Who runs the Venturing Web? Well, thank you for asking: Now I can toot my own horn!

I'm Jim Winters, a middle-aged kid, in my own mind at least. My family and I live Northwest Florida, otherwise known as "Lower Alabama," specifically Pace, Florida. We're in the Gulf Coast Council, Esca-Rosa District, of the BSA. Two of my three sons achieved the Eagle Award in Pace's BSA Troop 451. The third, like his father, isn't a strong enough swimmer to pass the First Class Scout swim test, and won't ever go past Second Class in Boy Scouting.

My eldest son, Joe, and I became involved in Venturing seven years ago when we were looking for a high adventure experience in the Florida panhandle. (We just couldn't get excited about backpacking and canoeing in flat country fter living almost eight years in the Seattle area.) We heard about Venturing -- I'm not sure where - and leaped on it like a frenzied cougar, starting Crew 441, chartered by Pace Presbyterian Church.

Crew 441 was fortunate to be mentored by Ft. Walton Beach's Crew 520, capably advised by Rick and Kathy Nelson. Crew 520 took us on several trips, especially rock climbing in the Sand Rock Park northeast of Gadsen, Alabama. What a trip! They also provided us with officer and adult leader training. Unfortunately, Crew 441 folded after about three years because we were unable to recruit new Venturers and some discipline issues within the crew.

We have some very simple rules of use:

1. We must have a way to contact the resposible party for each crew site. If the responsible party's contact information changes or the responsible party changes you should notify us immediately.
2. No chat rooms are allowed.
   
3. No advertisements are allowed on Crew sites, commercial or otherwise.
   
4. No pornography or other "adult" content is allowed. The owner(s) of the Venturing Web will be the sole authority on allowed content.
5. Other rules may be added from time to time as deemed necessary by the owner(s).

The Venturing Web welcomes you to our new web site dedicated to enhancing the visibility of Venturing Crews by providing them with FREE web hosting. We also will publish the host's views on Scouting, especially Venturing, in the Venturing Blog.

If your crew is interested in allowing the Venturing Web to host your web site we hope you will fill out the Contact Form and let us know. We will be in contact with you regarding setting up your site as quickly as possible.

The Venturing Web is affiliated with the Venturing Magazine, a forum for Venturers to showcase their activities, post announcements, and generally have fun together.

Our Vision:

We forsee a large and dynamic community of Venturing Crews who exhibit their activities and demonstrate their creative abilities through their web sites. These Crews inspire others to pursue the goals Venturing to the max and live the Venturing Code in their everyday lives.

Our Mission:

Our Mission is to provide Venturing Crews with the means to affordably display their activities, enthusiasm, and abilities via the web. 

We will do this by:

• Providing FREE web hosting to Venturing Crews
• Pointing Venturing Crews to the necessary tools, either free or at minimal cost, to design and publish high quality web sites.
• Advertising sites hosted at the Venturing Web in appropriate venues.