DenZero

Beavah, the 2 schools and the 2 pack meeting locations are each about 1 mile apart, so location isn't a big factor. The schools are big enough to each support a pack. The Large Pack has about 65 Cubs. They are rather heavy in 2nd year Webelos, and will be losing some leadership with those Webelos. There are people who prefer the flexibility of a small pack, but most parents prefer to be able to take their kids to meetings and not be pressured into taking a pack position.

I appreciate all of the advice. I have summarized it and will present it at a parent's meeting to be scheduled soon. We will invite the Chartered Org. representative and the Troop's scoutmaster. We will need to either decide to throw in the towel or to begin a serious search for new leaders.

Paul

Thanks for all the speedy advice and the event ideas.

It's tough to get parents to do training unless they really want to. Unfortunately it takes commitment. I might consider it, but my wife thinks I'm wasting my time trying to keep the old pack afloat.

The camping invitation from the troop was for the Webelos. It would be nice if we could take the whole pack, as 2 of the 3 Webelos have younger brothers in the pack. I don't think anyone in the pack would be willing to do Baloo training. Maybe one of the Troop's parents has done it.

We need to talk with the Troop more to see if they can help us with other kinds of events as well. Having a viable Cub Scout program is of direct long-term benefit to the troop.

The Chartered Org. (a church) did send their representative to one of the pack meetings last year. I'll try to find his business card and see if he is still involved. They've been pretty much hands-off, though they generously let the pack and the troop use the hall and a storage room, which is very gracious of them, as it's been years since there's been a Cub in the pack whose family was a member of the Chartered Org.

I guess what I really needed to ask is how to recruit adults who are willing to be leaders. And by this I don't mean arm-twisting the one parent who hasn't offered to take a position. We need to find someone from the community outside the pack, and who will be willing to stick it out. 3 of the 4 den leaders dropped out last summer. Of course, we need to be careful when bringing in leaders who don't have kids in the pack. It doesn't work to think that if we get the kids to come, the leaders will follow.

What do you think of trying to organize an alumni reunion and invite former pack members to an open house? Some might have children (or grandchildren) of the right age, or they could help with program organization.

Paul

Youv'e got it exactly, our program is lacking because out leadership is spread too thin. We have 2 official leaders, the Cubmaster and the nominal Bear den leader. I think both have had at least the minimum training. I've tentatively volunteered to be Webelos den leader (and minister of propaganda), but haven't registered yet. We don't have a committee per se, though I suppose that would mean all the parents. There are 4 or 5 parents total available to help out, including the leaders. Our biggest problem is we need more "leaders" to help plan things. We need to recruit adults more than kids. We used to think, if we recruit kids, the adults will follow, but it really is the other way around.

Paul

Hi everyone,

This is my first posting here. I am a parent in a Cub Scout pack that has experienced a significant drop in membership, and may not be able to survive the year. I am looking for opinions on whether it is worth saving it, and if so, how to bring in more boys and parents.

So here's my story. Pardon the length, but I want to describe the whole situation to see what advice you may have.

We live in a city neighborhood with well-defined boundaries. There are two Cub Scout packs, each of which have a Boy Scout troop having a common unit number and chartered org. Both have been established since the 1940s. There are 2 public schools and one parochial school in the neighborhood. What I'll call the Large pack has traditionally been associated with what I'll call the South school. What I'll call the Small pack has traditionally been associated with what I'll call the North school. The Large pack, by virtue of its superior organization and recruiting, draws cubs from both public schools and the parochial school. The Small pack recruits only at the North school, which my boys attend.

My older boy joined the Small pack as a Tiger three years ago. It was recovering from a drop in membership, and had a new Cubmaster. At that time, we had only Tigers and Wolves. After that, the pack had decent growth, from 10 to 16 to 21 cubs. The last 2 years, we had dens for each age group, and good den leaders. The Cubmaster who led the recovery stepped down after 2 years to become Webelos den leader. The Wolf den leader volunteered to be the new Cubmaster. He is well meaning, and tries hard, but works long hours and fell behind on planning and communicating. He didn't push the parents that weren't den leaders (myself included) to volunteer for other duties in running the pack, trying to do too much himself.

We ended up losing quite a few cubs over the summer. About 40% of the Small pack joined the Large pack, and about 30% of the pack dropped out of Scouting. We tried a "roundup" in September, but no prospective Cubs showed up on recruiting night. We are down to 1 Tiger (my younger son), 1 Wolf, 1 or 2 Bears, 2 first year Webelos and 1 second year Webelo.

We have been holding monthly combination Pack/Den meetings with good attendance of the remaining Cubs. The parents take turns leading some kind of craft project or learning game. The Cubs (and their parents) are pretty much on their own for working on badge requirements.

My younger son really wanted to be with his friends in the Tiger den at the Large pack, and I thought my older son the Webelo would benefit from den meetings as well, so we're now going to the Large pack too, though it will take a while to catch up with the Webelos there on the badge requirements. So now we're in two packs at the same time, though the Small pack doesn't take much time, as they don't do much. I'm going to try to call some Small pack Webelos den meetings to work on the stuff the other pack already did. The second year Webelo may have already done Citizen and Fitness.

At this point, I'm continuing to take my boys to the Small pack mainly as a courtesy to the other boys to keep the numbers up. The Cubmaster's son isn't sure he wants to continue, so if they leave, I don't think there is anyone among the current parents who will be willing to take over as Cubmaster, I really don't want to do it.

The gist of it is that unless we are able to recruit new Cubs and leadership by summer, the pack is pretty much dead. It's a shame to see it die after such a long run, but the kids don't care about tradition, they care about program. The Boy Scout troop that we are supposed to be the feeder for will probably be the most disappointed, though they haven't got any recruits from us in several years. The troop has offered to take us along on campouts, which could give us something interesting to put on the calendar.

I volunteered to try some recruiting, but am finding it difficult. These kids have already said no a couple of times, or have already joined the Large pack. It's tough to compete when the Large pack can show a calendar filled with events for the whole year, and all we can say is we have a pack meeting each month and might try to figure out some other events as we go along. The District has offered to help with a conventional recruiting drive again, just like the ones that failed before. To confuse things further, the District is also working with some parents at the parochial school who are trying to start a new pack there (there was one there that folded several years ago). They've recently added a new person at the district office, so we might get some more support from them.

The Large pack doesn't hold roundups at the North school, and we don't hold roundups at the South school, but the Large pack is very effective with peer-to-peer recruiting and general advertising. Peer-to-peer recruiting doesn't work for a small pack with one unenthusiastic boy per grade level.

We really should give one last-ditch effort at recruiting before we decide that the neighborhood isn't big enough for two packs (or three).

I'm really looking for some unconventional recruiting ideas to try before the end of the school year.

There is of course the act of desperation: get a story in the neighborhood weekly newspaper "Cub Scout Pack to Fold After 55 years", and see if anyone in the community volunteers to save it. We ought to warn the District and the Chartered Org. before we do this.

We can try to cobble together a program for the rest of the year with unusual events that we can invite visitors to. The Cubmaster suggested we try this with the Pinewood Derby, with the visitors racing our boys' cars from last year, though I'm skeptical that that would work well. Do you have any ideas for good easy events that we could try? It would work best if we could have an event every month for the rest of the school year.

Has anyone tried to come up with a "theme" or "gimmick" for a pack to distinguish it from more conventional packs?

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Paul