The Boy Scouts, Venturers, and Explorers at Jambo will be better fed than ever before, thanks to a new food distribution system featuring improved logistics and coordination.
The system offers campers more choices and easier accessibility. Troops, crews, and their leaders will look over a list of available fresh, non-perishable and refrigerated foods, review suggested menu plan ideas or devise their own, and then “shop” for the items they need at a Jambo Grocery Store near them.
This new system will allow campers more choice over what to eat, so campers will be better fed. The expanded choices also will make it easier to accommodate people who have special dietary needs for medical or religious reasons. The system will reduce food waste, which is consistent with the Summit’s ethos of environmental responsibility.
Here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about the new system:
How does it work?
Each Base Camp will have its own Grocery Store, so you won’t face a long walk to gather your grub each day. The Grocery Store will be a large tent stocked with pallets of popular food items, shelves of smaller items, and coolers of refrigerated foods. All the Jamboree Grocery Stores will offer the same food items, and a list will be shared by your food team. You will only shop at the grocery store in the Base Camp where you live.
As at a real grocery store, a camper will enter the tent and see aisles and aisles of foods you recognize. You’ll pull your unit’s supply wagon around the store as you collect the items you want. Once you have what you need for the day’s meals, you’ll get in one of the checkout lines, where a staff member will scan and okay your purchases. Breakfast and lunch will be gathered between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., while shopping for dinner will be open between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
What will we use for money?
Your unit will be issued “shopping passes” that will identify the Grocery Store you’re assigned to use. Each pass will be worth a certain number of points, and the points will be used to buy food items. Different items will cost different amounts of points, so good meal planning is recommended. Each morning your total of points used will start over at zero.
Bring a smartphone — with the Jamboree Swift Shopper App downloaded onto it — when you come to the Grocery Store to shop. You’ll use the Swift Shopper to scan the items in the Grocery Store and then present your list in the checkout line. The scan will track what you bought and how many points it cost. It also will let you know how many points you have left and will notify your unit leader the purchase has been made.
Swift Shopper can even help you plan your unit meals, share shopping lists and menus with other units, and reconcile payments from the team account. You can learn more about how to download and use Jamboree Swift Shopper here.
How do we come up with a menu?
The Jamboree Cookbook website will list 10 different breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas especially tailored to the foods that your Base Camp Grocery Store has to offer. Once you pick a meal on the website, it will produce a shopping list of ingredients you’ll need and even cooking instructions on how to prepare it.
The new food distribution system is all about choice and efficiency. You can even devise your own menu. Maybe half of your unit’s members want hot dogs for dinner while the other half wants hamburgers — no problem!
Who will staff the Grocery Store?
All units will send a leader to work one rotation on the Jamboree Grocery Store staff. Generally, the leaders with this duty will be a unit’s third Assistant Scoutmaster, Associate Advisor, or Mate. The Jamboree Grocery Stores will need these leaders to assist with both the morning and afternoon food shopping time, and the Base Camp and Sub Camp staff will coordinate the duty roster.
Each unit’s third assistant leader will help with at least one meal shopping time. This is not optional, and Scoutmasters, Crew Advisors, and Skippers must adjust these leaders’ responsibilities so they are available to serve at the Jamboree Grocery Store when assigned.
If you like the work, you can volunteer for more shifts. The work isn’t difficult, but things will run more smoothly with more leaders involved. It’s a great way to serve and meet lots of campers.