Weekly Post, May 22, 2011

Post date: May 14, 2011 11:33:39 PM

Greetings Troop 737! Summer is upon us and there is a lot to finish up. Please read the details below.

I would like to continue to remind everyone that I have a new email address that I use for Scouts. Again, this is a big advantage for me as I can access this while I am on the road as I am this week, in eastern Pennsylvania. My new email address is: choffman@themountaintroop.org.

Troop News:

  • Good job Ian, Slater and Zach on a successful Start Wars COH and great job to all the scouts in the troop, that was a pile of Merit Badges and Rank Advancement. I was so busy meeting everyone that missed out on the Purple Celery and other galactic treats, good job scouts for the food. However, in the future, let's not forget that even a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away they too, ate with forks, spoons and knives.
  • Congratulations to Ryan Johnson, Troop 737's newest Eagle Scout!! Nice job, I remember when I first came to this troop, you were still working toward First Class, and now this. It has been a pleasure to see you grow and earn this Rank. Scouts and adults, please congratulate Ryan when you see him. The achievement of this goal was due to his hard work and because he knew the word: "yougodawanna".
  • I would also like to remind all scouts that Ian Roche is still trying to get his Eagle project completed and needs your help. I know that we have had a large number of Eagle projects this year, but it is our obligation to support them as you will want support for yours. Please see his email and we will have more to say at tomorrow's meeting.
  • A slot has opened up on the Boundary Waters trip, see Mr Ballantyne's email for details. This is a great opportunity for someone not signed up to participate one of the three high adventure pinnacles of Scouting. If you want to take advantage of this opening in the boundary waters trip, see the details below and contact Ballantyne at 303-838-1240.
  • We have two opportunities to serve and give back to our Veterans on this coming Memorial Day Weekend. We can give out Poppies at local businesses and we can place flags on the graves of our Evergreen Veterans. If you are in town on the Memorial Day weekend and would like to spend some giving back, please see the calendar, separate emails and below for details.

May Service Patrol:

Nuclear Flaming Eagles. Please show up 15 minutes early to set up for the troop meeting, and plan on staying an extra 15 minutes to help clean up (OK, it

was either the flaming eagle with two heads or a mushroom cloud).

Activities:

May 23, 2011 6:30 – 8:30, ELC, Sports Night. Marshdale ball fields. Details to be worked out. Scout in charge is Andy W. I will be doing a few Scoutmaster conferences for those that have made arrangements prior to the meeting. If you need a board of review also, please contact Mr Shay, we can probably do both.

May 27 and 28, 2011. Service Project; Veteran Flags. Ralph Evans, one of the founders of our troop and a WWII veteran has asked for any and all troop members (and family members) to assist with placing American flags on the graves of veterans at three Evergreen cemeteries. He would like to get the flags in place by Saturday, May 28th. His thoughts are to assemble after school on Friday, May 27th and also on Saturday, May 28th. See the Calendar and Mr Gutz's email for details.

May 28, 29, 30, 2011. Service Project. Poppies. We have been contacted by the VFW Women’s Auxiliary asking for our scouts to help distribute poppies at the Evergreen Wal-mart Fri, Sat and Sun of Memorial day weekend. They are also contacting other groups so they will not be depending on us solely. Our contact said that there will be two ladies from the Auxiliary there at all times, so they could be dropped off independently at Wal-Mart to participate. Our troop will require that we have TWO scouts at any time (the Buddy System applies) or a scout and one or more of his parents. Our HALO for this is Suzanne H. Thompson, 303-567-0503, 303-809-4801, suzanne_thompson@qwest.net. Please sign up.

June 4. 2011 10 AM to 2 PM. Annual planning meeting. Alderfer Three Sisters picnic area. All scouts strongly encouraged to attend. All leadership positions are expected to attend. http://co.jefferson.co.us/openspace/openspace_T56_R5.htm. Mr. Wickham and Mr. Hoffman to bring planning materials. SPL to bring assembled ideas from patrols. Lunchtime picnic will include the food assignments to be determined at the next PLC.

June 6, 2011, ELC, 6:30 PM, Summer Camp Meeting - Parents. We will meet to inform parents of all necessary preparations for summer camp. This is a very important meeting for parents to attend, particularly parents of new scouts. All your questions can be answered and difficult topics can be discussed.

June 7-16, 2011, Boundary Water Trip (Ely Mn.). You should already know if you are going. If you don't know that you are going, but you are, you better find out fast!

June 11-12. Rafting Trip. Cancelled due to lack of interest and timing. Mr. Sperry is putting an alternative together at Summer Camp. There is already a sign up for this and stay tuned for details.

June 13 2011, ELC, 6:30 PM, Summer Camp Meeting - Parents and Scouts. We will meet to inform parents and scouts of all necessary preparations for summer camp. Again, this is a very important meeting for parents and scouts to attend.

July 10 - 16, 2011: Summer Camp, San Isabel. We are less than two months away, time to prepare! A few items from our summer camp Head Adult Leader Organizer (HALO) Assistant Scoutmaster Bart Sperry, bart@ntmwater.org, 303-435-2894

  1. All new scouts should be going on this. It is a great way to bang our the requirements toward First Class rank and work on merit badges. Badges? We need dos stinkin badges!
  2. We have a few meetings set up just for summer camp. The first is June 6 (at the regular troop meeting time) just for parents The second on June 13 is for both the scouts AND their parents.
  3. A current Class 3 Colorado State Medical Form (both sides of the form with a physical and doctor's signature) or National form (Parts A, B and C with a physical and doctor's signature) will be required for summer camp. Mr Smith has taken over the role of managing health forms, so please see his recent email. Also keep in mind that we are slowly migrating to the National form.
  4. Adults going to camp are required to be current on Youth Protection Training. This is an easy 30 minute online course. If you do not have printed proof of Youth Protection Training good ahead and retake it. It is relatively painless. http://olc.scouting.org/index.html
  5. A few adults have asked about staying at camp. I would like to start collecting a list of names and days that adults are interested in staying. Let me know if you would like to stay the whole week or half week and if you have a preference for first half or second half. Remember it is also an option to just drive down for Friday dinner, camp fire and spend the night ($5/meal and $10/night fee).
  6. A heads up on refunds. There is a $50 deposit per scout that is non refundable. If you cancel 30 days before camp you can receive $160 back and up to two weeks before the trip you will receive $80 back.
  7. If you missed your swim check like I did, you can join me summer camp getting a check in the cold mountain camp lake. This of it not as cold, rather it will be refreshing...
  8. There is an opportunity to go on a rafting trip mid week. I think this would be a great opportunity for our older scouts to get away for a little high adventure. there is an additional cost of $45 per person and we will have to work out the transportation, however, Mr. Sperry is taking sign ups and will continue to do so. Stay tuned for more information coming on this.

August 8-12. ELC Grove Sale. This is an annual event that we are asked to support by our Church sponsor. We have not done a very good job of supporting our sponsor and they have called us on it. The committee has decided to make three church related events a priority each year for our troop: Scout Sunday, Church Cleanup Day and the Grove Sale. The cleanup day and the grove sale are both service projects and hours count. We will have a sign up sheet for two, four hour shifts for each of the five days. We are requiring that all scouts sign up for one or two shifts, and that they bring a parent to help. This is a good opportunity to bond with your son and help him server our sponsor. We do realize that it is summer time and some families will be out of town, but we need every scout and family to participate if at all possible. More on this at the court of honor.

I think that's all for this week, see you all at Sports Night.