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jamist649

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Posts posted by jamist649

  1. I don't think we'll strive for the Summertime Pack Award again. :-(

    We got it, and I presented it to the Pack yesterday, along with Den ribbons. Everyone was excited and it was the first time our Pack had gotten it since 1999 so it was a big deal as NO ONE in the Pack was involved (and NONE of our Scouts were born!) in 1999. Man that makes me feel old! With that being said, I am so incredibly TIRED of it all. I have worked and worked and bent over backwards to keep the Pack involved thru the summer. Planning events, making phone calls, recruiting Tigers (we have 7 new ones). I've had the CM spot for just over a year now and have taken it from a unit with 9 Scouts, 3 leaders, and $0 in the bank to a unit with 40+ Scouts, 6 leaders, 5 committee members, and over $5K in the bank. I say that NOT to say "look at me", but to say THAT WAS ALOT OF WORK!

     

    Yesterday we had our first Pack meeting of the season, it was a zoo. I guess it was partially my fault, maybe I tried to fit too much in one meeting. We set up a display at the local elementary school during open house and invivted whoever was interested to the Pack Meeting. We had 4 new families show up and I ***KNOW*** they thought they had walked into downtown crazytown on a full moon. The issue was the boys weren't very disicplined after a summer of fun and not-too-structured events. The biggest issue was the boys' siblings who WOULD NOT sit down and be quiet. We also had several parents that couldn't seem to understand the idea of "when CM is talking...kids AND parents (scouts or not) shouldn't be running around like crazed chickens! I was yelling "SIGNS UP!!" "SIGNS UP!!" until I realized that my Scouts were sitting quietly with signs up it was EVERYBODY ELSE who would shut the #?*! up! Whew... I'm also having issues with recruting. My personal goal has been 50 Scouts for our group and we're stuck at 40. Not that I'm complaining, it's alot better than 9 but..well you know how some folks are when they want something...that's me. Sorry if that's "petty". :-( No matter what we do, we can't seem to pick up any more Scouts. I've pulled every trick in the book, INCLUDING having a VERY active program. The fact of the matter is we have too many Packs in our area. Our "saturation" rate is 28% overall for the area versus national average of 12%, so we're doing well...it's just streched too thin for the area (too many packs). The problem is we have the "preppy" pack, the "unofficial white boys only" pack, the "deep woods hillbilly" pack, the "sit around and do nothing but get badges/loops/pins for it anyway" pack, and then you have MY pack..the "culturally diverse, middle-class, mom/dad work for a living, work for what your receive" pack. If we could all put our differences aside, we'd have a really big Pack or 2 (not 6 or 7 with 10-20 boys in each PACK). Sorry, just lettin' off a little steam on that one.

     

    So anyway, back to the meeting. As usual, the new parents were sitting there looking ambushed over popcorn even though we tried to emphasize earning your keep, prizes, etc and I even had one to DROP OUT (yeah...Drop) over "having" to sell popcorn again. "Well, he was getting tired of it anyway, he wants to play football", yeah good luck with that. This, of course, put me back in my "oh gosh, I'm never gonna recruit" mode.

     

    Anyway, thanks for listening and reading. I hope I can get pumped up about the fall season. We've got a few things planned and I'm hoping the committee gets to work on the rest of the year. I remember being so pumped at the beginning of last season, I WISH that I had the same energy, but all I can see is disgruntled (unwarranted) parents and rowdy siblings. I have TRIED to delegate activities to other adults but EVERYBODY always comes to me with questions and "issues". I had a literal LINE of parents who wanted to talk to me yesterday while I was trying to register new boys, pack up my materials, take notes, and (gasp!) talk to my existing boys and see how they were doing.

     

    Ok...done complaining. Gonna go throw some gasoline on my head and hope the fire for Scouting I've had re-ignites!

     

     

     

     

  2. Just wanted to post a quick update...

     

    I used callingpost.com for the first time the other day. I purchased 200 calls for just under 24 bucks (plenty for our pack of 34) and sent my first automatic call just a couple of days ago. IT...WAS...GREAT!! 30 phone calls in one! EVERYBODY was notifed and the service will even notify you if it was unable to reach someone. The best thing since sliced bread I tell ya.

     

     

  3. I'd love to see more replies on this thread. We struggle with communication in our Pack despite all of our efforts. I (CM) launched a Blog shortly after taking the position and update it often, but only a handful of the parents actually read it routinely. We also have recently added a Facebook page but again, we have several parents that don't have anything to do with Facebook.

     

    I'm at my wit's end with trying to keep the Pack notified. I've put SOME of the responsibility on the Den Leaders to notify but I think that can be a tall order and one that I hate to assign. Sitting down and making 10-12 phone calls with the same information (which, with our group seems to be the only foolproof way of getting the message across) is very labor intensive. Multiply that by ALL dens (35 phone calls or so) and it's unreal.

     

    I'd love to have access to one of those "auto dialiers" that the schools use to notify all parents but that seems a little "much" for a Cub Scout Pack.

     

     

  4. Wow, I feel ALOT better now. I also (CM) have started a summertime program in order (among other things) to try to earn the Summertime Pack Award-an award that our Pack hasn't won since 1999.

     

    We've had 2 Summer events thus far, a campout (which also served as graduation) at a campground and a swim party where we fulfilled the swimming beltloop requirements and gave them out. We had about half the Pack there, not bad...I guess the beltloop helped.

     

    We're planning on going to a local racetrack (local/not Nascar by any means) and running the flag up, leading the pledge, and "gentlement start your engines". The track is letting us in free.

     

    Good luck to all with your programs!

  5. Since July 4th is falling on a Sunday this year, we're meeting as a Pack at a local Church where several of our Scouts are members. Sort of a "Scout Sunday redux". We're going to post the colors, lead the pledge, and then sit together for service. All that can, I understand it's a busy Holiday.

  6. I agree with Pack212scouter. I think we can get whipped up in a fury and get into "groupthink" mode really easy when it comes to kids. It starts out with peeing in the woods, "well, it could have been (fill in the blank with outrageous MINOR possibility).."Yeah, and even (fill in the blank with something that probably won't happen yet a little bit more outrageous)" You see where I'm going. Something like the "yeah, and MURDER!!!" quote from the movies.

     

    Did the other adults/leaders have much to say about it? If it has been mentioned in the previous posts, I must have missed it. Either approach the CM in private about it (You and the others who noticed it and called it a problem) OR bring it up at the next leaders meeting or Committee meeting. Give the guy a warning before you start calling it a YP issue, calling the COR, etc. Good grief, volunteers are hard to find, much less volunteers who are energetic and actually excited to be there.

     

     

  7. I have a unique issue that has just presented itself within the last couple of weeks. I'm going into my second year as CM of a Pack that has grown from the brink of death to a large (at least for this area) dynamic and fun Pack. I have several new leaders that have volunteered over the past few months to run the Dens and to staff our NEW Pack Committee. Now that I have all of the "usual" positions filled I have another adult volunteer coming to me asking (gasp!) to help!

     

    Our Pack leadership looks something like this: CM (me), ACM, CC, 5 Committee members (1 from each Den), TDL, WDL, BDL, WIDL, WIIDL.

     

    The person who has approached me does NOT have a son in the Den. Her connection is through her sister-in-law (my CC) who has a son in our Wolf Den.

     

    Where can I put her? She wants to start us a Facebook page (which I think is a great idea), she wants to help research and plan events, go camp with us, and anything else that we need. I RIGHT AWAY agreed to let her, but I'm trying to figure out what to call her. Some titles I've thrown around are: "Events coordiator" (but what would her duties be?), Den Coach (same question), and Pack Assistant (kind of a broad title).

     

    Any thoughts?

     

  8. Sounds like the CM may be getting a little burned out. I, as a leader in the Pack anyway, may approach him/her and suggest a little help. Is there an ACM? If not, maybe one is in order to kick things up a little bit. If there is a ACM in place there are always other positions ("official" or not) that may be able to help out. Camping Chief, Activities chief, Event Coordiantor,etc. Anybody to bring in a little fresh prospective.

  9. Congrats on the CM position! What a great story. Your path reads similar to mine. My son joined as a Tiger back in 2007. The Cubmaster at the time had one son and he was a Webelos II so he was basically just "coasting" and was going to cross over and forget about the Pack. So sad..

     

    After he and his son did crossover, he left the Pack (now down to 11 Scouts) to the Wolf ADL who didn't really have the time/desire to do much with the unit or his new CM role. I held NO leadership position in the Pack (officially) when the call came asking me about the CM position. The current CM was going to take on the Webelos DL position and needed someone to take CM. I almost fell out, I thought he was joking.

     

    I accepted because I was pretty sure the Pack would fold unless I agreed. We just didn't have the interest at that time. Plus, recruitment efforts were "weak" to put it nicely. That was last August. So, there I was untrained, uneducated, and unprepared. We had NOT fund raised in the previous 2 years so we were flat broke and down to 11 Scouts and 3 leaders (including myself)...nice huh? Since that time, we're up to 32 Scouts (very small town, we're probably not going to get much bigger), we've recruited and trained 5 new leaders and are working on assembling a REAL working committee. We've had our 1st (that anyone in the Pack can remember) Raingutter Regatta, PACK Campout (used to do District only), and Council wide campout. We also sold over $5,000 in Popcorn after $0 for the previous 3 years. Not patting myself on the back, just telling the truth. Plus, it couldn't have been done without the new leadership (on all levels) and active parents and Scouts. When I first took the position, I got a little bit of resistance to having such an active calendar, but I said and I still believe that "The Scouts and Parents will appreciate and enjoy and active Pack..." and it seems to be true.

     

    Good luck to you and congrats on your new position. One thing I have tried to do is do a few joint events where we invite other Packs in the area to join us. A recent example would be our "Physical Fitness Day" where we had Scouts from 4 Packs in one place! Hectic, but fun! Plus, alot of the boys already knew each other and it's nice to be able to let them play together instead of making them be seperate from each other all of the time due to the Pack that they chose.

     

     

  10. Yep that is correct. We are just crossing the dens over to the next rank. They've all earned rank badges and arrow points at this point. The only awards we're giving out are a few beltloops that they have earned and one den has really worked hard and earned the "Leave no Trace" award.

     

    Positions are me (CM), my ACM, and the individual DL's. I'd like to have the DL's do the crossover speeches.

  11. We're planning our graduation ceremony in conjuction with a campout that we're haivng at a local campground. I'd like to give the Den Leaders a little help on what to say as the boys come forward and advance to the next rank. Something along the lines of "You have mastered the rank of Tiger, quick and fearless like the Tiger of the animal kingdom now you move to Wolf where you must be..." and I'm stuck. I need something for Tiger, Wolf, Bear and Webelos I. I've done a ton of web searches but I havne't found anything that really fits. We're planning on doing a little "tribal" face paint but not the "painted ranks" that you see online. Anyone got any ideas?

  12. I've heard of some larger Packs doing it. I think the example I was given was a $75 buy-out and you didn't have to touch Popcorn. However, with 17 Scouts, you may have 15 out of 17 paying the fee and then your fundraiser is a bomb.

     

    What I would suggest is what we have done. We don't do the "take order" for popcorn anymore. We do show and sells and schedule Scouts to cover the sale. We also have recently incorporated a "hot dog and bake sale" into our fundraising which will operate similarly.

     

    This not only eliminates the "he didn't do jack and still got all his awards..." syndrome, plus does away with the headache of order filling and delivery.

     

    Good luck to you.

  13. We are planning a "Physical Fitness Day" for our Pack. I know there are several physical fitness activities in the "Wolf" and "Bear" books, but what other ideas could we incorporate to make it a fun and active day?

     

    Also, what's the best way to handle this? Check-off sheets? Stickers? Marbles for completed "stations"? I'm at a loss!

     

    Thanks!

  14. John-in-KC, you're exactly right. We have added 2 Den Chiefs to our Pack this year...quite and achievement given the fact that our Pack has NEVER had any before. We have one assigned to our Bear Den and one assigned to our Webelos I and II's, however they work with ALL Dens at Pack events. The boys LOVE them! They asssisted with our Pinewood Derby, camped with us, and attend Den meetings. It's been a great addition.

     

     

  15. Good Evening,

     

    I took over as CM of our Pack last August and (if I say so myself) have put 110% into the position. Due to the efforts of alot of people (not just me), we have nearly tripled our membership...going from just 9 Scouts to 27 with interest growing almost daily.

     

    With growth comes growing pains...and we're hurting! Whereas the previous Cubmaster was able to handle nearly all aspects of of Pack operations before...I'm about to lose my mind!

     

    As of right now I have the following leadership positions within our Pack the ones with (new) beside them are positions that I have added: Cubmaster, Tiger DL, Wolf DL, Bear DL, Webelos DL (one DL for BOTH WI and WII!), 2 Den Chiefs from local Boy Scout Troop (new), Fundraising chair (new).

     

    I would love to have a treasurer (right now the Webelos DL and myself handle it), an advancement coordinator, and a Pack trainer. But I'm having issues getting parents to step up. I'm planning on hitting them with it hard come late summer when we start with our new programs and new Scouts.

     

    What kind of positions do you have in your Packs? I've heard all kinds of positions, but I'm most interested in hearing from people who come from Packs about my size. Any information would be most appreciated.

     

    Thanks

     

     

     

  16. We're having a Pack Campout this weekend! This will be the first time (under current leadership) that our Pack has organized and held a Campout with just our own folks.

     

    We've got our Den Chiefs (2) hosting a couple of beltloop activities plus I've planned a couple of other things...but what else have you seen that would work well for a group of about 15-20 boys and parents?

     

    I was thinking nature scavenger hunt, flag retirement, and of course cooking, but anything else?

     

    Any help would be appreciated...thanks!

  17. Just a quick update.

     

    The bears ROLLED IN from all sources. Scouts, Parents, and community. We designated 2 businesses as "Teddy Bear Drop off Sites" and we collected a TON of bears.

     

    Our goal was 100 bears for 100 years. We ended up with 234. We had a State Trooper at our Blue and Gold who accepted them and took them to the local Troop Headquarters.

     

    This ended up being a great project!

  18. They are really good for new leaders/units. We don't use them at this time in our unit. I (CM) have found that we can usually come up with things that we have used in the past that suit our Scouts better.

     

    Plus, I find some of the things in the "helps" to be a little...uh cheesy. JMO

     

     

  19. It went great! I was amazed at some of the cakes that came in the door. We had a HUGE American flag cake, a "dirt" cake with camping scene, and a LIFE SIZE guitar cake...just to name a few. It was Pinewood Derby all over again. You could tell Dad was DEEPLY involved in some of the cakes. I was really happy that the idea was embraced and "ran with" as much as it was.

     

    We had each Den "judge" another Den (i.e. Tigers judged Wolves, Wolves judged Tigers, etc) we also did a secret ballot for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place "best in show". We awarded simple kitchen utensils as prizes (The golden spatula, the silver spoon, and the bronze ladle LOL). The guys LOVED IT!

     

    Check out cubscoutpack29.blogspot.com for a few pics of some of the cakes. Not all are pictured, but I got a few shots between everything else.

  20. After thinking about it for a while, I went ahead and planned it. I was a little wary of a Cake Bake, I was afraid alot of our Scouts and Dads would think it was "frilly" or something. I was quite suprised when I heard from our Den Leaders that our Scouts and Parents were feverously working on thier cakes and excited to see what everybody else comes up with!

     

    I was thinking of letting each Den judge the other Den (i.e. Tigers judge Wolves, Bears judge Webelos,etc.) with an "impartial" judge to judge Best in Show. Any tips from those of you all who have done it before?

     

    Thanks

     

     

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