SummitCorps, “The New River Experience” was an OA service adventure in partnership with the U.S. National Park Service. Modeled after ArrowCorps5, 1,404 Arrowmen served during four one-week sessions throughout July 2011. Together, they built 12.8 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails in the New River Gorge National River National Park located in West Virginia. The New River Gorge is located adjacent to the new Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, the new permanent home for BSA National Scout Jamborees. The new trail was aptly named “Arrowhead Trail”.
SummitCorps was the largest youth volunteer project in the history of the National Park Service (78,544 hours of service valued at more than $1.6 Million). The West Virginia National Guards’ Glen Jean Armory served as the Incident Command Center. In addition to trail building, $25,200 worth of non-perishable food was donated to local food pantries and $15,409.50 raised through patch auctions was donated to local charities, helping to build a climate of trust, gratitude, and bonds of friendship with the people of West Virginia.
Following the event, Chief Scout Executive Robert J. Mazzuca remarked,
Through your cheerful service and leadership at the 2011 SummitCorps event, you have once again shown yourself to be worthy of the confidence placed in you by those who believed in you at the time of your induction.
But you have done even more than that. By your commitment, your labor, your dedication, and servant leadership, you have brought honor to the Boy Scouts of America, the Order of the Arrow, and yourself.