Welcome to the first Troop 26 Alumni Newsletter!
We’re hoping to send out a newsletter once a year to keep you up to date on what your old 
troop has been up to. I was a Scout quite a few years ago, with Troop 41 in New Jersey (Eagle in 1982). It’s great for me to see some of the exciting new things that Scouts do, but it’s also wonderful to see how things have stayed the same from even when I was a Scout!
The one thing that’s stayed the same with Troop 26 for many, many years is Sam Soga. We all know how great he has been for the troop and the youth of Santa Barbara, but now everyone in town does as well – Sam was recently selected as a Local Hero by the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper!! You can read about it online here. Thanks to everyone who wrote letters in support – apparently there were quite a few nomination letters!
Some other traditions that have also carried on – Bear Trap is still the December overnight, although this year windy and rainy weather up in the Lockwood Valley had us heading to Cottam instead, where we dodged the high winds and rain to the north and had a great trip. The snowshoe trip still happens every other year. Summer camp at various places, yep! This summer was Emerald Bay. And Philmont comes up every three – although our 2018 trip fell victim to the fires at Philmont, but we ended up doing a great replacement trip (read more here). We’re rescheduled for this summer for Philmont, so crossing our fingers. We post some photos of trips on our website.
Also, for those not living in the area anymore, you may not have heard that the beloved Rancho Alegre was in the path of a fire two summers ago, and almost every tree and building burned, but fortunately the dining hall was saved. The Council is working tirelessly to get it rebuilt – Troop 26’s Trey Pinner (now Council President) is helping lead the charge. The latest I’ve heard is we hope to be able to start using it again late in 2020. More info, and some pictures, at the Council Website.
Finally, we’ve had to assemble this list of alumni from various people’s memories, but you can help by passing on a link to our newsletter, and also the link to sign up for the alumni newsletter list (probably just a handful of a messages a year).
Yours in Scouting,
Mr. Weakliem
Current Scoutmaster
