We’re still in the process of settling into our new service center at Camp Tuckahoe, but we’re open for business as we continue to unpack and get things set up.
As an update for our Scouting family, we successfully closed on the sale of the former Mechanicsburg Service Center on June 3. As the time came for us to relocate to Tuckahoe, the building was not 100% ready for us. The mechanical system contractor still occupied our largest storage space in the lower level of the building, so we had to store items wherever we could temporarily.
The new service center’s heating and cooling system is geothermal, and May’s rainy weather delayed progress on the geothermal field near the swimming pool. An extensive network of pipes filled with water and glycol loops back to the building, transferring heat between the air indoors and the fluid in the loop. That’s how geothermal systems work. We’re getting closer to having complete air conditioning at this point (June 30), but it wasn’t operational at all when we moved in, and the recent 95-degree days were challenging inside the building.
The Tuckahoe Scout Shop, being below grade on three sides, was remarkably comfortable even though the A/C wasn’t running yet. The Scout Shop was 100% ready to go on June 4, and if you haven’t visited it yet, it’s worth checking out.
When you visit Tuckahoe to see either the Service Center or Scout Shop, the new building has its own designated parking spaces. You can drive past the parking areas used by our summer campers and turn left into the building’s parking lot.
I’ve had the opportunity to bring numerous people through the building since June 4, and their reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. People whose most recent memory was the building’s poor condition just last summer have shared that they can’t believe it’s the same building.
If you’ve ever moved, you probably know firsthand how all those packed boxes linger for quite some time before they are opened and put away. It will be a while yet before everything is unpacked, the walls are decorated, and the display cases are filled with Scouting memorabilia. We will get all of that done before we rededicate the new service center on September 10. More information on attending the rededication will be out soon.
Change is hard, and selling both the Mechanicsburg and York buildings to consolidate into a new facility at Tuckahoe is a significant change, especially if you were close to either of those buildings. I get that. That said, having just one service center will be a considerable cost savings for our council in the future. Given our recent financial challenges, it’s essential to keep that in mind.
I do plan to write about the Mechanicsburg Service Center soon and reflect on that building’s service to Scouting in our council. If anyone has any photographs of that building during construction and is willing to share them, I’d appreciate it. We haven’t come across any construction photos, and I’d love to share a few of those in that article, as I did for the York Service Center.
For me, one of the most critical aspects of the new service center is that the Council will not incur any long-term debt for the renovations. The two grants for this project from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, along with the proceeds of the sale of our former service centers, more than cover the expenses of the renovations.
I look forward to everyone in our council being able to see our new home fully completed later this summer and I hope our new headquarters will be of great value as we work to bring Scouting experiences to as many youth and families as possible here in south-central Pennsylvania.
Yours in Scouting,
Ron Gardner
Scout Executive & CEO
