Troop61

I became aware of something today that really bothered me.

A couple of previous cub scouts who quit after first year webelo year, have been telling a current BS who recently crossed over that "Scouts are for losers, and He should be playing football." I was hurt and then angry when I thought about it. Seriously, not cool.

If you don't have luck with straight pins, an easy way to hold the badges/patches until you get them sewn on is to use Clear scotch tape. When your done sewing, if sewing by hand, just peel off tape, if using a machine & go over the tape it is then perforated and peels off. :0) Also, the clear thread tip is priceless!

I had no idea that was a "Suggestion". It is amusing, but would cut down on the arguments of who gets to pull the wagon during food drives. Does that mean the bike stuff is frowned on?

Ok, I get it. :0)

I'll stick to the rules we were given, I'm pretty sure we'd be busted real quick. lol

I know this is an old thread, but after reading this and a couple of other threads, I have a BIG questions....

How do you get away with having sponsors listed on anything along with your BSA Troop logo, etc etc.?

I was told by our DE that we can't have that in any way shape or form!

Examples..We had a family who has a show on the outdoor channel, they did lots of great things for our pack. One year they purchased our pack t's for all the boys. When I asked if we could put their name or logo on our shirts that they purchased for the boys , I was told no! It would imply that BSA was endorsing them. So, how do packs/troops have endorsements on their trailers???? And another question on the the trailers, My husband SM was made to believe that purchasing a trailer was a no no, they had to be donated. Not that we need or want a trailer, but after reading these threads I'm questioning all the info we are being fed. :/ Thanks for any info!

Ok, I am going to try to answer everyone in one...

I can honestly say that since taking over the pack we have amped up the program. It's not perfect, and there is so much more I'd like to do, but no one will help. For instance, we do recruiting in the Spring and Fall at our school district. I should clarify that...We are a pack that consist of two small towns and rural in between them. Basically we service all of our school district. Our CO is the local Lions club and we use a local church for our meetings ( we have the congregations kids in our pack already) . The schools are pretty good about letting us in to recruit, although it's getting increasingly difficult to get more than 10 min with the kids for this. We show a dvd of all the fun stuff we have done the prior year to show the scouts not just a commercial, but a cool show with their friends and people they know in it. I'm going to try the booth at open house again this year, it was a bust in the past, but I'll keep trying.

You asked what do we have scheduled for 2012-2013. Well, nothing yet, I am the only one who is doing all this. I basically go by what we did the previous year and guesstimate on council wide dates (they don't give us a year ahead of time notice, or if they do, it's news to me) trying to add new things when I can. We do a fun recruit day in the fall, in the past we have done a bowling party or swimming. There isn't much around here and people don't want to drive. We just got our own derby track this year, so we are hoping to do something involving the derby cars with new kids. I try to mix it up and add new things each year. We have integrated a Father son Cake Bake, Costume Party, Fishing outings, we've even taken the pack to Medieval times. I go to Day Camp every year with the boys so that someone from our pack is there, in fact, I go to every single event we offer. I make all council wide activities known and even some that are out of our council. After last years losing all the parents who would help in the actual set up and organizing of events this got especially hard ( I also had to take over the W2 group last year, because they no longer had a leader either) Lets just say, this last year was the breaking point. I can't take on any more jobs, people are going to have to step up.

***Have your boys plan a fall recruiting day for the troop. They go to school and hold an assembly demonstrating the stuff hey learned at camp. Maybe they set up camp in the playground. ***

To answer to that, they won't let us set up something like that at the school, the older kids are pretty much off limits when it comes to free time they will let us have. Possibly they would let us at open house, the boys would be busy with open house, so it would probably be me again.

Also, we are in every parade in our area ( off the top of my head I believe it's 5 a year) ALWAYS in uniforms, if applicable we make a cool float. We throw candy, hand out fliers, etc. We take part in helping the legion and lions put flags out for memorial day, as well as the actual service on Memorial Day. We do community clean ups, and just about anything the communities will let us do. We have a Food drive (in November because in FEB it's really cold up here) where the scouts go door to door ,with parents of course, and collect a ton of food for our local food pantry. ( we do this in both communities). This week we will taking part in the Flag Retiring Ceremony with the Lions before the community fire works show. We also do sell a lot popcorn, I think anyway $9000. Considering most of us live in the boondocks and the others are in two tiny rural towns. The hike sounds like fun, but the local library is a 1 room tiny building that has odd hours, and the farm part is ok for a few of the boys, but most of them live on farms. They'd all love hot dogs though! I can check into another location not far from here for a possible hike and cook out. That is a good idea!

I wish I could say I could get the parents to attend a Parents Meeting. I am lucky to get them to attend Pack meetings. There are a few that are exceptions, but not many. We have the parents who are leaders that will help out if I ask, but I hate asking them to do more. The others pretty much run for the border as soon as meetings are over, if they even come in to get their kids. Sometimes I think we are a Babysitting service.

I've had a few parents that thought they should yell at me for something they thought should be happening differently, and I don't care to be talked to like that for a job that I do for free and out of kindness. I try to live by the scout oath and this behavior is out of line. I was most appalled at the parents who will interrupt during a pack meeting to "correct" (criticize is more like it) when the CM is speaking. That to me was only showing the boys they could act like that too. It's frustrating and when I think I can't handle anymore of the craziness, I look at the boys and know that they deserve better. I just wish I could make the parents teach and portray respect for adults in their every day life.

Ok, about the Troop again. Are there any training, books, resources you would recommend we have? We were left with a troop acct and thats about it. There is supposedly camping gear items stored in some barn at some former scouts house. :/ Not looking promising at getting that back, but I'll keep trying. Both the SM and ASM are new to this, so anything you can add is greatly appreciated. I asked our DE about MBC's and she said that since they required YPT training now, most of the people they had on a list were dropped. She said the list is nonexistent now. So, do we have to create our own MBC's for any the boys want to earn? I am encouraging the boys to take the basic MB courses at Summer Camp, so that they can earn their TF. We are open to any and all suggestions on what we need to be doing!

Thanks Moose Tracker!

Hi there!

I guess I should start with background info....

We are in NW Illinois in a VERY rural area with a small school district, therefore we have small #'s for scouts. We (my husband and myself) just recently took on the duties/job of trying to restart the local Troop. It was once upon a time a great Troop and it makes me very sad to say that is not now. I am at a loss for where to start at this point. We have 3 Webelos who crossed over into this troop. So, we are signed up for Summer Camp and all 3 boys are going. We have a SM, ASM and CC that are active and involved, but, all are new.:0) We are trying, it's a struggle right now, but we are trying.

Here's the problem.....We need volunteers. We are trying to run not only the CS program that we have been running for 4 years, but also the BS program. I have lost so many useful families in the last 3 years due to kids picking sports over scouts. I understand that and don't have a problem with it, I have a problem with NO ONE wanting to step up to help with anything. We have Good leaders but they are already pulling lots of weight. I don't want to burn them out, we need them. I also don't want to burn out ourselves.

Currently here is what we have for our pack: CC, CM, 2WDL, 1Wolf leader. I am acting as CC, Trainer and Treasurer (I have to handle all the financial aspects except the actual acct, we have a 3rd party accountant that writes the actual checks) and all jobs in between . As far as committee members they are just people on paper who are not involved. We need help. I need suggestions because I feel like I'm not getting what I'd like to get accomplished. We have a smaller pack 19 boys. We will have Tigers in the fall, they never come till the fall after all the summer sports are over, so, I'll have to also recruit a leader out of the parents for that as well. I have managed to do many different jobs, not because I wanted to, but because no one is willing to help. We will be moving up to the Troop level only after this year of scouting. I need to get someone ready to take over this Pack. When our last CM and do all CC were leaving, no one took up their jobs, so they just left the boxes of stuff there one day and left. I had never done any of the CC, treasurer, do all jobs I am doing now and it took a lot of work for me to get people to explain to me what the heck I was supposed to be doing. I knew a little because I have an older boy (almost 17) who was a cub scout (in IN but still same basic ideas) . I don't want to have to do that to the pack when it's our time to leave. I want to help the next person so they can concentrate on running a good program. In the beginning another Parent was supposed to be my partner in all this, she was for a brief period but had to many obligations and had to step down. My husband works a lot and has no set schedule of hours, so a lot of his duties fall on me as well. I guess my main question is, how do I go about getting volunteers? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!

I have read many of the topics here, and would like to point out that I am open to constructive criticism, but please be nice.

Thanks So Much!

Heather