Boy Scouts to Start Special Needs Troop in Barnegat

The Boy Scouts of America Jersey Shore Council is partnering with the Barnegat American Legion to start a scout troop specifically for kids with special needs in southern Ocean County and beyond.

The troop is open to all special-needs boys in the area whose developmental age falls between 10 and 18, said Council district executive Wayne Holmes, which makes it a first.

The Jersey Shore Council has overseen the creation of troops for developmentally disabled children elsewhere in Ocean and in Atlantic counties, he said, but they've been affiliated with hospitals and special-needs schools.

Barnegat's American Legion Post 232 stepped up to offer their Route 9 building as a venue, and the Council is planning its first informational meeting for mid March.

The Council hopes the troop will benefit the families of the boys involved as well as the scouts themselves, said Holmes.

"It's about trying to get those families who may already know each other in some way to get out and have fun together," he said.

The activities the troop undertakes will be customized specifically for the scouts, said Holmes.

"We're going to totally organize the program around the boys that we get," he said. "It will fit the needs of the individual scouts in the group." Kids with cerebral palsey, autism, Asperger syndrome or any other developmental disability are welcome, wherever they fall on the spectrum of mobility and speech, he said.

The boys will get to experience trips to the nearby scout reservation and will participate in activities focused on learning about life skills and nutrition as well as the usual scouting skills, like knot tying and fire building, said Holmes.

The first meeting for interested families will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 13 at the , 499 N. Main St., Barnegat. For more information, call Wayne Holmes at 732-349-1037, ext. 13.