Boy Scouts gifted property on the moon

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - The Calcasieu Area Council Boy Scouts of America is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and the organization just received an anonymous gift that’s out of this world.

Scout Executive Michael Beer says the Boy Scouts have had programs here in Lake Charles since the early 1900′s, “2020 is our hundredth year anniversary of being formed here in Lake Charles. Now we’ve had programs here in Lake Charles since 1911. Troop 1 by the Mayo family, but when we were finally incorporated as a separate entity it was back in 1920. In the last five years, we’ve gone from 1,083 kids here in Southwest Louisiana to over 2,000 kids participating in scouting.”

This isn’t the first time that the scouts have looked to the stars, “You know, everything that they do is tied to an adventure and in some ways that’s been tough because it’s not the face to face. In other ways there’s some incredible opportunities where we’ve had groups of scouts be able to connect with astronauts on the international space station and have interviews.”

That’s why this package meant so much to them, “So a couple of weeks ago we got a package in the mail, “Congratulations you have an acre of property on the moon!” It’s on the Lunar Alps. It’s the north east area by “The sea of Tranquility” which is where they landed on the moon for Apollo 11. They’re such a strong correlation with scouting and space. 2/3 of the astronauts were involved with scouting while they were growing up. 20 out of the 24 astronauts who have been to the moon actually were scouts. Neil Armstrong, of course, the first man on the moon, is an Eagle Scout. You know, ”The eagle has landed!”, all that reference was to his scouting days.”

The Boy Scouts plan to hold a naming contest for their piece of the moon as part of their anniversary celebration.

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