By Taylor Bobrow
On the weekend of October 4-6, over 200 members of both Te'Kening and Hunnikick Lodges gathered at Roosevelt Scout Reservation for a Lodge Merger Convention, where they planned out the foundation for their future lodge. This event, organized by the lodges' merger committee, gave Arrowmen the opportunity to select their lodge name, Lenape Lodge #8, and lodge totem, the majestic red-tailed hawk.
This lodge merger, in response to the recent merger of Burlington County Council and Southern New Jersey Council, was organized over a period of ten months by a lodge merger committee. The committee was made up of five members from each lodge. The group decided to hold a merger convention as a way to build the new lodge's identity and nurture new relationships between members. Saturday evening was spent solely in fellowship, with all business put aside. The night was filled with fun as Arrowmen enjoyed a buffet, DJ, and various activities, including ATVs.
2013 Te'Kening Lodge Chief John Mazurie led the merger committee. "Every lodge member was invited to participate, and everyone was involved," said Mazurie. Saturday morning of the convention was spent selecting the lodge's new identity. Mazurie shared, "We were sealed in a room until we came to our decision. Nearly four hours later, I emerged from the building to deliver the breaking news to the awaiting crowd of adult lodge members." An electronic voting system was set up in the meeting to streamline the identity selection process. In the weeks leading up to the convention, members had been invited to submit their ideas for the new lodge's identity via a lodge merger website created by the committee. Once the lodge's future was decided, members reconvened to determine the future of their three chapters. The selected names were Lachxu, Te'Kening, and Hunnikick Lekau Chapters, translating to fishing rod, in the woods, and river otter by the water, respectively.
Sunday morning brought the election of the first lodge officers, where nearly a dozen and a half youth ran for the opportunity to be a part of Lenape Lodge's first leadership team. The team then gathered on the weekend of November 22-24 for their first lodge officers' retreat. In December, both lodges' executive committees gathered for an LEC workshop, where they created Lenape's 2014 plan book. Lenape Lodge officially began its operations on January 1, 2014, and will move forward into a new era.