elitts

Regarding "camp finances", my understanding is that camps are not their own separate cost centers. Council takes in camp revenue, year round, and parcels it out to various Council departments.  Is that correct? If so, I wonder what percentage actually goes to the camp?

 

My guess, Council overhead is greater than camp maintenance.

This has always been my suspicion as well.  Our local council spends a fortune on flying and boarding its staff members all over the country for various conventions, training and what ever else they do.  I knew one council staff member fairly well and he was traveling AT LEAST 3-5 days every month; and he was only one of 3 or 4 people with the same job. 

*I'd probably be less unhappy about that sort of thing if my council wasn't also incredibly inept at anything that resembles administrative work.  I've had to submit my Merit Badge councillor forms 5 times in the last 2 years*

The solution I'm pushing for  is to get my troop to send the portion of our fundraising that had been going to council to our preferred summer camp. (we don't sell much popcorn, we do a couple other fundraisers instead)

His parents stated that they signed him up for an Intro to Backpacking Trek which is listed in the Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch High Adventure pamphlet.

http://buffalotrailbsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/BTSR-2015-High-Adventure-Booklet.pdf

 

On page 5, "Adult Leadership on Treks - all crews going on the trail must have adult leaders..."

Pages 6-9, detail the Introduction to Backpacking.

I realize that, but this wasn't a crew going out on the trail on a "Trek".  The scouts in the "Intro to Backpacking" were still in the "base camp" portion of the week.  They weren't out backpacking over-night, it was just a day-hike.  My troop's camp-outs all follow the "Two Deep Leadership" rule, but if one of our patrols wishes to take an hour or two day-hike, they are allowed to as long as they clear it with the SM first.  "Two Deep Leadership" has NEVER meant that all scouts will be accompanied by 2 adults at all times; it simply means that the over-all outing has at least 2 adults (one over 21).

So as far as I can tell, here are the relevant rules:

Two Deep Leadership:  Rule met because 2 adults were supervising at base camp;

Buddy System: Rule met because the scout wasn't out on a hike by himself;

No One on One contact: Rule met because there was an additional scout along with the 15-year old and the 18-year old.

The only real issues here that I can see is "Did they get approval from the ranking adult before commencing the hike" and "Should the ranking adult have approved the hike given the weather conditions?"

Parmesan Cheese - A healthy quantity added to almost everything.  Adds some zip to bland things.

Successfully added to:

Scrambled Eggs,

Mashed Potatoes,

Mac n Cheese,

Au Gratin Potatoes,

Hamburger Helper,

Spaghetti,

Broccoli Cheese Soup,

Corn Chowder,

Bean Dip,

Also, Us 1/3rd Orange Juice instead of water for most recipes that are made from Bisquick.  The acid neutralizes any excess baking powder and improves the flavor.

I just wish the news organizations would actually check out statements that their subjects make and verify or qualify them when they are incorrect.  I realize the father thinks it is a policy that there be 2 adults on any hike, but it's incorrect.  Yet every news organization is effectively letting that be reported as "the truth" by publishing his statements with no indication as to whether or not it's true.

This was not true in 2010. We started out from Miranda on our layover day, climbed Baldie without checking in with anybody, and then descended down the other side of Baldie to Baldie Town. We even took a side trip to French Henry before going to Baldie Town. Maybe they changed the policy in the last 7 years. Perhaps I will find out in July, although we don't get to hit Baldie.

That's how I did it in 1990 as well.  It was a fantastic trip, and my crew certainly looked a whole lot happier than the folks that climbed it with their packs on.  Of course, the average pack weight was 60-80lbs back then too, so that might be a little better now.

Personally, one of the best memories I have of Baldy was going down to Baldie town by jumping down the side of the mountain into piles of rock.  Then, getting to Baldy town, skipped getting a snack and taking a shower.  (the first in 5 days of monsoon)  I was the first kid into the showers by a good 15 minutes, so it was still hot.  That may well still be the best shower I've ever taken.

Personally, i think it better to treat every campout as a backcountry trip, even knowing that most are really tailgate camping...

..... but why not use small tents, personal stoves, mess kits, etc....?

Bring the cooler and maybe some chairs.... well sure. a bit more than you'd pack in, but still, no need for the huge and complex kitchens.... just my opinion....

Well, there are some scouts for whom cooking on a camp-out isn't just an annoying chore.  While learning to do more with less is good, sometimes the ability to have a really good multi dish meal is fun.  While I'm certainly capable of dealing with a backcountry trip now and again, it's not my preference.  And I felt the same way as a scout.

Oddly enough, I was the cook most times then too.

I've always been a fan of the Eureka Timberline tents, particularly with regard to ease of setup and durability, but they are pricey.  The last purchase our troop made was of a number of Alps tents.  It hasn't gone well so far, but part of that I think is that the scouts have no ownership of them, and care for them accordingly. I will also say, I've had 3 that had minor rips in the fly within the first 4-5 uses.  However, Alps didn't bat an eye when we called to let them know and just immediately sent us 3 new ones.

About 2 months after the 2015 BSA rule change on homosexual leaders, our new scout patrol finally got around to naming themselves.

I had to stifle a laugh when their patrol leader announced that they would henceforth be "The Flaming Patrol". 

The other thing to keep in mind is that even if a Scout does a 100% separate project from anything else, and the beneficiary signs off on it, there is no guarantee that it will actually benefit anyone else, or even survive for long.   It would not surprise me for a moment to hear that a Scout created a food pantry at a church that was torn out within 6 months to expand classroom space, or that a Scout created a natural garden, complete with park benches at a local park only to have it converted to a soccer field the next year.  I'm sure these things have happened - probably more often than we want to admit.  This is probably the main reason that my number one criteria of completeness is acceptance by the beneficiary.

Yup.  My project was the restoration of an enclosed playground at my high school that was used for kids during adult education classes.  The whole thing was torn out 1 year later to put in some portable classrooms for 2 years while they built a new wing.

The pack where I was Cubmaster up until 2 years ago just sold Christmas wreaths.  The 50-60 cubs would sell about 1100 wreaths, and we would end up with about $6,500-$7,500 profit.

My current Troop used to just sell Popcorn, but of the 30% of the sales that the troop received, only 5% was kept in the troop coffers.  The remaining 25% was credited to the scouts.  They would also charge about $150 for annual registration.

Given the success of wreath sales at my former pack, I convinced the Committee to do a trial wreath sale this last year.  We only ended up with about 160 wreaths pre-ordered, but when I ended up being forced to accept 325 wreaths (it was my fault for being optimistic) the scouts ended up selling all but 11 of them.  Even after eating the 11 that didn't get sold, and donating 4 to the CO, we banked about $1,100 for the troop, and $1,250 was credited to individual scouts.

There was something of a motivation problem with the sale this year.  Out of our 50 active scouts, about 80% of the sales were done by less than 12 boys and half didn't sell more than 2.  I think the problem is that since most of the families are fairly wealthy, and simply pay for every camp-out for their son; the boys don't have much incentive to sell.

After discussing it with a few of the scouts that didn't bother to sell, I've decided that I will need to put together a prize list for next year.  I will basically offer a selection of good quality hunt/fish/camp gear as an alternative to just getting "credit" in the scout account ledger.