Jameson76

There are many options

It all depends on how you approach STEM, you have to work it into the program - We were at a canyon hiking the rim, we posed the question, if we throw Timmy off, how long until he hits the bottom if the bottom is 700 ft? That lead to the speed and acceleration discussions. Also how much force would be needed to get Timmy out far enough - We spotted the International Space Station on an outing, good discussion points on the station, geosynchronous orbits, etc - Time to get to an outing..if the campsite is XX miles away, and we drive XX miles per hour, when do we arrive? - How hot does the fire need to be to melt glass? (surprisingly not that hot)

We have never turned in the project book with Eagle application. Our unit completes 12 to 14 Eagles annually. The initial project is approved at the district, then reviewed at the EBOR, but that is it. Pre-EBOR we turn in 2 page application to service center and contact list, then post EBOR application with signatures

@le Voyageur - Discuss what points you would consider in selecting a muzzleloading rifle. Key point - How will it perform in the Zombie Apocalypse?

Remember - whatever the question is, the answer is in fact "sell more popcorn". Sadly my unit is not part of the solution as we don't hock the corn

Sadly they (BSA National) does not seem to look for outside talent. You have to be part of the club, raised in the club, dedicated to the club, in order to be anointed to run the club. Likely some of the issues with finance and direction, currently impacting the organization, may have been lessened if leaders with some outside experience and different professional path had been in charge.

Sadly it has been ongoing for a while. This really stems from several items 1) The cost for the Summit, this is a huge drain 2) Pension Liabilities that are not fully funded for the professional Scouts 3) General overhead not full contracted for current size of the organization 4) Sub part of the that is the current Council Structure may not be the best to deliver Scouting to the local community 5) General Medical Health Care costs, actually this impacts pretty much every business and organization 6) The liability portion (not abuse cases) that are more prevalent, see above, due to everyone's rise in premiums, a lot of high deductibles, makes more sense to file on BSA insurance for a sustained injury 7) The abuse case money issue

Banner year for the ranch. You had normal traffic, those that signed up in 2017 for a 2019 trek. Then you have some of those cancelled in 2018 who filled in for 2019. Maybe 25,000, (typical is maybe 22,000) but that may not be accurate. Much of the loss will never be recovered. In our case we had 24 Scouts and Leaders signed up for 2018. Many did our hurried up Adventure Trek and called it good. We had 4 from the 2018 group plus 4 others not signed up for 2018 attend this summer. We will have 2 of the 2018 attend in 2020. So in a very small sample, of the original 24 - 6 will do a 12 day Philmont trek. That is 25%

I don't think one could disagree with this statement: “The reality there is we didn’t really leave them; they kind of left us,” said M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “The direction they were going was not consistent to what we feel our youth need to have ... to survive in the world that lies ahead for them.” One could certainly argue whether they agree with stated positions of the Mormon Church, but they are what they are. Fact is the BSA has made changes in membership requirements. The BSA felt they needed to make changes to be more inclusive, the Mormon Church feels they need to adhere to their values. In this case both groups are in many ways correct. The outcome (in my opinion) is not good for either group. BSA is losing 20% of their membership while the Mormon Church is becoming more insular and interacting less with non-Church groups.

Question is - what is the plan (if there is one) to rather than live on a Line of Credit, actually be somewhat revenue neutral. Agree with the Summit burning money like a drunken sailor

First - the, I am assuming very nice gentleman, that started means well, but not sure if he is explaining or preaching. There is a great deal of Mormon (LDS??) speak and their own language. Not sure non LDS folks have the needed frame of reference. Quorum of 12 disciples? Ward and Branch councils? You have been prompted? I wish them well as they progress along the covenant path.

I remember (during the Reagan years) taking a Webelos den with my Explorer post on an overnight camping trip. We did hiking, rapelling, and climbing. Great chance for the Explorers to do instruction and move from doing to teaching. They had a blast (Explorers / Webelos / Parents). As the Webelos and parents talked with the Explorers we talked about an upcoming outing (the next month) which involved a ferry to a barrier island, hiking up the beach a few miles and camping behind the dunes for a couple of nights. They tagged along and very much enjoyed the experience. Go have adventure, THAT is what will make Scouting continue to be great.

Assuming East Idaho may have a goodly number of LDS units?

Sad part is that we feel the question has to be asked, or needs to be asked. Challenge is that scouting (universal) is local and rules are made at National. There are Scouts BSA troops out there that likely do not have the wherewithal to do a mile hike and overnight camping. On the flip side there are many Webelos (AOL??) groups that have enough depth of experience to do an effective backpacking trek My input, but then I'm a bit of a pirate, would be that if you feel the group can handle this adventure, go forth and enjoy.

Saw this and wonder where the breakdown was. The troubling detail (and it is only alleged) - The abuse allegedly took place “on multiple occasions” at Boy Scout retreats and meetings between January 2018 and November 2018 This implies this is not a one incident issue, it happened at meetings (assume that was the weekly Troop meetings), it happened at retreats (assume that is outings), and it took place over a 10 to 11 month period. Not sure what may be occurring with that troop and how is the 1 on 1 apparent access not being noted. Meetings could be the guy gave the kid a ride to or from, which would be a violation, but could be how it happened. Outings possibly the same. Just wow, you certainly want to trust and rely on other leaders; with that being said, it is important to be situationally aware of what is occurring.

We had something along those lines from some parents, "hey you are being unfair, not listening to their kids side, we should have involved them, etc etc". Honestly was surprised because we, as you seemed to have done, approached the issue (and it was not the first one) as a teaching moment, this was leaders to Scouts and the NEXT step if this persisted would been to have a sit down with Scout and Parents. Sooo they came in and we sat down, talked about some prior challenges, they asked why they were not looped in. We reminded them we had in fact touched on some of the challenges with Dad at a few of the outing return times...Mom looked at Dad...dad looked at the floor, but again we wanted the Scout to grow and take responsibility. They had some pushback, Scout sort of looked smug like he may be winning this and we were being put in our place (honestly my opinion of the Scout changed through all of this process). We then pivoted on the family and explained that we understood their concerns, going forward one (or both) obviously needed to be at meeting, outings, summer camp to be available if there were challenges, no phone would not in fact work. They would need to get back with us. A few weeks later moved to another troop and actually got tossed out of that one for some behavior. Understand from some of the Scouts he had some School challenges also

There with you...we are camping this weekend, and it will get down to 34 on Friday night, 36 on Saturday. For us, that will be like Siberia. That being said, some will be in shorts. Honestly, we rarely have days where it does not get above freezing for some portion of the day. In the last 20 years we have camped where some snow came down maybe 3 times, accumulation once. We had to head to the mountain to experience that Yeah...if the water's freezing in the tent, we would be waaaay out of our element.

Is that a Unit or District or Council "Fund Raising Chair"? If in the Unit your CC should have a word with him and determine what the perceived issue may be in their mind. Seems this is the UNIT pancake breakfast, this is a Scouting activity, so yes to the uniforms If District or Council...refer them to the UC or DC Here is some information https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/02/02/unit-fundraising-dos-and-donts/ Here is the unit fundraiser application https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34427.pdf Note the question on page 1 - Will your members be in uniform while carrying out this project? (See items 3–6 on other side.) These are items 3 - 6 (honestly question if overpriced popcorn complies with #%) 3. Will your fund-raiser prevent promoters from trading on the name and goodwill of the Boy Scouts of America? Because of Scouting’s good reputation, customers rarely question the quality or price of a product. The nationwide network of Scouting units must not become a beehive of commercial interest. 4. Will the fund-raising activity uphold the good name of the BSA? Does it avoid games of chance, gambling, etc.? Selling raffle tickets or other games of chance is a direct violation of the BSA Rules and Regulations, which forbid gambling. The product must not detract from the ideals and principles of the BSA. 5. If a commercial product is to be sold, will it be sold on its own merits and without reference to the needs of Scouting? All commercial products must sell on their own merits, not the benefit received by the Boy Scouts. The principle of value received is critical in choosing what to sell. 6. If a commercial product is to be sold, will the fund-raising activity comply with BSA policy on wearing the uniform? The official uniform is intended to be worn primarily for use in connection with Scouting activities. However, council executive boards may approve use of the uniform for any fund-raising activity. Typically, council popcorn sales or Scout show ticket sales are approved uniform fund-raisers

Agree 100% The challenge is so many of the volunteers that plot direction, lead efforts, implement the new and most current WB training, etc etc, have NOT actually seen a Scout or Cub in years and years. They may "attend" a big event, but it is at best a drive by. For many they have not done a full weekend camping event in eons, if ever at all. By this I mean being in the CO lot before the Scouts come, hooking up the trailer, stepping back and gently reminding the youth leaders what needs to be done, driving to the campsite, setting up (often in the dark), helping the youth ensure the program is running, maybe some first aid, helping the youth that need it, packing up, unloading at the CO, waiting for the last parents, unloading your own gear later...etc etc These council / national volunteers are well meaning, but they need to fully get WHY the kids are there, (probably not STEM or the latest flavor of the week; most likely it is they are looking for FUN with their friends, a break from the routine) and actually what brings them to an outing and Scouts. Chatting with some at a big event does not make give the answers. Time in the woods, in the mud, with the burned meals will.

Seems that 1st class would be 3 nights of camping Tenderfoot now - Spend at least one night on a patrol or troop campout. Sleep in a tent you have helped pitch. Second Class now - Since joining Scouts BSA, participate in five separate troop/patrol activities, at least three of which must be held outdoors. Of the outdoor activities, at least two must include overnight camping First Class now - Since joining Scouts BSA, participate in 10 separate troop/patrol activities, at least six of which must be held outdoors. Of the outdoor activities, at least three must include overnight camping

Sort of the same thing our district did for the winter event. Leaders manned the events, Scouts wandered about camp going (or not) to the stations. Our troop leaders would man the event, basically describe the station, then let the various troops patrols figure it out. We never sent anyone around with the Scouts, figured they had a map, off they go. Usually they came back to the site, especially when it got dark and cold.

When money is needed the answer is ALWAYS sell more popcorn. It's certainly not a solution, but it is the required response from the councils. Turn your kids into hucksters....

The first time the troop rolled out the revamped camping methods; tarps up etc; about 10 years back it literally took about 2 hours, in the rain, in the dark to set up tarps. Now it takes about 10 minutes

In no way trying to diminish that effort and emphasis, but should the protection of youth be WHY there is the Boy Scouts instead of being part of WHO we are? My concern is that BSA puts so much emphasis on this, and it is important, the effort for YPT seems to become the reason for the Scouts. In talking with a pro the other day his main selling point seemed to be BSA's Youth Protection and not the program offering. YPT and adherence is critical to a good unit, but program should be front and center, YPT should be part of how we deliver that program, not YPT being our signature offering.

Our standard is patrol's setup tarps, they have a table, and a patrol box for each group. They setup patrol gear before they setup tents and tarps. Troop uses a roughly 12 x 16 tarp (available at Home Depot). Typically set up between trees, but the Scouts like to use poles. We looked at actual expandable tarp poles ($15 to $20 each) and bought a bunch of 2" x 2" x 8' lumber (also from Home Depot) for about $2 each. Put a nail in the end and we had tarp poles. The nice thing with the tarps is the Scouts set them up, gives them an area to congregate, if there is rainy / damp weather good to have cover. For backpacking we have a couple of lighter trail tarps Here we are recreating Norman Rockwell's painting.."We Thank Thee O Lord" (Our's is on top, original for reference)