It is an overcast Saturday morning and approximately 400 youth and adults are spread across a clear-cut section of forest just off Provincial Road 210, south of Marchand Provincial Park.
The people are Scouts and Scouters from various Scouts groups across southeastern Manitoba. The groups have come together to plant trees, an annual Scoutree tradition since 1972.
Several members of the Morris 1st Group have joined the effort, learning tree-planting efficiency from a forester to ensure the 8,000 seedlings planted are given the best chance of survival. Groups collect pledge donations for this event that stay in their local community.
The Morris 1st Group restarted this past January with a Beaver Colony (youth aged 5-7 years old), following a nine-year hiatus.
The seven current youth spent the colder months inside, making themselves tie-dye T-shirts, taking part in an investiture ceremony, and crafting and building Beaver Buggys to race against other local groups.
The warmer weather now has the group outside working toward their Trail Skills badge and providing community service by cleaning up garbage from the local park for Earth Day.
Conor Dea, a local parent and Scouter, volunteers his time because the program brings him “back to the outdoors, which I enjoy.”
Dea recalls his own time in the program as a youth, which gave him the chance to spend time with his dad and learn how to build a tarp shelter for weekend camping trips.
Although the Morris 1st Group has existed since the 1960s, it hasn’t always been able to be active.
Ted Swift, current Scouts Manitoba Commissioner, revitalized the group in 2003 when his children were interested.
“Scouts has always had strong roots in the farming community,” Swift explained. “Following the 1997 flood, [farmers] had flood clean-up to deal with and there was a lack of volunteers.”
Swift’s own positive experience as a Scout in the mid-80s had him volunteer as a Scouter, followed a year later by his wife, Debbie. Both remain active in the Scouting community, most recently acting as support for the new Morris 1st Scouters leading their colony.
“What really stands out for me is the camping, the skills learned, hiking and cooking,” Swift said of the Scouts program. “It filled a void for me [in my youth] and put enthusiasm back into being outside. We always went camping as a family, but it was the other stuff that you do: the bush craft, making fires, foraging for food in the woods.”
Far from his time as a parent volunteer in Scouts, Swift has recently been appointed Manitoba Commissioner, a provincial volunteer position supporting the more than 400 Manitoba volunteers (Scouters) who work with youth in this province.
“Anyone can volunteer as a Scouter. They don’t need a child in the program,” he explained. “As a Scout, my Scouter was a botanist and bachelor who wanted to share his knowledge of plants and that’s what he did.”
High schoolers looking for volunteer credit can help by becoming junior leaders.
“People from all stages of life can volunteer—grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles. We even have new parents with infants involved in the program.”
“[Volunteering] is fun.
Swift said. “It’s a lot of work, a lot of hours [at my level of volunteerism] but it is fun seeing the kids learn something new, seeing them realize that ‘I actually did that—I boiled water, I started a fire, I slept overnight in a tent, I canoed across the lake.’ Seeing success in youth and seeing them grow is the biggest reward for a volunteer.”
Persons interested in volunteering with Scouts or enrolling their children can visit scouts.ca and enter their postal code to determine the closest group.
