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Three great chances to win! Well not ‘win’, but still hang out with Phriends.

Banner Elk, NC
March 28-30
Weekend of relaxing, telling tall tales and maybe hiking.

Camp Bowers, White Oak, NC
April 18-20
Weekend of Service with the OA Conclave

Falls Lake, north of Raleigh
June 7, Saturday Only
Celebrate National Trail Days with your Philfriends.

All details for all three.

The Story
It was 11 years ago that Trey Jones bought his first kayak from Don Wright. Now Don is leading the way to honor Trey’s memory by sponsoring the Trey Jones Gearhead Expo on March 1 through his store: Village Outdoor, at Reynolda Village.

Trey was an outstanding young man, an Eagle Scout, a Director of ROCS, and a senior at N.C. State University when he died in an automobile accident near his home on Christmas Eve, 2005.

Philmont Scout Ranch, the Boy Scouts of America’s premier high adventure base in New Mexico, was home to Trey. In 1997 he made his first trek to Philmont, which has 34 staffed camps and 55 trail camps in high country along hundreds of miles of rugged trails.

Over the years Trey completed two more treks, the Roving Outdoor Conservation School (ROCS) and a Philbreak session. He was a crew member in 2003, a trail crew chief in 2004 and Assistant Director of Conservation/Director of ROCS in the summer of 2005.

The Scholarship
To honor Trey’s memory, his staff friends established a scholarship for the ROCS program. This summer the first scholarship was awarded. In addition, Trey’s family established the Trey Jones Philmont Scholarship to assist a deserving scout from the Old Hickory Council to have the same incredible adventure Trey experienced in the rugged New Mexico wilderness.

The Expo
In order to increase the endowment of these scholarships, family and friends of Trey’s created the first Trey Jones Gearhead Expo, to be held on March 1, 2008, to truly honor the spirit of Trey, the ultimate Gearhead. Village Outdoor Shop at Reynolda Village, owned by Don and Glenna Wright, will bring in many of their vendors exhibiting their latest gear.

Exhibitors are also providing items for the raffles that will take place during the Expo, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m on March 1st. at Reynolda Village’s former cow barn. Village Outdoor Shop is donating 25% of any sales at Village Outdoor that day to the two scholarships in Trey’s name.

Come see the latest in outdoor apparel, footwear, cooking equipment, camping gear and more. Information on Philmont and boy and girl scouting will be available. Take a chance on a raffle.

Admission is free.

Those unable to attend the Expo but wanting to contribute to endowing Trey’s Scholarship can do so at the PSA Memorials and Honorariums page.

Annual Summer Reunion

August 16-19

$100 adults (ages 12 and older) $30 youth (ages 5-11). Registration deadline is June 30. This is the event of the year for the PSA. Come to Philmont and gather, fellowship, and share your favorite Phil-memories.

This year’s reunion will feature the dedication of the Silver Sage Staff Activity Center on Saturday, August 16th. The PSA Annual Meeting will be on Sunday, August 17th. Stay around on Monday, August 18th, for activities, side hikes, a service project and more fellowship. The events will wrap-up on Tuesday morning, making it an extended reunion.

The reunion will be located at the Philmont Training Center, where there are plenty of showers, tents and parking spaces.
Reunion - Adult
Reunion - Child

PSA Summer Philmont Trek

August 10-16

$350 per person; Registration deadline is June 30, 2008
Limited to 60 participants; must be able to meet Philmont participation requirements.

PSA Summer Trek

PSA Autumn Adventure Trek

September 14-19 and October 12-17

$240 per person; Registration deadlines are August 22, 2008 and September 19, 2008 respectively
Minimum of 6 participants; must be able to meet Philmont participation requirements.

PSA Autumn Adventure

PSA Voyage at Northern Tier

June 12-19

$400 per person; Registration deadline is May 1, 2008
Space is limited; must be able to meet Northern Tier participation requirements.

PSA Voyage

We “Zipped It Up” – and then some…

Thank you! Thank You, thank you for your support of the PSA’s Annual Fund and ALL of our Annual Giving Opportunities.

We zipped it up–and blew past our total annual giving goals by a few thousand dollars (that’s real money!)–all because of your support.

The numbers are incredible:

• The President’s Circle – our goal early in 2007 was $30,000. We actually raised $34,020
• Silent Auctions (at two reunions) – our goal was $6,000. We raised $8,243
• Annual Fund – our “revised” goal $75,000. Our total is now $71,469.92!

We’re still getting a few stragglers in the mail at the PSA Office, but this means our grand total for Annual Giving to the PSA is $113,732.92. This is the first time in our history that we’ve raised over $100,000 in annual support for the PSA. Thank you! We did it while finishing a million dollar Capital Campaign – a year early! Thank you, again.

Zipper pulls will be in the mail shortly.

Best wishes to you all in the New Year!

Check them out at our PSA Group on flickr.

All photos in a Slideshow
PSA Group on flickr

…and we’ll give you a Pull.

In recognition of donors contributing $100 or more to the 2007 Annual Fund we’ll give you a PSA zipper pull for your fleece jacket, rain gear, sleeping bag, or whatever has a zipper that needs pulling.

It’s actually about an inch square. Not as big as the picture below so don’t worry about the weight.

Please join me in renewing your most recent gift to the Annual Fund today.

WE DID IT!

Because of your support – and the gifts of more than 600 PSA members and friends – we presented a check for $1 Million to Philmont Scout Ranch and ceremonially broke ground for the Silver Sage Staff Activity Center during our annual meeting on October 13th in Dallas, Texas. We did this a year ahead of schedule. The ink on the floor-plans was barely dry. At Philmont the earth-moving, re-bar and concrete work has already begun.

THANK YOU!

Our actual fundraising total – cash and pledges – stands at just over $1 million. You, and more than 600 others, have been very generous.

But we are not done yet…

At the Ranger Department’s 50th Anniversary this summer the group launched a special campaign to give a legacy gift from the Rangers to Philmont: a special fireplace for the Staff Activity Center. Rangers from the full history of the department have been asked to participate and donations are still being accepted.

We also still have a ways to go, because several donors have stepped forward to help remodel the staff area at PTC. Still others are pledging their support to help maintain these new facilities by adding to the Chuck and Judy Walneck maintenance fund so that future repairs to the staff center will not be a burden to the Ranch.

If you made a pledge, but have not completed it yet, please continue to help with your regular payments (we are sending reminders). If you have not had the opportunity to give yet, please pledge your support today – we’re wrapping this campaign up on December 31st and our new PSA President, Jim “Cuda” Lynch is looking for new ways we can help Philmont!

Thank you for all you do for Philmont and have a Wonderful Holiday Season and Blessed New Year!

We are closing in on the half-way mark for our Annual Fund goal of $75,000. We’ve received a special challenge from a long-time Philmont friend to match each gift received, dollar for dollar, if we can add another $15,000 to our total by December 15th!

With your support we can meet this challenge and go on to meet our fundraising goal for the year so we can continue doing great things for Philmont.

Your past support to the Philmont Staff Association has helped us do a lot this year:

• Sponsor Philbreak for the fifth year in a row
• Coordinate hundreds of hours of service to Philmont on the Urraca Trail
• Hold a dozen reunions across the country – and are helping Philmont recruit new staff
• Host the Ranger’s 50th Anniversary with over 300 attendees and close to 600 people at the campfire at PTC
• High Country was recognized with a prestigious award

We have done a lot. With your help to meet this challenge we are going to do a lot more.

Please join me in renewing your most recent gift to the Annual Fund today.