Weekly Post, Week of May 6, 2012

Post date: May 6, 2012 6:07:18 PM

Greetings Troop 737! Greetings Troop 737! What a wonderful morning at Mount Falcon Park. I was hiking by 7 AM with the two Philmont crews and it was a gorgeous morning in the foothills. This really makes me look forward to June 12^th, when we depart on our trip.

I would also like to congratulate Troop 737 on our church cleanup day. The church members were shocked that we filled the dumpster in about an hour and had all assigned chores completed in an hour and a half. Thank you everyone, and good job. If you were there for the full time, make sure your name gets on the signup sheet. Mr. Riley will record one hour of service for all scouts that were there for the full time.

We are winding down the school and program year. Please make sure to read below and check the calendar for information about our last meetings and activities.

Note: there is no regular meeting this week. Instead, we are meeting at the Wulf Rec. Center for our annual swim check for all scouts going to Peaceful Valley Summer Camp. Read below for details.

Uniforms:

If you don’t have a Class B Tee Shirt, please make sure to purchase one. We will need to wear our Class B Tee Shirts at Summer Camp so don’t forget to purchase it on May 14^th, our last uniform sale day of the year.

Mrs. Force will not have the uniforms out at the May 7^th meeting, because that is swim check night. She will have it out for the final time this year at our next meeting on May 14^th.

Service Patrol:

The service patrols for April will be the Autobots & Falcons & Sharks!! The Autobots are going to teach the Falcons and Sharks what being service patrol means. All members of these Patrols 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 and Sign up & Payment Deadlines:

Rafting Trip Prep; May 7^th at the Wulf Recreation Center Parking Lot:

· Look for my black Ford truck. If you are interested in going on the rafting trip, even if you have not signed up yet, please join us as we make a go/no go decision based on participation and adult leaders

Swim Check; May 7^th at 7:30 PM at the Wulf Recreation Center:

· HALO: Mrs. Batty

· Swim Check: All scouts that are going to Peaceful Valley Summer Camp and/or need any of the Second or First Class aquatics requirements are strongly encouraged to come to this annual event.

· Details:

§ Location: Wulf Rec. Center

§ Date: May 7th @ 7:30 PM

§ Scouts and adults pay on their own at the front desk

§ By 7:30 PM all scouts need to be in the lobby, in their swim trunks, with the free swim admission already paid for at the front desk, and ready to enter the pool

§ We join free swim promptly at 7:30

§ We will do Second and First Class requirements.

§ Peaceful Valley Blue Swimmer is defined as anyone able to complete the First Class Requirements.

§ If you already have the Second and First Class requirements completed, you still need to complete the First Class again to be qualified a blue swimmer. You must do this every year when going to Peaceful Valley, adults included. No exceptions!!

Personal Fitness Merit Badge – is still ongoing, March through May ELC

· HALO: Mrs. Roche

· Mrs. Roche cannot make the April 26^th date. We need several parents to of participating scouts to step up and help out. If we can’t get some parents to volunteer to do this, we will have to cancel this session.

· Here is the schedule, these dates are also on the calendar:

o Thursday May 10th @ 7:00 PM – Progress testing only.

o Friday May 25th @ 7:00 PM – REQUIRED! Final testing and requirement # 8.

SM & ASM & HALOs for Upcoming Events Meeting/Committee Meeting – May 10^th, 2012 at 6:30 at ELC:

· The ASM meeting starts at 6:30 PM and the committee meeting starts at 7:00 PM.

· This is going to be a very important meeting to discuss several items:

o Rafting Trip

o Summer Camp

If you have never been to one of these meetings, please come by and see what we do and give us your ideas! I will send out an agenda for these meetings by next weekend.

Arkansas River Rafting Campout; May 11 - 13, 2012 at Salida CO:

· HALOs: Mr. and Mrs. Kraft

· Details are still being worked out, but this late season campout will be a great spring trip in the Rockies. We are planning to float the Arkansas or hike the Rockies. New scouts will take their five mile hike with the scoutmaster while second year and older scouts have an opportunity to raft on the river.

· Stay tuned as more details are worked out.

Troop Meeting – Patrol meetings/COH Prep & Emergency Preparedness; May 14, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at ELC:

· We will have patrol meetings where each patrol will be assigned food to purchase for the Court of Honor on the 21^st, and then assign each patrol member.

· The troop meeting will then move outside for an Emergency Preparedness Search and Rescue exercise that can be used for an EPrep. Merit Badge Requirement. All scouts should have a flashlight and jacket as needed.

Annual Scout Planning Meeting; May 19, 2012:

· This is your chance to plan what activities we will do as a troop next year. The PLC would like each scout to come prepared with six suggestions for the troop. If you want a say in what this troop will do for the entire 2012-2013 program year, you need to participate.

· Save this morning. We are still working out the location and details, but we want to hold our planning meeting earlier this year due to Philmont.

· We will have more details very soon!

Peaceful Valley Summer Camp; July 08 to 14, 2012:

· HALOs: Steve Stalter and Allan McCabe

· The Signup and Payment Deadlines are rapidly approaching. The HALOs will be getting the registration login information soon and shortly after that will begin inputting names. Registration for Merit Badges is still a few months away, but you want to have your name entered so that on the day registration opens, the HALOs will be able to sign you up for your first choices.

· Cost: The fee for each scout for summer camp is $250. A$30 deposit is required for each scout to put their names in and we can register scouts on the Peaceful Valley Web Site as we get the deposit. The payment schedule is as follows:

o As soon as possible, a $30 deposit. We will register scouts by name as soon as we get this deposit

o March 5^th, 30% including the $30 deposit.

o April 2^nd,the next 30%

o May 7^th, the final 30%

o The fee for the adults still needs to be determined by the number going. We get the first two slots for free, so we have some options.

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