evry

The major new one that affects many of the existing Scouts (almost all have attained 1st Class by Dec 31) is the new Life requirement 6. The one that requires them to teach a Scout one of the 2nd/1st class skills. For this new requirement, we printed the text onto Avery stickers and stuck them into any affected Scouts' Handbook.

"Yeah Brent the little guys think the Cub uniform is cool at their age and the congregants at church like to see the boys in the uniform. But what about the 13 & 14 & 15 year old guys. Do you think they like to wear it or because of peer pressure, do they shy away from it. And remember, those positive comments are coming mostly from people who are not involved in the BSA." Exactly my experience. We as adults may think that the kids like wearing the uniform, but ask any of the older Scouts and you'll hear comments like..."I don't want to be made fun of"...."I don't want my friends

I realize that this topic has probably been discussed many times and Scouters have differing views on it, but I hope that with further discussion I (we) could learn more about the Scouting program and how it deals with these types of awkward situations. After our troop's weekly meeting, we had scheduled several BORs for rank. One of the BORs was for our SPL to attain the rank of Life Scout. Our Advancement Committee Chairman has instructed the Scouts, on many occasions, that they should be in full Class A uniforms during BORs, inclusive of sashes. Unfortunately, the SPL comes to

Can I ask the two ex-IRS agents how they view the "qualified" language in 501©(3). In my interpretation, an organization does not need to have received approval from the IRS to be qualified, but if an organization does have such approval, then it is deemed to be qualified. Granted that some organizations (ie. evry's charity) will receive scrutiny and should apply for qualification, but others, like recognized churches will be looked at as qualified under the tax code whether or not they have applied for qualification. I place any Boy Scout Troop in this second category. What say

As several previously stated, money and the Fair Market Value of any goods donated is tax deductible, but your time, services, advice etc. is NOT tax deductible. I believe that mileage is also tax deductible. This brings me to my question....and sorry if I'm hijacking the OP's thread. This past summer, I was one of our Troop's leaders at the Summer Camp where my son also attended. His fee was $200...my fee was $100. I drove out to the camp (appx. 70miles). I'm wondering if I am correct in saying that my fee ($100) plus the mileage (round trip 140 x $0.55 = $77) are deductible

Please comment on the following: The MBC for the First Aid Merit Badge (who is also the Committee Chairman) requires all of the Scouts taking the merit badge to get certified in CPR before he will sign off on the requirement to "demonstrate proper CPR". His reasoning is that someone that is not certified cannot possibly demonstrate proper CPR. During Summer Camp, there is a 10 minute demonstration of CPR by the Scouts and they get the requirement signed off for various merit badges (ie. Swimming, First Aid, emergency Preparedness). It's called CPR for Merit Badges. The Scouts

At Woodruff Camp in north Georgia where my son did the mile swim, there are 4 practice sessions on 4 different days, and the Scout must complete 3 out of the 4. These are done as laps in a roped off area in the lake. 1st day: 3 laps, 2nd day: 6 laps, 3rd day: 10 laps, 4th day: 14 laps. I think the 14 laps are about 2/3 mile. My son did the Day 1, 2 and 4 to qualify. On Friday, the actual mile swim is held for all Scouts (and Scouters) that have qualified during the previous 4 days. The staff told me that it is actually a little bit more than 1 mile (I think they said 1.1 mile). The swi

I am proud of my 1st year boy scout and wanted to relay the choice he made while at Woodruff Camp. I was at Camp as an adult leader with our troop. He was signed up for Fingerprinting MB, a 1 hour class, but I saw him at our campsite with tears coming out of his eyes. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he had just gotten back from the Fingerprinting MB Class and he had asked the Counselor how long it would take to complete. Since it would take at least 30 minutes, he had decided to cancel the class and instead, go on his 3rd practice for the mile swim (his last chance to quali

Narraticong, As I stated, I don't have a problem with having the patrol "make" a patrol flag, but I don't think that it should be an additional requirement for Tenderfoot. "Describe" means describe. If you were asked to describe the American flag, you would say it has 13 stripes (7 red and 6 white) and on the top left corner, it has a blue field with 50 stars on it. You would not have to actually reproduce the flag and state what material it is made of. I've looked at the other patrol flags in the troop, and without any hesitation, I could assert that they were not made by 11 year

Unfortunately, there is no Troop Guide designated to assist the new Scouts and the troop's policy is for the ASM or SM to sign off on all rank requirements. One troop leader actually said that the ASM or SM must also be "Trained" to sign off. Some of the new Scouts are not even getting their Scout Badge at the next COH since they don't know that they have to go to the SM or an ASM to get the requirements checked off.

My son just crossed over into a troop where each new group of boys becomes their own patrol. That was strange for me, but they've been doing it for some years in the troop and it seems to be working. The SPL met the new boys (5 of them) and told them that they would have to come up with a Patrol Name, Yell and Flag. The boys immediately decided on "Flaming Arrow" for the patrol name and were left to come up with a yell and a flag. Although the boys don't meet but once a week at the troop meeting (and then not everyone is there all the time), they came up with a yell (Flaming Arrow soar