Scouts Plan to Build New Range Shelter

BROOKSVILLE, FL – The local Sand Hill Scout Reservation, which operates as a premier outdoor facility within the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council (GTBAC), offers a variety of programs and activities to foster creativity and learning for Scouts. The GTBAC serves 10,000-plus young people around the Tampa Bay area in the hopes of imparting various “essential life skills, leadership development, and outdoor experiences through Scouting,” a press release from the Boy Scouts of America continued.

There is already a high-quality shooting facility at Camp Sand Hill, but it is angled more toward older youth. This includes pavilions and places for shooting shotguns, pistols, rifles, and bows. Due to its nature, local and state law enforcement use it for practice most days of the week, too. “It’s just a great resource for scouting,” stated Scout Executive Mike Butler.

The younger Cub Scouts (kindergarten age to fifth grade) do not train with those types of weapons besides bows, however. They engage in target sports using equipment including BB guns, bows, and wrist rockets, but they do so with no protection from the oppressive summer sun. This also leads to time wasted transporting supplies from the larger range for the various activities.
As a result, Butler and company are endeavoring to construct a Cub Scout Range, which will be a “new shooting sports facility” that is “smaller in scope” and designed with the Cub Scouts’ safety and education in mind.

“Now, when our cub scouts practice their range target sports, they are outside in the sun,” said Emily Thomas, Withlacoochee District Executive, Boy Scouts of America. “So, it is quite unbearable by the end of the afternoon. Our volunteers that are putting their time and their dedication into teaching our scouts these skills, they are outside in that sun from when the program starts at nine am, to when the last cub scout leaves the range at four in the afternoon, maybe five, or later. So, it’s a long day of time of sun for them as well.”

As most of their other camps already have such buildings, this is one of the last to not have a shelter to keep scouts and instructors out of the sweltering Florida heat. The proposed structure will be a large pole barn measuring 80 by 100 feet, and it will allow for three target areas (BB guns, wrist rockets, archery) to be in use simultaneously. It will contain a building for storing the equipment and the center of the pole barn can be utilized as a classroom setting before activities.

“There’s so many different things that the kids get to learn in Cub Scouting, but when we tell our kids one thing you get to do as a Cub Scout is you get to use a BB gun, do the archery, or wrist rockets, their eyes really light up,” said Thomas. She added that it would be “wonderful to see them leaving tired” from a fun day well spent as opposed to being exhausted from their time in the elements.

Thankfully, this need has not gone unnoticed by volunteers and donors in the district. The council has already secured a grant from the SECO Energy Foundation to help catalyze the project. On July 6, SECO Executive Director Mariah Delgado presented a check to GTBAC leaders and Cub Scout members at the Sand Hill Scout Reservation. This amounts to roughly 9 percent of the total projected cost of $229,000, and the council will continue to look to expand their outreach efforts in the hopes of reaching this monetary milestone.

“The Withlacoochee District of the GTBAC greatly appreciates the support the SECO Energy Foundation has provided for the children of our community,” stated District Chair Stephen Toner. Any citizens or organizations who wish to help this venture get underway by the beginning of 2025 can reach out to Emily Thomas at [email protected] or 352-459-9375.