08/29/2026
I wanted to share a story from last night that I think says a lot about the kind of staff and volunteers we have in the Blue Ridge Mountains Council.
As of Thursday, Danville’s popcorn order was sitting in a warehouse in Wisconsin. It wasn’t scheduled to arrive until Monday—which meant our Scouts in the Danville area would lose an entire weekend of selling.
Our team simply wasn’t willing to let that happen.
John worked the phones and somehow managed to get the popcorn rerouted and into Roanoke by 7:00 PM last night.
Stevie secured a U-Haul, and he and Dave Snebold met the truck and transferred the popcorn into it. They brought everything back to the council office.
Meanwhile, Bill Calvert had already spent the entire day working at our Lynchburg popcorn warehouse. Instead of calling it a day, Bill picked up the U-Haul at the office and headed for Danville. Volunteers were arranged to meet him there at 9:00 PM.
Bill and Gerald Elder unloaded the popcorn so it would be ready for our Scouts. They finished up near midnight.
Why did all these people go to that much trouble?
So one little Scout—and hundreds more just like him—wouldn’t miss a weekend of selling popcorn and earning his way through Scouting.
Nobody involved had to be told why it mattered. Staff and volunteers saw a problem, figured out how to solve it, and kept working until the job was done.
From Wisconsin, to Roanoke, to Lynchburg, to Danville—in a matter of hours.
That is teamwork. That is servant leadership. And that is what happens when staff and volunteers remember that, at the end of all the spreadsheets, meetings, budgets, and logistics, there is a young person counting on us.
I couldn’t be prouder of this team.
Please join me in thanking John, Stevie, Dave Snebold, Bill Calvert, Gerald Elder, and all of the volunteers who stepped up last night.
They made sure our Scouts had the opportunity they were promised.
That is Scouting at its best.
Not to mention all the other staff and volunteers who were at a very successful clays event or distributing popcorn in their areas. Thank you each and everyone!
