EVERETT — With their open coats, forest-colored sweat shirts, baggy jeans and chunky tennis shoes, the Boy Scouts of Troop 23 seem to be teenage space heaters.
The morning temperature danced at around 20 degrees, and the adults around the scouts winced at the punishing, tundralike wind. But the boys cheerfully ambled around the Masonic Center parking lot on Olympic Boulevard Saturday morning, teasing each other and sliding on the snow and ice.
Their noses and cheeks were ruddy as they unloaded tired-looking Christmas trees from the backs of trucks into a tall, faded-green pile.
Many area Boy Scout troops braved the cold Saturday for what has become one of their largest fund-raisers of the year — tree recycling.
In November, regional Boy Scout leaders got together to divide neighborhoods into territories. The scouts then invited people on their turf to leave their Christmas trees at the curb for recycling. In return, the scouts request a donation.
People usually give $5 to $20, though some forget to send any money and some leave their trees but don’t give anything, said Troop 23 Scoutmaster Tim Dawe.
"Usually, the checks roll in sometime after we pick the trees up, but I got one two months ago from last Christmas," Dawe said.
This year, Everett’s Troop 23 added a twist to the tree recycling by also asking people to donate used coats. By midmorning Saturday, the troop had collected several plastic bags full of coats that had been left alongside discarded Christmas trees.
The coats will find a new home with a charity that hands them out to the needy.
The recycled trees eventually will be chipped into yard mulch.
After they helped toss the first truckload of trees into a pile, 12-year-old Keenan Roehm and 13-year-old Jake Dawe, one of Tim Dawe’s sons, made a beeline for the gas station next-door to the Masonic Temple.
Their teenage taste buds must have been hours ahead of the adults, because the boys returned with a king-sized 3 Musketeers bar, Starbursts and a jug of Cherry Coke. It was barely 10 a.m.
Clutching their snacks, the boys jumped in Dawe’s maroon Ford Ranger for another round of tree fetching.
Dawe, a bear of a man with a handlebar mustache, reminded the boys to buckle up. They did, and with country music playing softly in the background, they hit the streets to scout for trees.
Keenan, a seventh-grader with braces on his teeth and wearing a snug knit cap, sat in the middle.
Jake, a ninth-grader, sat by the window. Jake has glasses, and wore a green and red scout hat. He also had a black cast on his right arm. Just before Christmas, he broke his thumb playing ultimate frisbee — a tragedy that temporarily rendered useless most of his Christmas gifts. He needs his thumb to play PlayStation 2 games, he said.
The money from their tree collecting and recycling, along with funds from the Troop 23’s car washes and popcorn selling, will help each boy afford the almost $200 bill for a week of high adventure this summer at Camp Black Mountain.
The boys weren’t entirely talkative, but would discuss what they like: camping, hiking, playing outside and video games.
They also discussed some of what they’ve learned in scouts thus far: what to do when a bear is staring you down (back away slowly), the various ways to start a fire, and how to make a tent from a tarp.
They’re also helpful when it comes to reciting the Boy Scout oaths, promises and laws.
"Boy Scouts should be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent," the two scouts said together in one breath.
Doesn’t this seem like an awful lot of things to be at age 12?
Keenan sighed thoughtfully. "Yeah," he said.
"Yeah, I guess," Jake said.
The three returned to scanning the sidewalks and curbs for evergreens.
Last year, Troop 23 made about $1,200 from tree recycling. Along with camp, some of that helped pay for merit badges, books and scout escapades.
The boys have some sort of exploit the third weekend of every month, be it rock climbing (last month) or snow camping (this month).
To knock down each of the 21 merit badges it takes to be an Eagle Scout, Troop 23 takes one merit badge at a time and works on it as a team. The troop just finished public speaking. Next is swimming, and then probably skating.
In a world full of distractions for boys 11 to 18 years old, it can be tough to keep the scouts focused, Dawe said. It requires a delicate combination of community service, leadership opportunities and high adventure.
Just then, Dawe hit the brakes, and all at once he and the two scouts yelled, "Tree!"
The three jumped out of the truck, leaving the doors ajar, dragged the tree into the road, and together hefted it into the truck bed.
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.
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