Momleader

Eagle1993 - your council is the only one messing with The future of Cub Scout Camp. I posted earlier this month (in the Cub sub forum)about the hair Brained idea our council is doing this summer. And add to it the council that shares our state has a council camp not 15minutes away from the town the pack I work with and they aren’t even offering a Cub Day Camp this summer. They rented the facility out to another camp group to run a day camp program at it. So they suggest the people who want the 2 overnight program use those in our council. Honestly - if I still had a Cub Scout who wanted

Are individual units allowed to apply for grants and keep the money - or are they supposed to turn it over to the council? I’ve looked all over and haven’t seen anything but our unit commissioner thinks we have to turn it all over to the council since we aren’t a popcorn pack. We found a grant that we can apply for that would help cover two of the enrichment activities for the pack and help with the fees. It’s not huge $$ but would make a big difference in our pack budget -we could keep a couple hundred in the checking account to start off for next fall. Our pack has been trying

Our pack uses the laundry detergent jugs with water in them. And hung from the handle is a bar of dial soap in a red mesh bag that held onions

Money problems affect camp big time! Our council - like others has money challenges and now changed the offerings for Cub Scout Camp opportunities. Not really for the best either. This summer if parents from my community who want their cub to attend Cub Scout day camp will need to drive 1 hour each way to our council camp facilities (school bus will take longer since they can’t drive as fast as mom on the highways) Also if you want your child to attend Cub Scout resident camp you must either sign up for a full week program - they eliminated the 2 night mini-camp experience and the C

Sorry, but National cannot blame volunteers for this and the current financial mess the organization is in, they can blame certain volunteers with a predilection and drive to molest the youth entrusted to them and they can blame their predecessors for not being more proactive in eliminating those individuals from the roles of volunteers. They can blame those who were spending the money at the National level for properties like SBR. They can take a long hard look in the salaries at the top level of national and the council execs (who should NOT be earning more that schools superintendents in

Ive never made it to Philmont. My husband and kids went twice together and husband went as a scout. We’ve all been to the ‘Summit’ twice. They said they will never go back to WVA. There is absolutely no comparison and it isn’t the ‘summit’ experience you would expect it to be - they felt the Jambos were an exercise in hurry peace and wait. Hubby had been to one at AP Hill. I wasn’t all that impressed with what I saw of the ‘Summit’ either - but I was working 10hr days with 2 half days off in the merit badge area. Seemed like a giant summer camp week

I’ve been at this leader gig what feels like a long time. Over 12 years. I totally understand burnout. I would say, first and foremost focus on your child and families happiness before the ‘good of the group’. It sounds selfish, but if your child isn’t having fun and you’re stressed out from wearing to many hats then they could start resenting the program and the other kids. I’ve seen it happen - in our pack and in others. Our own Kids can be fickle creatures some days - happy you’re involved but green eyed & jealous when they feel others are getting all the attention - even if it’s not th

Bring back the pioneering and Native American skills and games that were in the old Cub Program. Let them play games that they can get filthy dirty in. Our fall hike was based on the old Bear leaf ID elective and the kids had a blast stomping around to identify them with an arborist dad. One Grampa in the group found paw prints near the water and the cubs were trying to ID them back at the luncheon with the old stalking/tracking MB books the troop in town keeps on hand. parents need to let the youth fail - fail at making a fire, or a meal or having their tent set up so it doesn’t

Actually they are voting today I believe, announcement tomorrow if the They includes scout execs I know ours will vote for more $$. He has to protect his well over $200k every year (yes it’s that high. Saw & read the annual report). He actually makes more than a few superintendents of schools in the council area. no matter how large and well funded a unit is. The increase in fees will have a negative impact on the program that can be delivered at the local level. Something that seems to have been lost on the bombardiers of this latest adventure.

Considering tomorrow is the date we have been told we would hear by....every council is doing a good job keeping mum about it if they know yet. as to pack’s budgeting for this - it’s hard to budget for something like this when we were told NO New Increases. Then we get told as school starts, there’s an increase to insurance fees, and we might be raising the council fees now .... then the day after recruiting night ‘guess what?! National is raising the rates!!’ It’s a moving target and makes you dizzy trying to follow it after the dust settles if our pack doesn’t have to re

Let the girls who are working on communication merit badge know if they plan and emcee the COH it counts as a requirement #8 I believe

Also if your town/area communities have a small gauge RR with RR car bikes that can be tons of fun for cub families. (Workout for the parents) but really a neat free/low cost thing to do

Double Eagle: Stop Running / No running is acceptable. Especially in our council camps - when my boys were cubs we had a summer camp week where the ODD (oppositional defiance disorder) child was told stop running in camp several times and it was explained daily why no running in camp - until he ran in camp, tripped on a rock or tree root and broke his hand. Safety doesn’t always need gentle reminders this weekend we had a cub Activity day with picnic & s’mores after. One cub family left early because their child wanted to eat s’mores while everyone was eating lunch (everyone was t

At Roundtable yesterday - heard our council lost a packet of Cub Applications with a leader application from a pack the next town over. And I know of a couple Eagle Applications that were misplaced for months, presumed lost and found after parents of Eagles raised heck. how do other councils handle this handing over of information? Do they sign for it or give a receipt? sadly this is nothing new in our council (most of us scan and keep a copy just in case) but in the event of leader apps there are SSNs on there. Shouldn’t they be more careful to protect that informatio

What about best selfie with catch. Parents will probably be taking photos

At Roundtable yesterday our interim DE (6 months) said they’ve heard nothing about what the national fees might be, other than substantial (probably more than $5-10/registeree). When he was pressed if the council fee would stay the same or increase also, answered the board will decide after National makes an announcement what the council fee will be based on membership numbers. But they want our Charters returned and paid for on 12/2/19 for processing. 🤦‍♀️ 7 business days out from national’s communicated date and no leaks or rumblings - hmmm. not sure what anyone else is he

I see 2 HUGE flaws with their way of thinking on this one.... My pack’s CO (we have to follow safe church and BSA YPT) requires if cubs are camping a parent/guardian attends while cub is on campout regardless of rank and we have had NO problems. When they cross to the Troop the kids are excited to finally camp without a parent present 😂. first flaw - site rental at the council run camps in our state - you book for the weekend. And they are minimum hour drive away. Following this rule of national councils should reduce the rate we pay so we only pay for the time in camp it will

Tried to attend one of these when my own kid was a Webelos. It was in a different district in our council - those running it weren’t very welcoming when we asked if we could attend (we had never heard of one before). what kind of activities/achievements were worked on?

The squirrels have run through. I think folks heads are still trying to absorb the idea of increases in fees and looming bankruptcy announcements while trying to run a decent program for the kids.

We’re bringing back the den flags this year! Going to Walmart getting some white cloth and a packet of grommets (have the install tool). Each den gets one with the rank name on it for the kids to decorate with fabric markers.

Glad to see that Goodwill is working with them cooperatively. I tried working with the 2 Goodwill Stores in my area and the manager says they usually toss scout uniforms out to the bins that go to the goodwill outlet (where you rummage around and pay per pound) or they wind up in the bin of Halloween costumes. I offered to bring a bin in for them to toss uniforms into but they said it wasn’t allowed. Kind of a shame because we could have recycled them into the pack and other packs in the area. I did leave a card at the kid consignment shops and smaller thrift stores for this

We have 2 families that signed up their 3 cub scouts and are now asking for financial aid. I emailed them to give the free/reduced lunch info from my council. And I’m waiting for them to get me that info to drop off with the applications. Not sure if either qualify for the lunch letter or not , they haven’t replied. How do your packs determine financial aid from the pack? Do you have criteria or application process? Who Makes the awards decisions so that it is fair and doesn’t look like anyone is being favored over another? Should our chartered org be in charge of this decision?

Whoa I hope you’re wrong. $67 increase is a big pill to swallow! Does anyone else think there will be a number by the promised 10/23 date or will they push it out again?

I feel duped & letdown by the organization. I opened my email last night and felt anger the council emailed leaders - this morning I opened it again and felt sick because there was more email about it all - Last night our council sent ‘the letter’ to every registered family. Our pack just sorted out how to absorb the “no fee increase - fee increase to council fees” since it was announced after we collected dues for 2019-2020. The bsa circle talk about money matters is beyond ridiculous. National knows that more kids join the program at the start of the school year than other mo

Oh that’s just great! Makes me really sad and kinda feel used by younger families in our area. I even wore my Uniform that has my district patches on it. Last year I helped get the lion den off the ground since parents were not stepping up to be a leader/point person for the den - some were shocked that they couldn’t just drop the kid off for the hour activity - what does that say? I get that people are especially wary and want to protect their kid given the history and the news. Our Cubmaster & some leaders wouldn’t have been able to attend 3 different schools we recruit from be