Volunteers

Would you like to support the Mattatuck Volunteers?
Send a check to:

Mattatuck Volunteers
P.O. Box 257
Plymouth, CT 06782-0257

We hope to issue it about four times a year. We could have named it "Kenosha Log" after a camp newsletter from the 1950's, but it's important to use the name "Mattatuck" in the title. The name "Mattatuck Messenger" is borrowed from an old Mattatuck Council newsletter issued from time-to-time in the 1960's and 1970's. The idea for a newsletter was the developed shortly after the death of our beloved friend and camp director, Tom Horan, on December 13, 1998. Former Scouts, camp staff members, and leaders came from far and wide to pay their respects to Tom. So many had questions about how camp was, or questions about former staff members. Many of us feel an obligation to help continue Tom's work. For some it will be to serve Scouting as a leader. For others it will be to help the Order of the Arrow or the Mattatuck Volunteers with work projects. Others may help by contributing money.

The Mattatuck Volunteers were formed in 1981 as a result of discussions we had at an Order of the Arrow weekend. There were a good number of adults there that weekend, and we decided to form our own organization for the following reasons:

• We were concerned that if there was too much adult involvement on the O.A. weekends the boys would lose leadership opportunities.
• We wanted to work on more advanced projects
• We wanted to raise funds for those projects.

A similar group in the Quinnipiac Council was used as a model. They offered camp scholarships to boys. We adopted this idea at first but lost interest after the first year. Our first Chairman was Stanley Abromaitis, who served from October 1981 to January 1982. Barney Surprenant took over from there and capably led the group until his death.