William862

Thank you for your reply. We are deeply rural. As for the 11y/os drunk and shooting up, its not so much them as it is the 15+ kids. I am frustrated but not to the point of giving up on these kids. I can and will not do that. We have one big fundraiser which is setting up and helping keep maintaience at a local 3 day festival during the summer. Im looking in to fundraising. My wife suggested something she did with her venture crew. It was a alnight dance at the moose club in mass. Kids paid to get in. There was pizza and drinks, they invited local bands to come and preform, which in most cases with local bands they will for free just to get stage time. they did really well with that. Being a rural area, selling fundraisers are hard to do. But again thank you all for the info. ps didnt united way pull away from the BSA due to the postest about gays and it being a privite organization. Dont have my facts stright on that so forgive me if i offend anyone by saying that. just bettering my knowledge of it.

Trying really hard not to come off as argumenitive so forgive me if my posts seemed that way. I was under the understanding that a boy scout can not ask for donations to thier troop. Last poster pointed me out that there was no such rule. Ok. Heres my idea of what i would like to do. Its a very small troop 6 boys the current SM whom i will be take over his job in 8 months due to his retirment has a shirt only dress code. After talking to the boys they seem to want to go full scout uniform. We can fund raise but fund raisers here really only cover thier summer camp. High adventure is a dream to us like sea base or PM. We really hope to get to the point where we can enjoy them trips at lower cost then we was quoted back in may of 2 years ago. Parents around here send thier boys to scouting but dont seem to want everything paid for the boys. I honestly do not want the boys to pay for there parents inability or unwillingness to pay thier ways. It is not the boys fault. But honestly if it cant be done i will accept that and continue to pay out of my pocket to help them. Last year I paid about 900 dollars to help boys go to summer camp because I didnt want them left out. This year with the last remaining factory in are area acting like they are going to close down, parents are even tighter this year then in the past. So my idea was if there was a organization for childern out there that has helped scout troops out before then maybe i could take some of the stress off of my self and the parents who really do need help paying for this and believes in the scouting program. I know alot of people will disagree with this but without scouting most of these kids are out on the roads everynight drinking and on drugs out of sure bordom. There is nothing in are town for young people to do and there is so much scouting and venturing will alow then to do if thier parents could just pay for the costs of it. Im not trying to change the world, just give these kids a fighting chance at life. Thats all.(This message has been edited by william862)

I'm not looking for frees or handouts. But that in its self brings up a whole lot of questions about scouting in my mind. This is about the boys. It might not be that way all over but with my troop its about the boys. If i could pay for every single boy now and future i would but i just dont have the money for that. This is a very low income part of the world and as such parents don't have the money to spend on stuff like $150.00 uniforms plus all the camp out and such. I know there is programs out there to help low income kids with boyscouts,girlscouts ect. but i cant seem to get any info. As such i read a story on the bsa national council site. I'd like to post it here and then someone please explain how this could be done without breaking the rule of a service being rendered for money. and that we as scouts cannot ask for donations. Edmond Scout's honored for raising over $8,000 in donations BY JOHN A. WILLIAMS Comments 1 Published: October 10, 2009 EDMOND - Michael Schmidt's great adventure began nearly two years ago. The Edmond 10-year-old was a Cub Scout in November 2007 when he chose to take up a challenge from his church pastor. After a sermon about stewardship from the Rev. Bryan Eckelmann at Westminster Presbyterian Church of Oklahoma City, Schmidt volunteered to be one of 16 people entrusted with $100 to make a difference in other people's lives. Schmidt said, "My pastor asked, 'does anyone want to go on an adventure with God? So I raised my hand." The pastor first had to lay out the three conditions they had to be willing to accept. "They must understand it is not their money but it is God's money, He's entrusting the money to them. They were to leverage the money, invest it in a way to leverage God's work in the world," Eckelmann said. But what to do with the money was not an easy decision for Schmidt. "At first Michael wanted to spend it, then he didn't know what to do with it," his mother, Teri, said. "Michael is one of these young boys that just loves scouting. We talked about it a little bit and figured out it took about $150 to fully outfit a boy with Boys Life registration, a handbook and a uniform from cap to socks," she said. So Schmidt decided to invest the $100 in sending letters to family and friends for donations, to buy these things for less fortunate boys. So far, his $100 investment has turned into $8,000 in donations and has supported more than 100 individuals. Because of his achievement, Schmidt was honored with the Boy Scouts James E. West award and received a commemorative coin sent to Scouts who have performed extraordinary acts of service. Schmidt also was featured in the July 2009 issue of Boys Life, and he is pictured on this year's boxes of Boy Scouts Butter Light Popcorn. Now Schmidt has earned a nickname from his friends at Crossings Christian School. "They call me popcorn boy.". Eckelmann said he tried to encourage the people who took the $100 to realize the most precious thing about the experiment wasn't the money but was the development of a person's character. "I am hoping that Michael learned, and the adults that have watched him are learning, that it is not just $100 from the preacher's pocket but it's everything that any single one of us has been entrusted with by God that counts," Eckelmann said.

ok i may be wrong but i think in order to be bsa cert. for firearms,climbing instrutor, ect. you have to attent scouting university to take them programs. Same place you recieve training for summer camp director and other admin summer camp jobs. as i said i may be wrong but just a thought.

Well, my advise is to take care of the pack at all cost. I understand about wanting to follow your child through to scouting and im sure nobody would hold it aginst you, but, a pack feeds a scout troop. I would hate to see (worse case) you pack fall apart and the troop do ok for a while then you end up two or three years down the road and the troop fall apart due to a unorganized pack not feeling your troop with boys. Its best for both pack an troop to keep the pack active and strong. Goodluck William

Wow, thank you all so much for your advice. This site is a gold mine of info .

Hello fellow scouts and adult leaders, I just started working with are local troop here and the scoutmaster wants me to take over his place as SM in about 8 months. Hes getting up in age and trying to be active in scouts and work full time, needless to say its getting to him. Anyways we have 6 scouts in our troop. I know its small but it can be so much more. There is trillions of adventures just waiting to be discovered in are state. My wife before we was married started a cub pack which was very sucessful and a venturing crew. Her crew went to seabase in florida and had alot of fun adventures. My scouting experence is, When i was younger i made it to life scout and was close to eagle but my parents didnt have the time or money to keep me in and i gave it up. Regreted it every since. So thats my history now to my question. Does anyone here know of any programs or community services that will assist new scouts in affording dues and uniforms? Its a same that the boys have to miss out on the wonders and joys in that the scouting program offers just because thier family is stretched for money and cany afford it. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you for you time and reply. William(This message has been edited by william862)