Weekly Post, Week of Spring Break & April 04, 2012

Greetings Troop 737! Awesome family campout this week! Check out some of our photos in this posting. We had time to visit Arches NP, Dead Horse Point, and the coolest slot canyon; Wild Horse Canyon. The McCabe’s and Osborne’s gave us all some lessons in campout cooking! We had such meals as gourmet burgers, carnitas tacos and way too much bacon! I think we all had a great time!!

Make sure you look at the calendar for the most up to date information. Note that we will not meet for a regular scout meeting until April 9^th. The PLC will meet on April 2^nd, the last day of spring break.

Uniforms:

Mrs. Force has been busy getting our Class B and other uniform items ready for all of us to make our purchases. She has inventoried the tee shirts, made an order for additional sizes, and added an order page on our website. Please see her separate email and make your orders so you have your Class B Tee shirts in time for the New Scout Campout!

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 many activities as spring and summer approach; New Scout Campout, Church Cleanup Day, Scout Show and Summer Camp to name just a few.

Below is the schedule for the Uniform Table at regular troop meetings for the rest of the year.

· April 9^th

· May 7^th

Service Patrol:

The service patrol for April will be the TBD!! All members of the 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 and Sign up & Payment Deadlines:

PLC Meeting – Planning for April meetings and activities; April 02, 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at ELC:

· All PLC members need to attend.

· Parents, please note that pickup time is 8:00 PM, not 8:30.

SM & ASM & HALOs for Upcoming Events Meeting/Committee Meeting – April 12^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 New Scout camp out.

o Rafting Trip

o Church Cleanup Day

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.

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

· HALO: Mrs. Roche

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

o Thursday April 12th @ 7:00 PM – Progress testing and requirement # 1.

o Thursday April 26th @ 7:00 PM – Progress testing and requirement # 9.

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

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

New Scout Campout; April 20 - 22, 2012 at Fort Lupton:

· HALO: Mr. Catterson

· This campout has something for everyone! All scouts should plan on attending this fun filled weekend campout.

· The goal of this campout is to give our new scouts a very big head start on rank advancement. All new scouts that work hard and participate in all of the skills sessions taught by our older scouts will make Tenderfoot by the end of the weekend. They will learn all of the basic outdoor skills necessary to camp with the troop.

· We have invited several new troops from Denver that are trying to get a start in scouting. We will essentially adopt these troops into our new scout training sessions and our evening activities; dinner and the campfire. So far, only one troop has responded that they are coming.

· For older scouts that need service project time, we will participate in a service project to help the Historical Society in their efforts to maintain and improve the park. This project will take several hours between Breakfast and Lunch. We may be able to cycle instructors with service project participants so everyone has an opportunity for both activities.

· There will be other activities: a tour of the fort and black powder shooting to name two.

· And finally, there is the pig. We will try to cook a pig again this year. I am looking for an adult leader to learn the ins and outs of pig cooking so they can take over for me next year. It is time for me to pass the pig cooking tradition on to someone else.

· Uniform for this campout will be Class A for traveling and Class B during the activities on Saturday and Sunday.

Church Cleanup Day; May 05, 8:00 AM at ELC:

· HALO: Mr. Wagonhals

· This is an annual event where we help our chartered organization with their annual cleanup of the church and grounds. This is a required event for all scouts to give back to the church for all they do for us. No details have been developed yet, but stay tuned for much more on this in the weeks ahead.

· Uniform for this event will be Class B. Please make sure to have your tee shirt purchased prior to this event.

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.

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.

District and Council News and Upcoming Activities:

2012 Big Horn Information: Summer 2012 dates are posted. If you are interested, more information will posted as it comes out. This training is required for all Scouts desiring to hold the Senior Patrol leader position.

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