Fehler

Program produces recruits. If you fail in program, no amount of flyers/school visits/boy talks will grow your Pack/Troop.

Long term, I have no idea how this played/plays out. I've only been tuned in for three years. The general public doesn't know what a "council" or "chartered organization" is, they believe that the policy is national until they hear otherwise. The "lost" units I'm aware of were due to the normal CO drama, nothing related to open leadership (CO wouldn't let the Pack use its classrooms for den meetings anymore, so they merged en mass with a neighboring unit/CO that would).

Our District Membership Chair wears one of those "Scouting For All" rainbow knots. Not that anyone would recognize it for what it is. My very liberal Democratic State Senator is a Den Leader.

We have trouble getting into the public schools for recruiting. The Minneapolis School District has a policy for sending home flyers, and if we don't follow it to the letter, the flyers don't go out (and often not even then, as principals can veto anything in their school, and teachers seem to "lose" the flyers on occasion). The "No Outside Groups" entering the schools for programs/open houses policy cuts both ways, however, so we aren't at a complete disadvantage with other groups. Changing the national policy, in my opinion, would help get some of those flyers home, but that alone wouldn't translate to higher membership numbers.

Charter schools are even harder to get into, since they are led by a more "My way is the best way for education, and your group would dilute our program" attitude. A policy change wouldn't improve anything there.

We have LDS units, Catholic units, Methodist units, etc. No uniformed scouts are marching in the Pride Parade, no one is advertising a blog as "The Gay Scoutmaster". I attend Roundtable as often as I can (every other/third month) and the topic simply doesn't come up. But again, I've only been here 3 years.

NSC Cubmaster here, with a Catholic Church CO, and I've pointed out this page to many parents that have had questions about the policy. Has it helped? Sure. Those parents who have questions are leaning towards scouts anyways, and just need reassurances. Those parents without questions would have rejected scouts with or without the statement.

I find it a bit confusing myself, but the way I read it, it says "A unit can set its own policy, for or against having openly gay leaders, and the Council will defer to the COs. However, the Council will not reject openly gay District or Council level volunteers or employees."

Being in the top 10 councils in membership, I don't know what National thinks it could do to us. Revoke the Council Charter? Deny participation in Jamboree or other national events?

I don't care for the Cub Scout Law, sorry, the "Law of the Pack". Its very disjointed. And it skips from Cub Scout to Pack, and back.

The Scout Law sets out what a scout _is_. The Law of the Pack describes what a scout _does_. That semantic difference is lost on that age level, but its there.

I also wish there was a 1:1 coordination between the Cub Scout "Character Connections" and the points of the Scout Law, but that's another topic.

From wikipedia: "The American Medical Association called chiropractic an "unscientific cult" and boycotted it until losing an antitrust case in 1987."

I believe within 12 years. Unless something big drops, like this "Secret Committee"'s actual members, testimony, and procedure get exposed as an absolute fraud, then drop the timeline to 6 years. An organized pro-LGBT movement within the LDS church, with a non-token number of adherents, could shave off another year or two.

Unless a policy is spelled out on either the Adult Leader Application or the Cub Scout Leader Book, I will ignore it. If they expect me to be their cop and gatekeeper, they need to tell me what position I'm enforcing for them. I don't cotton to press releases.

Hmm, ok, there was a time when I couldn't modify the information on my Pack's pin (maybe I was still registered as a Den Leader, not Cub Master at the time). I see that I can change it now. Thanks! (But still, when I look at past leads for 2-4 years, I only see that one inquiry I made myself.)

Honestly, the best thing you can do is recruit. Get more boys in your pack, and you will expand the pool of available parents to act as leaders. Simplify your job (even if that means Blue and Gold Pizza), so the other leaders don't get intimidated by it. Make sure they see the distinction between "Cubmaster" and "Den Leader" and "Committee Chair" in what you do, so they can take over one part of it.

I tried submitting my own info on this site, just to see what would happen. Six months later, I got a call from my DE, asking me if I wanted more information about scouting. I was not impressed.

Maybe something added in the "Scouting Heritage" merit badge would do the trick.

Sew the buttons on a Den Flag, and then the Tigers can hang things on their buttons throughout the year.

I plan on having my Webelos den sew backpacks/totes (Craftsman) for carrying their handbooks and log/notebooks and other supplies to Den Meetings. Basic rope/canvas things, but with plenty of space for sewing on patches to personalize them. I need to do something, by the end of the Bear Year only one boy was bringing his handbook to the meetings. If its kept in a bag to grab-and-go, maybe it will arrive better.

As for my badge method, I hand-sew only, starting by sewing down 2-3 corners to anchor the patch and then completing the seem. I don't have to cut the thread while doing this, I make a stitch in one corner, then cross to the other corner between the shirt and the patch, and make the other stitch.

For the Pack:

Sell two things: Popcorn and Christmas Wreaths. People will often choose one or the other.

Have buy-in from the parents/leaders who've been there before. If the returners don't want to do it, the new recruits won't, either.

Some parents question the amount going towards Council/District. So make sure they see/know what the Council/District does directly to support your Pack, and how they serve the community, too.

And don't forget the prizes. Have the boys who earned prizes last year tell what they got (and what they spent their Gift Cards on).

Make your presentation include all activities and events that the money made went towards. If you say it's just "Pack Expenses", people won't know what that covers. But if you can spell it out on a per-Cub basis what the Pack spends, and how much Popcorn needs to be sold to make that goal, and remind the scouts how much fun those events were last year. Bonus if you can preview events/activities that the money is going towards this year.

For the Cub and Parent:

Have popcorn in hand if going door-to-door.

Yes, go door-to-door with your Cub Scout. Best times are the hour before dinner or weekend afternoons. Have them hit the doorbell, give the "Hi, my name is ***, and we are selling *** to support Cub Scout Pack **. Would you like to buy some today?" And have them hand over the requested flyer. Parent pulls the wagon, answers questions, and carries the money. Cub Scout says "Thank You", and hands over any popcorn bought right there.

Bring pre-printed receipts with the delivery date and your phone#, a blank for the amount and a check-box if they paid or owe on delivery.

Keep the door-to-door sessions short, don't gruel out the whole neighborhood in one step, otherwise the Cub will get tired/bored and not want to do it again. Keep it to 1 hour, with the promise of some "fun time" or a treat at the end of the session.

Parks are bad places to try to sell, people don't have money and/or don't want to be bothered.

Count the money with your Cub Scout. They love seeing money, especially if its more then they'll ever get to hold on their own.

We do the Raingutter Regatta, outside at a park where people can walk by and see us.

It's said that you need 6-8 "touches" to make a sale. Consider the parade one touch, and if you get them to take a flyer home, a second touch (if they look at it again before recycling it). Summer plans are set, but they will reconsider in the fall.

Make sure your flyer is for _you_, either with a contact, website, or other "google-able" reference to pack/troop number. People want to join the group they just saw go by, not some random address-located reference point.

If a parent specifically asks for the "more information" flyer, give them 2-3 for their friends (but if they are just accepting it as a courtesy, just give them one.)

Did she sign such a contract, or was it "assumed" she was bound by those terms as an employee? And were such terms applied fairly, to all employees who signed similar contracts? i.e. is a remarried divorcee allowed to teach? How about gambling, drinking, and other vices? You can't selectively enforce contract terms.

My not special what?

Wander off to talk with their friends? Why aren't they in the same patrol as their friends?

Does "Famous Chess Player" mean "A person famous for playing chess (Bobby Fischer)" or "A famous person who plays chess (Ben Franklin)"?

SO, he can't register under the "adult rules". But it sounds like he (and perhaps his partner) could register with a Venturing crew. They're under the "youth rules" until 21, right?

Actually, it was voted down in AZ in 2006 (prop 107). Passed in 2008, but still, a defeat.

Actually, you can e-mail to text messages, usually something like "phonenumber@provider.com", and they'll receive it like a text. But gotta keep it short in those cases.

But yeah, I put up an online survey for our camp to see what people liked, and e-mailed a link to it, and only one person filled it out. Glad I didn't waste paper on it.

Couldn't you copy/paste from one of the .pdf versions, and edit it to fit your Pack's specifics?

I got the Pack "Uniform Box", and it was a mess. First off, it had 6 tan shirts, three of which were unwearable: seams splitting, holes tearing where the patches were sewn on to the shirt, etc. Threw out the junk. Also threw out the faded hats, camp t-shirts from camps past, and worn-out uniform socks. Then I went through and "sized" the shirts, so I knew which were mediums, and which were larges, since the tags were faded, and re-tagged. After that, I took my seam ripper and "de-patched" them of all the old patches. Some of these guys were wearing "Quality Unit" awards as a train down their arm, a decade long. I admit feeling bad slicing up a few Eagle Knots and Silver Beavers, but it had to be done. Finally, everything in the laundry, and into a clean storage box (not the grocery bags I was given). Now, I feel like when I ask someone to be a leader, I can proudly offer them a uniform out of the box, rather then having to "scrounge" one from it.