Mark Keefer

Greetings, my sisters and brothers.

It is with a heavy heart that we reach out to you to share the news of the passing of another brother. Mark Keefer passed a couple of days ago. Mark was involved in Scouting in the Northeast Georgia Council for most of his life and dedicated more than two decades to serving all of those who camped and enjoyed dining at Rainey Mountain. His was a presence like no other.

Mark grew up in Gwinnett County and the old Alcovy District. In 1970, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout in Troop 549 of Mountain Park under the guidance and mentorship of his Scoutmaster, Brother Lane Bridges, who started that troop in 1967. Mark served Scouting in many capacities in the district and council before accepting the role of Dining Hall Director at Rainey Mountain in the late 1980’s including cooking and serving Mowogo Lodge during our functions. In 2005, Mark was recognized with the Vigil Honor by Mowogo Lodge and was given the name “Sakima Sachgachtoon,” translated in English as “Chief Cook.” He served in that role until stepping down in 2013.

Mark left an indelible impression on the thousands of Scouts and Scouters that enjoyed camping and working at Rainey Mountain for many years. We celebrate the life and service of Sakima Sachgachtoon and send all those that were close to him our condolences and gratitude for sharing Mark with us. In the words of our founder, Dr. E. Urner Goodman:

“He who Serves his fellows is, of all his fellows, greatest.”

MarkKeeferPhotos

There will be a visitation for Mark on Wednesday, November 1, from 6:00 to 8:30PM at the Byrd & Flannagan Funeral Home, 288 Hurricane Shoals Road, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30046. No services are planned.

Yours in Service,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

Fall Fellowship

MowogoFallFellowshipGraphic

Fellow Wearers of the Arrow, we hope this finds all of you well.

We hope you are enjoying cooler, crisp fall days after a summer of record heat!

Our inaugural Fall Fellowship at Scoutland on Lake Lanier is just around the corner. Planning for this event has begun in earnest and the registrations are continuing to climb! Our Lodge Executive Committee voted last December to create a Fall Fellowship at Scoutland to address the expressed need to provide an induction event in the fall of the year and to provide service to the great program property, Scoutland! My compliments to our youth leadership for their vision and dedication for their efforts to make this function a reality!

More information will forthcoming concerning check-in location and procedure (health checks, etc.), Chapter campsite and requirements, event schedule, service projects, and other important items. Our Lodge Food Services Team has been and will be working to prepare for some more delicious food to share – to get the Thanksgiving food fest started off right! And, most importantly, preparations are being made to create meaningful ordeal experiences for our Ordeal Candidates – our most important task!

If you have already registered for Fall Fellowship, thank you! If you haven’t yet, please do so that we can plan accordingly for you…link below:

Register for Fall Fellowship - Click Here

Some outdoor painting will be a part of the service projects so please prepare appropriately!

Important Note: There will be a Council Program Cluster meeting that will be held in Cleveland Hall from 10:00AM to 1:00PM the Saturday, November 18, during Fall Fellowship. This meeting is a gathering of all Scouters that are responsible for council-level programs. We will not be able to access Cleveland Hall during this meeting so please keep this in mind. We have also invited these leading Scouters to join us for lunch that Saturday at 1:30PM following their meeting. This is an opportunity to meet the excellent volunteers and leaders and demonstrate the example of the role models you are.

The attached file is a flyer for distribution about Fall Fellowship. Please print and share with those units in your district.


Yours in Brotherhood,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

Lodge Officer Candidates

Fellow Wearers of the Arrow, good morning!

We have a slate of candidates for our leadership for 2024! See below…

Lodge Chief Jayce W (only choice)
Alex S (only choice)
Vice Chief of Membership Sankalp Y (only choice)
Tommy P (2nd choice)
Vice Chief of Indian Affairs Andrew C (only choice)
Sophia W (2nd choice)
Vice Chief of Communication Tommy P (1st choice)
Vice Chief of Administration Caroline ‘Kit-Kat’ D (1st choice)
Sophia W (1st choice)
Vice Chief of Finance Aaron S (1st choice)
Caroline ‘Kit-Kat’ D (2nd choice)


Thank you to each of these leaders that offer themselves in service to provide leadership for Mowogo Lodge. The hallmark of the Order of the Arrow is the central concept of servant leadership through the youth-led experience. Your willingness to taken on these responsibilities to grow and improve Mowogo Lodge serves a great example of this and all of us appreciate it very much.

We will look forward to some spirited and well prepared for campaign with the understanding that we are part of the same fellowship and exercise good sportsmanship and respect for each other as we are working towards the same goal!

Congrats and thanks!

We are looking forward to seeing all you this weekend!


Yours in Cheerfulness,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

Pow Wow

Greetings and Salutations, Brothers and Sisters!

We hope all of you are well and made through the record heat we ‘enjoyed’ this summer.

This time next week we have a new slate of Lodge Officers for 2024! Many thanks to all of those that have submitted their letters of intent to run and their signed Lodge Officer expectations form! If you are planning to run for election to a lodge office, please email these documents (attached to this email) with signatures by tomorrow, Monday, September 11. It means a great deal that we have leaders that step up and serve our lodge and council and it is much appreciated!

Pow Wow is special for Mowogo Lodge for many reasons. It is the function we can gather, share learning and training, and share fellowship with each other. We elect new leadership and celebrate the meaning of servant leadership and what it means to all of us. This provides us with the opportunity to renew our ties of brotherhood and helps to provide meaning for our work in the lodge, in our districts and council, and to our daily world.

With that spirit, we will have some special people that will be joining us next weekend. Our current Section E6 Vice Chief will be there as well as Mowogo Alum and our only 3-term serving Lodge Chief and current Ini-to Lodge Adviser, Frank Harper. Our Council Commissioner, Carter Wood, has also accepted my personal invitation to join us. The key three leadership for all of our districts have been invited to Pow Wow so that we can share this fellowship and build relationships that can help our council grow as well as Mowogo Lodge. Also, of special note, this Pow Wow we will honor a fallen Brother, Doug Rustay. A Broken Arrow ceremony for him will conclude our Saturday night campfire. His family and others that served and worked with Doug in all of programs in Scouting he served have also been invited.

Please make a point to do your best to make all of our guests feel welcome. Let’s show them what we learn from trying to be servant leaders: to serve first. Scouting is a family this will be an opportunity to demonstrate that.

We look forward to seeing all of you there!

Yours in Service,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser. Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

Mowogo Making the News!

Greetings, Brothers & Sisters!

Mowogo has made the news at the national level in the Order of the Arrow! The article our Vice Chief of Communication, Ms. Elizabeth B., wrote about the Ordeal experience of Brother Duncan Lawrence has been posted to the national OA website!

https://oa-bsa.org/article/helping-all-arrowmen-reach-new-heights

Many thanks to Elizabeth and to all of our Lodge leadership for making our program accessible for all of the Scouts and Scouters honored by their units from around the Northeast Georgia Council!

Outstanding! Good work!

Yours in Brotherhood,

Rusty Royston
Lodge Adviser, Mowogo Lodge
Northeast Georgia Council, BSA

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