The 2010 National Scout Jamboree is my 7th Jamboree since 1975. During this time, many parents have asked me how Scouts get their clothes clean during a Jamboree. This has been especially important during the past two National Jamborees (2005 and 2010), when we have been gone for 21 days and we have camped and toured in 100 degree weather.
For most Jamborees, Scouts will bring 2 Class A Scout Shirts, which are the official Scout shirt with their badge of rank and other badges sewed on the front and both sleeves. They will also bring 3-5 pairs of shorts, 5 pair socks, and 5 Class B T-Shirts, bearing the official patch of our troop.
So the obvious question becomes…How do they wash their clothes in the middle of the woods? Thanks to the marvels of technology, you can now watch an instructional video that we completed on July 29, 2010. In this video, Scoutmaster Jeff Adams works with two Scouts to wash, rinse, and ring out clothes prior to hanging them on the clothes line in our camp.
While we are travelling, we look for an all-night laundromat to do laundry. The “travel laundering” is done by two Scoutmasters, who ask each Scout to number their clothes and put them in a mesh bag. We then combine the mesh bags into a large commercial washer/dryer. It’s amazing, but the clothes do get cleaned and dried, even though they are lumped together into individual bags for each Scout. It might not be cleaned and pressed like home, but the Scouts end up with clean clothes for another 5-day period.
