Pack212Scouter

Scoutldr, My wife also has sleep apnea and has struggled with campouts, often not attending more than one night. Last weekend I went out and bought a 200W inverter for $35 at Wal-Mart. It worked great. I set up the tent within 100 feet of the car and used an extension cord. It ran for a little over 7 hours and the car started right up in the morning. 30-40 minutes of charge time and we were ready for night 2 A warning though...my wife slept in on night 2 and it died at 9 hours. So if you sleep early to morning, you may want to consider a marine deep cycle. Just thought that I''d let you know that it worked well for us.

MomToEli, You make a very good point. Our society has come to believe that we can make anything we want more comfortable for us. What the uniform issue ignores is that in the process of making it easier ("lets run over from the game and not worry about the uniform") We are loosing part of what makes Scouting such a great learning tool for boys. The uniforms serves several purposes. 1) It gives the boys a sense of unity. 2) It gives the boys a sense of equality (no he''s wearing Abercromby while that one is in Wal-Mart). 3) It gives the boys responsibility in making sure that they are properly dressed. 4) It gives the boys a sense of decorum (ie, sloppiness is not acceptable in all aspects of your life). 5) It gives the boys pride in their achievements. The uniform is very much an integral part of the Scouting program. What sometimes is forgotten is that while Scouting should be fun, entertainment is NOT the purpose of the Scouting program. It''s purpose is to help boys grow into resposible, caring, Godly (whatever God you believe in) young men.

fgoodwin, Thanks for the welcome. This seems to be a very active message board.

Approach your Council about the issue. We are a very large Pack and have been blessed recently. We routinely set up and run our current three-lane track with timer for Packs unable to afford one. We are currently fundraising for a six lane aluminum track, at which point we will donate our old one to council for the use by packs that do not have one. My point is that you may be surprised to find the resources available to you if you ask.

I know that for adult leaders in our council you wear the shoulder loops appropriate to the activity that you are doing.

Eagle in KY... yes we''ve been involved with both the AHG Troop and the Cub Scout Pack at SECC for several years now. As for the AHG vs. GSUSA argument. It comes down to what you are looking for. And it also greatly depends on what you want to support. Are there great Girl Scout units? Most definitely. Many are sponsored in fact by religious organizations. Does this mean I want my money going to GSUSA? Most certainly not. Do I want my daughter associated with them? No. So I decide to endorse AHG. We are however in the USA and others have every right to endorse a group following what they believe. I don''t have to agree with it, but I agree with their right to exist.

Because of the plethora of fundraisers about nowdays, our pack has decided to only have one fundraiser for the year, the popcorn sale. Our annual dues are $60 which includes registration, Boys Life, and all awards for them for the year. The pack maintains a scholership fund for anyone that has a financial hardship with dues, camp, etc. For our fundraiser, Council get's their cut, we keep a small percentage, but most (over %50) goes into the scout's account. They can use this money to pay for next year's dues, for camps, Blue & Gold, anything scouting related for themselves. It really makes an incentive for them to fundraise.

My daughter has been a Member on the largest AHG troop in the country (KY3130)for the past three years. She just advanced to Explorer level. We pursued this as an alternative when the National Council for Girl Scouts began embracing Planned Parenthood and Alternative Lifestyles while at the same time removing all references to God that they could find. I can't praise the AHG program enough. It is so much more closely modeled after Scouting than the Girl Scouts. Troops consist of girls from Kindergarden through High School. Within this are squads, usually organzed by age group. The girls do many of the activities that Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts do. They also strongly emphasis service to God and to community. Their moto sums the program up well..."building women of integrity through service to God, family, community, and country."