A very successful day for all participants of Yard Charge 2003 began on a cool November morning in downtown Cleveland. All groups were given three yards to rake and bag. Members of each group gave service to the community and had fun in the process. It was very gratifying to help out the elderly home owners. After completing the yards assigned to us we were treated to a meal at Wendy's. The hard chargers on Yard Charge were Jared, Matt, Nate, Philip, Ryan, Mr. Makowski, Mr. Svihlik, and Mr. Thomas.

A Good Turn for Scouting...Questions/Answers

• Who can participate? Yard Charge is for all Scouting members; Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venture and Explorers. Siblings and parents are encouraged to help.
• Should Scouts wear their uniform? Yes
• How long will yard Charge take? The event will kickoff at Tower City Amphitheater on Saturday, November 8th at 8am. The parking lots next to the amphitheater will be open for parking at no cost for the kickoff. Following a brief kickoff Scouts and leaders will head off to preassigned homes to rake leaves. The entire event should be completed no later than Noon.
• Is there a rain date? The alternate date is Saturday, November 22nd.
• Do I have to attend the kickoff at Tower City? At the kickoff Unit leaders will receive participation patches and food certificates for Wendy's restaurants. Biodegradable leaf bags are to be used for the leaves collected and will be distributed.
• How many yards will my group be asked to rake? Each unit is encouraged to break into teams of 3-6 youth and 2 or more adults. We would like each team to rake at least three yards. Yard assignments will be made in clusters of yards located close to each other.
• How will I know which yards I have been assigned? Yard assignments will be distributed at the October District roundtables. Each yard assignment will also include a mapquest printout showing the location of the yard.
• How were these homes selected? The City of Cleveland currently maintains these yards for the elderly home owners.
• We have elderly home owners in our own community who need help raking their leaves. Why can't we just rake these yards? We would like to show the City of Cleveland the impact that Scouting has on their area. Many Scout groups have made arrangements to rake the leaves of people in their local neighborhood on Saturday afternoon.
• What does my group need to provide? Biodegradable leaf bags will be distributed at the kickoff Saturday morning. Each group is asked to provide their own rakes and work gloves if needed.
• What kind of publicity will the Boy Scouts have for this event? Wyse Advertising will be coordinating all publicity for the event. The Plain Dealer will be providing a quarter page ad in the Saturday newspaper and a follow up story on Sunday. WKYC, Channel 3 weather reporter, Eileen McShae will be broadcasting live 3-4 times on Saturday.