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Goodwill Northern New England and the Commissioner for K-Valley District of the Boy Scouts is working to make sure no Boy Scout goes without a uniform. Appears to be a combined uniform donation, new scout registration, uniform distribution on one night. More details at link: https://www.wabi.tv/content/news/Free-Boy-Scout-uniforms-to-be-handed-out-next-week-in-Waterville-493191391.html

A lady I know has a daughter who teaches at a small, indigent elementary school outside one the Navajo reservations in New Mexico. When I heard about the difficulties they have gathering resources and helping the children who attend that small facility, my heart went out to them. So when I heard they had almost no books in their school library, I put on a combined book drive with five other packs to collect gently used books they could enjoy and use for their education. I set a date for the book drive to coincide with our monthly pack meeting, and then sent information to everybody on every ro

We have a boy in our Cub Scout pack who I think would be much more interested if the GSA program were an option for him. Poor kid hates the outdoors. He only goes because his mom makes him go (she's the CC). He likes the stuff we do at pack meetings as long as they aren't too outdoorsy. I don't fault GSA for not having a bigger outdoors focus. That's fine for some kids! But for MY kids, I would be pretty frustrated if I had to dig and search for like-minded girls from other Troops to form a special interest group focused on the outdoors.

For the record BSA supply stopped selling those Parent Ribbons a number of years ago and replaced it with a large leather necklace which cost twice as much as the ribbons. I've never seen anyone wearing these. Please bring back the Ribbons.

4-H cabins? http://oregon4hcenter.org/facilities/cabins/

The more I think about it, the more I like the option at my house. It really is a nice setting. Only my house and one other house are visible. Convincing everyone else, however, might be a challenge. One parent was concerned the girls might get "too comfortable" with the house. My response was "I didn't say I was going to let them come inside." LOL! (Although I have no other bathroom facilities so they'd have to come in once in a while).

@Liz, camping on your property seems like a great option. As the girls are new to scouting, it will still be an adventure and at the same time allow them to work on basic outdoor skills. The fire pit is great! Too many scouts progress through the program today with rare opportunities to sit next to a real campfire, let alone cook on coals, use an axe, etc. Re the broken leg: I'd recommend a dining fly in the campsite, and then let the scouts take it from there. They'll rally to help the girl, and develop their own solutions to keeping the cast dry. Many moons ago, when I wa

Sounds like a great idea. I'm also thinking my local camp would be more than happy for a shed to form on camp property . One of our council properties does have a group that just completely ignores the council but does take care of the one property. I have a friend that lives in Barcelona and they have a "cooking shed." Somehow this group got hold of an old restaurant. When they get together they make fantastic meals. Or just really great mixed drinks. I was there one day and although it was all in Spanish they were still giving each other a ton of grief. Sounded fun. We also have a

Ahhh the vagaries of human perception. Once upon a time, this Scouter in his pre Scouter time, was a freshman Marching Band member in Purdue University . In 19 and 66, Purdue had the privilege of attending the Rose Bowl football classic by dint of Ohio State having come in 1st in the Big Ten for the second year in a row, so the second place Boilermakers got the invite. Long story short, The Marching Band had a World Class half timeshow to plan and provide. So we did. After visiting home(s) for Christmas, we gathered in the Chicago Train Station to board the last of the UP Super C

I guess the point of it is that it is a worldwide award, that any scout in the world can earn, and so making the point that we're part of something bigger than our patrol/troop/unit/group/district/county/state/country.

Hmm, that is a complex question because their are so many dynamics of setting goals and developing skills, toward, or as a result of those goals. It might be easier to define the differences as a result of scout choices. And many of these things come by accident. For example we had to take a scout to the emergency room during summer camp because the he subbed his toes while running through camp. The adults camp at a separate campsite across the road from the scouts, so I have to walk over to talk the SPL. And in short, the SPL saw the whole thing happen. He knew the rules of shoes being requir

Now hold on just one second there! I said I wanted QUALITY content, so any cash raised has to go to those who check their facts and write like professionals! The way I see it, y'all owe ME a whole heapin' pile of Benjamins... Please make the check payable to "mrkstvns".

If you like good news, I have some to report. The patrols in our unit are much stronger now. I nudged a little, and the SM and ASMs were quite open to the changes. There was a reforming of the patrols along the lines of natural gangs I spoke of in my original post. The patrol with the older boys chose to keep their old patrol name. The patrol of younger guys created a new patrol with its own new identity. There is now no question who is in what patrol. No more going to the list at the back of the room to check. There is now a patrol meeting during each troop meeting. These ar

Well, Latin Scot, you're right. That's what the policy says, but don't you think that maybe the policy is the MINIMUM amount of Flair we should put on our uniforms? And maybe some of us might want to express ourselves a little more loudly.... Look at perdidochas over there....he has 37 pieces of Flair on his uniform. No, I'm not saying you need to add lots of blinking lights and clown emblems to your uniform....unless maybe you feel it lets you be you.... Why do I feel like these discussions of rogue uniform practices always sound so much like Jennifer Aniston getting a lecture

Within the bounds of safety guidelines, Girl Scout troops can do pretty much anything they want to. There are no rank advancement requirments requiring specific activities. The big problem is how to find that group of like-minded girls. The special interest "high-adventure" type groups are better than nothing, but when the girls are scattered over half a state, and the meetings are by conference call, its just not the same as a troop that meets regularly. (Maybe other groups do it differently, but that is what I am aware of in my state.)

I have a son who is about to have his Eagle CoH and a 17-year-old daughter who is trying to squeeze in her Gold Award before she ages out of GSA. I'm a committee member in my son's troop and my wife is a troop leader in the Girl Scouts troop. When the Boy Scouts announced they were letting girls join, my son and I kind of rolled our eyes a bit, but shrugged it off. My daughter and wife, meanwhile, were furious. I mentioned that some girls want to do "Boy Scouts stuff" like camping and backpacking. My wife said that Girl Scouts can do that too. While that's absolutely true, I think my dau

Interesting article. I followed the links in there to the FAQ and the Fund Raising Application. There, I had to pause at guideline #5... 5. If a commercial product is to be sold, will it be sold on its own merits and without reference to the needs of Scouting? All commercial products must sell on their own merits, not the benefit received by the Boy Scouts. The principle of value received is critical in choosing what to sell. Soooooo, you're telling me that popcorn is actually *WORTH* the ridiculously inflated prices shown in the Trails End catalog? If it weren't for the promi

Surely scouters can find something safer than potatoes to launch with a catapult...