ColorBoomScouting

Thanks! This is actually very good advice.

Yes, this is true. I have even spoken with the Mayor about growing our capacity in the town once again, I want to restate, 10 years ago, we had 2 really big Troops i our town and 2 Healthy Packs to feed from, just 10 years ago! It is unbelievable, also, looking into other Troops in the area, they all seem healthy, but, then again, all the healthy ones are co-ed, and I know that is something we don't want to do. We don't even have a functioning Parent Committee, really the ASMs and other Leaders run the Troop.

Thanks!

I am an ASM and Eagle from a Troop in the Pathway to Adventure Council, a south suburb from Chicago, relatively good area compared to other South Suburban Towns, there used to be a second Troop in our town, which shut down due to low membership at the end of 2022, didn't recharter for 2023. They folded into our Troop, Although a lot of them disliked our Troop and didn't join it (Out of Pettiness), however, I think our Troop might be experiencing the same issues as they are. We had 40 scouts at our 2018 90th Anniversary Ceremony (We where ridiculously healthy back then), however, now we are down to 9 Active scouts, 2 of which are aging out within the next year, and asides from them the oldest is graduating Junior High School. The Pack we are feeding out of is dead, I believe they aren't going to recharter for 2026, we share a CO, but we aren't really intertwined, the last group of AOL's has 2 Scouts going to another Troop 20 minutes away, and 1 who wants to join us, but hasn't really been in contact. Without this pack to feed from, it is getting extremely hard to grow, we never really get Scouts from outside anymore, even though we have a Good Website, our active in Speaking of our CO, we never really had much support from them, they are a "new" church, the former CO merged with another church to form it, this happened in 2022, we never had support from the old church, and when they merged we saw a slight uptick in support, but now it is just as low as it was beforehand, the Pastor seems to have no interest in us, and our COR is NOT active in any way and seeks to retire, I only ever see him during Scout Sunday, and he doesn't interact with us much. We used to have a LOT of support from our community as well, but it seems as if nobody really cares about Scouting in our town, we have a rich history and we are the oldest Troop in our District, but nobody seems to care about Scouting around here anymore, we still host our Pancake Breakfast Annually, and it is sad to see it as empty as it is, a decent number of people show, but at least 1 row of tables is always empty, and we still sell flags at the Fourth of July Parades, but nobody seems interested in buying. Both our Troop, the Former Troop, and the Cub Pack all had a big presence in our town just 5 Years Ago compared to now! There was even a Second Pack connected to the Former Troop. So, please tell me, how can I revive my Troop and therefore revive Scouting in my community, I will take any advice.