To prepare their scouts for an upcoming campout at Starved Rock State Park, the leaders of Cub Pack 65 from River Forest, Illinois asked us to present our “What 2 Know B4 You Go!” program at their monthly pack meetings. Because of time constraints we had to split the presentation into two parts–the March meeting dedicated to our true-life stories and April dedicated to solving the “survival situation” we had presented with emphasis on shelter, water, and fire. We finished the evening with our list of 6 essential items for a personal survival kit.

The scouts were particularly attentive to the stories we told. They participated enthusiastically in the shelter-building demonstration. And they watched excitedly as Ron generated a hot coal from a primitive bow drill and blew it into “life” in a bundle of tinder made by the boys.

A good time was had by all and the comments after the program indicated that some “terrific information [was] passed along to the boys”.