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CA Scout Mom

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About CA Scout Mom

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Southern California
  • Occupation
    Marketing
  1. Sounds like a great camp, BTW? Where is it?
  2. That's what our troop does too. We hold them before troop meetings so those who have done them already/not interested don't need to participate. Sometimes we hold sessions during weekends or breaks. We run about 4-6 per year. Some kids are really into doing MB's but most aren't. However, most are used to the grind so they'll do it if they're pushed. But, there's enough fun stuff to balance it out.
  3. Our troop charges $120 per Scout for dues. That covers registration, replacement costs for troop and patrol equipment, patches/awards and helps to pay for adult participation in campouts and submissions for reimbursement for gas. Additionally, Scouts pay for their campouts which vary from $15-$35 per outing and summer camp which runs about $400-$700. The troop also does fundraising including popcorn in the Fall and Camp Cards in the Spring. The fundraisers help fund Individual Scout Accounts as well as troop accounts--usually 50% goes to troop account and the other 50% is divided among pa
  4. I understand your dilemma--our troop is in the suburbs of LA and our troop has been in existence for 40 years but as the population has aged, the numbers have declined. So, on each end of the valley where we are, there are two mega troops with about 75-100 Scouts in each. We're in the middle with about 25 Scouts but there are a bunch of other smaller troops in our neighborhood--about 4 actually. We reached out to one of the other troops, also with about 25 Scouts to do an activity with them and it didn't work out so well since we notice their Scouts were not as physically active as our S
  5. This is probably going to sound like heresy but our troop is beginning to incorporate more STEM into our troop activities and it seems to be attracting new Scouts and their families. By marketing "outdoor adventure", I don't think there's a huge amount of interest in that in our area, frankly. A lot of dads of the Scouts aren't involved for whatever reason (demanding jobs, out of town work travel, general disinterest in Scouts, stated dislike of the outdoors) and therefore it's the moms who tend to bring their sons to troop meetings. They and their sons are comfortable with STEM and then on
  6. The City of Arcadia runs Merit Badges at Wilderness Park, mostly Eagle-required ones. There happens to be an Emergency Preparedness one on September 30 from 9 am to 1 pm. I wouldn't have known about this except for an extremely astute parent in our troop who managed to ferret this out--and our troop is located in the City of Thousand Oaks! Here's the link to their site and scroll to the bottom: https://www.arcadiaca.gov/government/city-departments/recreation-and-community-services/parks-and-facilities/wilderness-park On the note of having Scouts find out all this information on thei
  7. Great analysis...I just posted a reply (well, rant really...) on how our older and small Scout cohort disappeared to the Venture crew and left the younger Scouts (ages 12 and below primarily) high and dry and then one of them came back to get his Eagle at age 17 3/4 and accused the troop of being too adult-led! Anyway, our troop is maintaining--not growing, not decreasing. We're sandwiched between two super-troops of about 100 Scouts each in our area so they tend to attract most Scouts into their orbits.
  8. To add on to this, when my oldest son entered his current troop at age 10, there were 9 high schoolers who all Eagled out the year he was there and that left 4-5 older boys (8th/9th grade) who then joined a Venture Crew around age 14 and disappeared for the next two-three years to do Venture Crew activities. My husband, myself and another three other parents pretty much built up the troop during that time by doing recruiting, training, planning, etc. with the younger Scouts since we had no older boys there to help. As they've gotten older, my son's cohort has taken on more leadership and de
  9. Wow, so sorry this has been happening! This is such a betrayal to your pack. If I were you, I'd definitely consider moving to another pack if there's one nearby. However, the woman who's been in charge or had access to money should no longer have access, for sure! Was she the Committee Chair or Cubmaster? This should be reported to your Council immediately. Just call the # on your council website and ask to speak to the person in charge of your district--the District Executive. Even though you are trying to work this out, again, this woman shouldn't be involved but someone needs to
  10. Southpole Scout, -- how do you get "tons of interest" in that? How do you get that interest? Do you have a big troop already? We're in an area that has been aging so the demographic tends to be older empty-nesters because housing prices are so high young families can't afford to move in. And, we're not getting a lot of new Scouts, even from our feeder pack, which is pretty healthy. There seems to be a concern that when my husband and I move on, that they feel the troop will lose its rudder and implode. I don't think that will happen but parents don't want to step up. They want to go to
  11. I am curious about how large some of your troops are. Our troop is on the small side with about 20-25 Scouts in it and it's almost a given that our Scouts can become an Eagle Scout if they want that to happen. Not all do but when you have a smaller troop, everyone has a fair chance to get all the rank requirements done because when you go on outings, there are ample opportunities. And, there are plenty of opportunities for leadership too. We also happen to have parents who are happy to run Merit Badges during the year (it's a very well-educated bunch) so we have 4-6 per year. Plus, most S
  12. We too have a rather large bank balance that causes Committee Members some dis-ease. We are in need of a troop trailer as the one we currently have is about 40 years old and shows it. Even if we buy a used one, we'd still be in good shape. But our troop is also facing a membership retention/growth issue. We have a Cub Scout feeder pack and usually the Webelo dens head off to the same troop and it seems that they are often heading to the big troops of 80-100 Scouts where it's a drop-off/BabySitters of America approach. Parents even say that they don't have time to participate and that they
  13. So, what kind of profit do you make on each plant? Do you sell them door to door, in front of retail outlets? Thanks in advance!
  14. Southern California Troop for Fall/Winter: October - Backpack in Ojai November - Campout and Webelo Overnight at Malibu Creek State Park December - Rock Climbing and Campout at Joshua Tree National Park January - Rocket Launch in Mojave Desert February - Winter Camp
  15. I like the idea of a "Meet the Boy Scout Troops" night--I don't think our District does that. Where is do they meet? Are there any special activities? I'd like to propose that idea to our DE. Getting a flavor of the troop might be best represented by the kinds of activities a troop does. Our troop tends to do a medium (maybe high?) amount of outdoor activities--3-5 backpacks per year, a kayak overnight, 2 rock climbing trips, 1 rocket launch plus camporee, scout camp, etc. Our Venture Crew takes older Scouts plus Venture Crew members on high adventure trips. Two nearby troops to us d
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