RCHA New Sponsor of Scout Troop 618

In January 2013 the River Hill Community Association became the Chartering Organization for Boy Scout Troop 618.
Troop 618 has been in existence for more than 20 years and previously was chartered by the Hickory Ridge Community Association. However, in recent years troop membership has changed and now a majority of its members reside in the Village of River Hill and the surrounding area. Therefore, troop leaders, feeling that a stronger connection with the Village of River Hill would benefit both the scouts and the community, approached the Village Board with a proposal to charter the troop.

In October, the Village Board agreed to become the Chartering Organization. The River Hill Community Association has designated Michael Cornell, the Village’s Columbia Council Representative, to be the Chartering Organization’s Representative to the troop. He will serve as the prime liaison between the troop and the Association, will be responsible for overseeing troop leadership applications, and is a voting member at the local council and district levels. The  Association looks forward to this new relationship and the opportunity to more actively engage the scouts in the community.

The Association congratulates Nick Kruus, Troop 618’s newest Life Scout. To achieve the rank of Life, a scout must be active in his unit for at least six months as a Star Scout, demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath and Scout Law in his everyday life, earn merit badges, take part in service projects,and serve actively in troop positions of  responsibility among other requirements. Life Scout is one rank before Eagle Scout.

One of the service projects Nick and his troop participated in was to collect food outside of the River Hill Giant. The troop then filled their backpacks with the food and hiked to the DC Central Kitchen to deliver it to the homeless. Besides Nick, there are several other Life Scouts in Troop 618: Spencer Collen, Marc Fleming, Adrian Markelov, Daniel Merkowitz-Bustos, Dylan Mitchell, Ryan Mitchell, Noah Shapiro, Zachary Smith, and AJ Yom.

The troop has a total of 31 registered scouts and meets weekly at Clarksville Middle School. For more information on Troop 618 contact Steve Collen, committee_chair@columbia618.mytroop.us or Rick Mitchell,  scoutmaster@columbia618.mytroop.us.