Ben Copeland gives a speech in the new conference center.

The Alapaha Area Council of the Boy Scouts recognized one of its biggest contributors at Camp Patten Tuesday by naming a building in his honor.

The new Ben Copeland Conference Center was officially dedicated during a brief ceremony in front of friends, family and community organizers.

“I’m just proud to have it for the scouts,” Ben Copeland humbly said.  “It’s not about me. A lot of other people had a hand in it and are contributing to the mission of scouting. I’m just glad that it serves the community, and I’m proud to have a small part of it.”  

As humbled as Copeland was, his grandsons were more than proud and both agreed their grandfather deserved the honor.

“I’m very proud of him,” 13-year-old Zachary Johnson said, “It makes me want to work harder to accomplish something like this.”  His brother, Jacob, added to his sentiment and said, “I think it’s a great accomplishment. My grandfather has done a lot in Lanier County; he helps a lot of people. I can only imagine how good it must feel to have a building named after you.” Matt Hart, Scout Executive/CEO, said he is grateful for all that Copeland has added to the scouts as well as the community.

“This camp serves thousands of kids from 12 different counties in south Georgia,” Hart said. “There are a lot of people, in addition to Mr. Copeland, who put in a lot of time. They all made this possible when others said it wouldn’t be possible.”

He added that the money and materials used for building the new center were donated. No loans were sought out for, what Hart said is, “the largest project done in the council’s history.”

“We’re real fortunate to have had the level of support we had especially in this bad economic time,” he added.  The brand new 4,000 square foot state of the art conference center was designed to meet the needs of training scout leaders, conducting council wide meetings and serving as the centerpiece of all scout events at Camp Patten.

The project was five years in the making. Bob DeLong, Alapaha Area Council Commissioner, said the original building used for the meeting and other events was not well-suited for the scouts’ needs.

“There was no heat or air and not much room for everybody,” he said. DeLong expressed his heartfelt thanks to Copeland and all the volunteers for their help and dedication to the scouts.

The Pepsi Shack, as it is called by the scouts,  still sits beside the new building but is no more than approximately 2,000 square feet of concrete slab and wood frame. Hart said it will someday be turned into another pavilion for holding additional events.