Bethel Park Boy Scout troop celebrates centennial

Boy Scouts of America Troop 215 still is going strong after 100 years, with Bethel Presbyterian Church serving as its charter organization since 1922.

On Sept. 24, the church served as the site of a centennial celebration attended by many of the current 41 members and 30 or so adult leaders, including Scoutmaster Craig Blocklin, plus plenty of participants from the troop’s past.

Contributing to the historical aspect of the occasion was Jeff Jones of Beaver Falls, who brought his extensive collection of Boy Scout memorabilia to put on display. Guests were able to view decades’ worth of merit badges, patches, uniforms, handbooks, magazines and the like, including headwear.

“I have my dad’s hat from when he was a Scout. That was in the ’30s and ’40s,” Jones said, and he also exhibits an array of his own hats and those of other family members.

Troop 215 members met Jones and marveled at his portable museum during summer camp at Laurel Highlands’ Heritage Reservation in Fayette County, and they invited him to the centennial.

“I like to share what I have and the history of Scouting,” he said. “That’s why I do it.”

Among his prized possessions is a photograph of Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the original Boy Scouts in England, along with his wife and another woman who is thought to be the spouse of Boy Scouts of America founder W.D. Boyce, a native of Plum Borough.

On the other side of Allegheny County, Troop 215 can boast a total of 188 Eagle Scouts, with their requisite service projects benefiting the Bethel Park community and beyond.

For example, Blocklin’s son Jeremy made improvements at Bethel Green, the Allegheny Land Trust-owned preserved property off Route 88 near Connor Road.

“He had a pretty good project there,” his father said. “He built three benches and cleared out a big area that was overgrown.”

Another of the troop’s Eagle Scouts, Josh Zahniser, built a bus shelter for King School Kids Childcare and Preschool at First Bethel United Methodist Church. And Steven Champlin made improvements to Mingo Cemetery in Union Township, which contains the graves of many of the leaders of early America’s Whiskey Rebellion.

Other Scouts have worked on the Bethel Park spur of the Montour Trail, which serves as part of a system that extends to the District of Columbia. In fact, 13 Scouts and three leaders from Troop 215 took a July bicycle excursion that covered the distance there from Point State Park.

“We left on a Tuesday morning and arrived in Washington, D.C., on Sunday morning,” Craig Blocklin said. “And then we took a train back.”

Troop members routinely participate in a variety of experience-building activities, including Scouts performing the Color Guard for the University of Pittsburgh’s Oct. 8 Homecoming game vs. Virginia Tech.

In recognition of its centennial, Troop 215 received proclamations from Bethel Park Mayor Jack Allen and members of the Pennsylvania Legislature who represent the municipality.