood in Bracebridge. Scouting families will receive these e-mails and photos to complete the electronic link. Hence they will be able to see the youth they are linked with and learn of the direct results of their support.

The first form of fundraising to be undertaken is the collection of 591 ml soft drink plastic bottles. Once rinsed and stripped of lids and labels, each bottle is worth six cents to a company called Terracycle. It fills these bottles with liquid fertilizer produced from worms. As the worms are fed on waste food removed from the landfill stream, it is a natural step to package the product in reused plastic bottles.

Working with a variety of groups looking to raise money, Terracycle will pay six cents a bottle to First Bracebridge Scouts for their International Brotherhood of Scouting project. First Bracebridge will act as the focus group for bottle collection and transport to Toronto as scouts all over the Whispering Pines area save the bottles and join in this united international scout linkage.

If you would like to aid in this project, please save your 591 ml bottles for the Scouts. Once rinsed, with caps and labels removed, save them up and contact a Whispering Pines Bracebridge Scout youth or leader near you or Peter Wood for drop-off information. Monetary donations are also accepted. Wood can be reached by e-mail at theronniefund@sympatico.ca or by phone at 645-8393.

The scouts are open to any assistance in this international support project. Any stores that would like to be depots for the collection of 591 ml bottles or trucks that could aid on delivery to Toronto should contact Peter Wood.

Whispering Pines Scout youth are excited about this worthy project. Both Canadian and Kenyan youth will benefit in many ways from this linkage. They look forward to presenting more information to the public as this partnership grows.