Meet Gerome!

Imagine my surprise when I found myself being uprooted from the home I have known all my life.

A few weeks ago there was a bad storm moving in on my home town of New Orleans. I had been a resident of the French Quarter for many years. I saw all the fun times that the people had during Mardi Gras and all year round. It truly was a party environment. Next thing I knew, I found myself in a shelter in Texas.

“Texas……. Isn’t there some kind of boys organization based in Irving that maybe could help me?” I said to myself. I decided to do some research on the computers they had at the shelter for us to use.

I found a listing for Boy Scouts of America and called the number. They forwarded my call to a gentleman named Roy and he was very excited about helping me find a new home. He suggested I try to stay with a Boy Scout troop in the area, but I thought this might be my chance to travel and see the country.

I suggested we either start in numerical order or alphabetical order. To my surprise, either way I went, Troop 1 in Abington, PA kept coming up, so I decided to give it a try.

I first joined the troop just as they were preparing for a camping trip. Great!!! What a super way to get to know the boys in the troop!

Once we were at Camp Ockanickon, I couldn’t decide which patrol to join, so the Scoutmaster decided to have the boys compete for my presence. After a long weekend, I decided to stay with the Tomahawk Wielding Flamingos. But one more problem arose. I could not remember my name. Some of the adults said that happens sometimes when you have a traumatic experience and go through a big change in your life.

I seem to recall never really liking my name before, so I was open to change.

Well, after much input from the boys in the troop, I am happy to announce that I will now officially be known as……………………………

Gerome the Gnome

A great big thank you goes out to The Who patrol for this great name. Rumor has it your patrol will be receiving extra points.

I look forward to getting to stay with the other patrols in the troop and getting to know the rest of the boys.  Check back here from time to time.  I really like using the internet, and I plan on updating this page with pictures from my adventures with the troop.  I'll post messages to the troop, too. 

Yours in Scouting,

Gerome T. Gnome

Be sure to check out the latest edition of Gnome News!