Nike

With new parents you may have a bit of confusion if there is a campout and a backpacking trip in the same month. You might want call it "The Seasonal/Quarterly backpacking trip." Maybe say you'll be backpacking "The 4 corners of the state" over the course of the year. I think it's an excellent idea, especially for those boys who really like backpacking.

In one council we were in, you opened the 15 pack boxes and sold single packs of microwave popcorn at your peril. Maliciously threatening tax-exempt status of the Council or its revenue stream brought untold amounts of grief.

It doesn't help that GSUSA keeps changing its program vision and materials. Say what you want about how Cubs or Scouts has gone soft, believe me when I say it ain't your Mother's Girl Scouts anymore. GS training is laughable, we're going through yet another full switch of program materials and focus for the third time in 25 years, and way too many leaders believe roughing it is a Holiday Inn. We have gutted our outdoor program because upgrading camps costs money and fancy offices cost money and, well, sometimes you just have to choose. I'm just going to get off my soap box now. It's too lovely a day here in Schwabia.

Earrings, for me. NOT the boys.

Just saw the new Venturing shirt on scoutstuff.org. No pocket and made more like a fishing shirt. http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=UNIFORMS&c3=USHIRTS&c4=&lv=3&item=VENTSHIRT

Going this weekend in Germany. (How did I get roped into this?) We'll be in dreary classes while the OA and Venture Crews are whooping it up outside.

If the whole leadership is leaving this summer, I think getting a committee chair in place now is the first task and recruiting a CM, secretary, treasurer, and DLs this spring is the second. You have a chance to reinvigorate this pack right now. When a pack loses its core group, it oftens staggers for a while. You have the oppurtunity to forestall that. I think you would be a great CC.

The SMs were probably thinking, "Great. We bring them out here to get away from distractions. What do we find? Girls. Who's doing tent check tonight?"

Well, I have only two things to say. 1) The Cubmaster really does have to go to roundtable. That's where a lot of the relationship building between CMs, SMs, district people, etc happen and it's where you can really find your peers. There are politics in Scouting, as you have already noticed. 2) As a committee member, I would be concerned about your health this past year. I don't know a lot about RA. I do know that in my military community, our CM, CC, and ACM were all active duty last year. If the CM is deployed, away on military business trips, or involved in a field exercise, the ASM has to step in. If he's also gone, the CC runs the pack meeting. So you really need a backup you work with well. How are your relationships with the other den leaders and committee members? Your enthusiam may be a little overwhelming, and they also may not agree with your vision of the pack. You may be the only person who feels like she has the extra time to put in. You know what you want to do. Now, what does the Pack need?

For us, the fee on a $3.50 box of cookies would be 9.625 cents. We only get to keep a $1 per box split 75/25 troop/overseas committee, meaning we would lose about 10% of our revenue. It's a great idea, but that's a huge chunk of cash for us. If the credit card processor gave us some kind of break on the cost, a flat rate fee or something like that...maybe.

Well, someone better figure out how councils can process credit cards at popcorn and cookie sales or we are all up the creek.

I've handled membership for a troop and a pack. For the troop I took the form, confirmed with the treasurer that the membership was paid, xeroxed the form so I had a good copy when it was inevitably lost at Council, and then took it to the Scout shop which was close to my younger ones' pre-school. I kept the boys and adults in separate binders in the troop locker and our Troop master coordinator took care of keeping Troop master updated. Here for the pack I prefer to e-mail a scan down to the council. But I keep all the records at home and enter info onto our internet advancement database which all parents and pack leaders have access to once I've entered them. For both groups I did recharter since I already had all the paperwork. Separating the jobs of advancement from membership allowed the advancement chair to focus on just boys and awards. In no way shape or form was I ever responsible for recruitment. I just move paper.

Spinning off from Scoutbox's comment that his troop in Switzerland really needs the services of a UC... For those of you in geographically huge districts, how to you find new UCs and how do they get around to all thier units? Is there any kind of stipend? Does anyone do UC by chat or e-mail?

$300 summer canp is always a shocker, but you get used to it. I just write checks, but we can afford it. My 16 year old has jobs around the house, is my always on-call babysitter for his younger brother and sister, does well in school, is a generally amiable person, and takes a lot of responsibility within his troop. I figure we spend $600+ a year on Scouts for him alone, which is a lot less than travel teams, music lessons, karate, etc. Go ahead and ask how parents in the troop fund thier sons' Scouting activities when you visit troops. Some write checks, some fundraise, some get grants from other orgs. Our troop fundraises our epaulets off, and generally covers what $60/year dues would bring in. I'd rather a parent ask how we fund the troop and come in with thier eyes open.

And just to get it out of the way early: Have you visited myscouting.org and taken any of teh internet trainings? Or participated in any in-person trainings in your area? My #1 son's Wolf year went by in a flash, too. When I finally figured out which way was up, I was Popcorn Chair.

All I could think of was baby Cthulus.

A leaderless den needs to have the Cubmaster come in and have a parent meeting to find new leaders. Or the CM/ACM can take over leading the den temporarily. Do your Committee Chair and Cubmaster know what's going on with this leaderless den?

Lisa, here are some churches which have rather elderly congregations due to thier worship style, location, clergy not reaching out to younger families, etc. We briefly belonged to one such congregation in CA, but the priest was more concerned with arcane bits of Church politics and getting the elderly congregants to will substantial amounts of thier estates to the Church foundation.

If you have significant turnover due to a transient population, bylaws can standardize practice over time.

Shouldn't summer camp be the week that nobody "gets" the poor kid?

May I ask what type of orgnanization charters your scout's unit(s)? I'm still confused about Tigers, Wolves, and Bears in khaki and olive. Maybe someone got a deal for the uniform closet during the big ODL clearances?

Some councils have a "bundle" option which is a set of 3 specific cookies sold together. The core 6 cookies are used in the bundles. Each Council is allowed to choose its own extra flavors from the bakery. For instance, this year, our committee dumped Dulce de Lece and barely kept Thank U Berry Munch after one leader pleaded with us that they were her family's new fav. And, now everyone wants to buy the cookie we couldn't give away last year. C'est la vie.

I just used bbender's sample pack budget. Nearly lost my lunch at how much we're short. Guess the Feb committee meeting will be fun.

Done popcorn and cookies and found that the paperwork was about the same, but believe me that GSUSA and every council is serious as a heartattack about the money. Popcorn just had more math required. And why don't we have a $3-4 box of microwave popcorn? Give us something to work with! (This message has been edited by Nike)

It's a shame what this young man did. He lied, he stole, and when confronted, he ran. A true Eagle? Probably not. But, you did the best you could and have kept your integrity and your troop's.