Weekly Post, Week of January 13, 2013
Post date: Jan 13, 2013 5:04:13 PM
Greetings Troop 737! We had two great meetings since the last post. The first was our SMC and BOR meeting on last Monday. We had five scouts participate and one new scout and dad that had a talk with me. This was a success and these scouts are assured of getting their rank advancement at the next COH.
The second meeting, the “SM & ASM & HALOs for Upcoming Events Meeting/Committee Meeting” on Thursday had so many parents and HALOs that we were able to accomplished a large amount of planning for the next few months. I want to thank those parents and all the others that have volunteered and continue to volunteer for these jobs to help plan our troop activities.
I do want to point out that the short term problem with volunteers seems to be easing some right now. We still have a shortage of summer camp HALOs, but that too is coming along. The real concern now is the longer term for the troop. We have many troop jobs held by parent’s whose scouts are going to age out in the next year or two, we need some new parents to step into some of these critical roles. Right now, we are looking for a secretary. This is a job that requires participation on a monthly basis with some work in between committee meetings. If you are interested, please let Michael Johnson, Aimee Peterson or me know.
Activity Level of Interest (please sign up by the first meeting in January if you think you are going):
· Spring Break Trip: Currently there is only one family signed up. Mr. S. will be talking to that family to see if they still want to do the trip. We may have to cancel this trip. As a reminder, this is a family Backpacking trip to Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon. Five to seven days during Spring Break. Final dates will be agreed on with families that plan to go. We need to understand the level of interest before purchasing our back country permit. This trip will be from Saturday to Saturday during spring break.
Upcoming Signup Deadlines (see below for details):
· Re-charter – Deadline already past: Cost is $15 registration fee for each scout and scouter, and $74 annual dues per scout. We have not received all the re-charter forms. Without the forms from all our families with scouts in the troop, we can’t re-charter properly. If you have not responded to Clara’s email, please do so ASAP! Payment should be made to Wendy Barber our troop treasurer at the next troop meeting or two.
· Mystery Campout – January 25 – 26th – Signup Deadline, January 14: Cost is $50. This activity is not just for younger scouts. Although the details of this campout are a mystery, I have been assured by the HALOs that there will be activities for all ages of scouts.
· Summer Camps – July – Signup deadline TBD: Cost is between $250 and $300 depending on which camp; Camp Ben Delatour in state and Island Park out of state. We will need to start making payments for summer camps in the early part of 2013. While we don’t have a deadline yet, we need to get all scouts signed up ASAP so planning and arrangements can be made. More to come soon, and see below for more details.
· Boundary Waters – June 11 – June 21st – Signup Deadline, February: Cost is between $800 and $900 for one of the pinnacles of scouting. This is a high adventure, back country canoe trip to the Boundary Waters area of northern Minnesota. Mr. Ballantyne will give another quick presentation at our next Court of Honor.
Service Patrol:
The service patrol for January is the Flaming Arrows!! All members of the TBD Patrol should be inside our meeting room no later than 6:15 to help set up for the meeting.
Please read below for details on upcoming events, and always stay current with our Troop Calendar on the web site. This is the best way to have the most current information.
Upcoming Activities:
Troop Meeting: Game Night – Monday, January 14 @ 6:30PM at ELC:
· The PLC has planned a board game night. Make sure that you bring your favorite board game and challenge your fellow scouts.
· From Zach Barber: On the 14th of the month, we have planned on a game night with special chess games for the merit badge. We will also have different board games that people bring in. I will contact the people needed for the phone tree and make sure we have games coming for the first meeting
· WEBELOS Scoutmaster Conferences. There will be no time to do scout Scoutmaster Conferences.
· Boards of Review if you already have a Scoutmaster Conference.
Troop Meeting: Patrol Competitions and meetings with COH Planning & Mystery Campout Prep – Monday, January 21 @ 6:30PM at ELC:
· From Zach Barber: On the 21st of the month, we have planned a patrol building night. The PLC planned four different challenges that will extend over the next couple months. At the end of the time, the PLC will decide a winner. The fur activities are the Tarp Challenge, the Platform game, Human knot, and The switching around game on a log.
· Patrol Meetings for COH planning.
· Campout Prep for Mystery Campout.
Mystery Campout – Friday, January 25th to Saturday January 26th at… it’s a mystery…:
· HALO: Mr. McCabe and Mr. Osborn.
· Winter Campout Training is not required!
· Cost is $50 and the details are still are a mystery. However, Mr. Osborn has been advertising this and if you have not seen his very big and loud emails you must be asleep yourself. This will be a lot of fun!!!!!
PLC Meeting – Plan December & January Meetings and Activities – Monday, January 28th @ 6:30 to 7:30 PM at ELC:
· Plan the next month of meetings and several months of activities.
· All PLC members are expected to be present, or send their assistants.
Scout Sunday – Sunday, February 4th @ 10:30 AM Service at ELC:
· Need 4 scouts to be ushers at 10:15 and several more to serve cake.
· We also need a parent volunteer to help the scouts organize and serve cake.
Camp Ben Delatour Summer Camp, in state, July 14-20:
· HALO: TBD
· Camp Ben Delatour is in the Red Feather Lakes region west of Fort Collins. This camp is for first and second year scouts and any other older scouts that will be working on Trail to First Class and/or Merit Badges.
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Island Park Summer Camp, out of state, July 6-14:
· HALO: TBD
· This out of state adventure is mostly for mostly older scouts, year three and up. This camp is outside the west entrance of Yellowstone and is a two day trip to and from camp. The troop leaves on Saturday, July 6, and arrives back on Sunday, July 14. It is a full 12 hour drive so we need parents to drive and stay for the week.
As always, please read the troop web site, especially the calendar, for the most current information on all upcoming and scheduled events.
Mr. Hoffman
Scoutmaster
Troop 737