Community gives shower facilities to Camp Tuscarora

By Matt Caulder
Published in News on May 11, 2014 1:50 AM

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Suppporters of the new restroom facilities at Camp Tuscarora are seen outside the building this past week. The Boy Scout camp has been using portable toilets and latrines for years, but a group of businessmen and individual donors came together to raise the money needed to build the facilities.

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The need had been identified for years.

At Camp Tuscarora, Scouts have been using portable toilets for the last five years -- a condition that was only supposed to last one summer.

For 10 years prior to that, the Scouts still used latrines dug in the earth.

Now there are two brand new restroom facilities at the camp, each with 10 restrooms and six showers as well as outdoor wash bins.

"It took a year to get them built all said and done," said David Kornegay, board liaison to the contractors working on the facilities. "It feels awesome. We have been in conversation about them on the board for about a year, but the council has been discussing the need for 15 years."

The community surrounded the camp in its time of need with more than $100,000 in donated funds and countless material and labor donations for everything from crushed gravel to the tin roof.

All said and done, the construction took about three months, getting the buildings up in time for the summer when thousands of Scouts will come through the camp.

Tim Harper, Scout executive for the Tuscarora Council, thanked the men who helped out at a gathering Tuesday to tour the facilities and to share a steak dinner.

"I want to thank you for what you have done for the 6,500 men and women in the Scout system," Harper said.

"These are top-notch facilities, and I want to thank each of you for the hand you had in them. I want to thank you from the bottom of each of their 6,500 hearts and my own heart as well."

In addition to the community support, the project also had the backing of the Boy Scouts of America. The BSA gave the camp the plans for the new facilities.