Jambo Questions

[CubsRgr8 10]

Wearing my parent hat, I'm beginning to wonder if my council is properly organizing its Jamboree troops. I was cruising the internet the other day and ran across info that led me to believe some councils have already started regular Jambo troop meetings. My council's meetings so far: 1 kick-off/recruitment rally last April - that's it.

 

Shouldn't we already know to which jambo troop my son is assigned? Shouldn't they already be meeting? Shouldn't we already have the schedule of meetings, activities, etc? When does he get the opportunity to apply for minor troop positions? When does his patrol elect its PL? All we have is the date of the spring shake-down campout.

 

I mean, it's already August and the calendar fills up fast. It sure would be helpful to parents if the council got this information out to parents NOW! When I call the council, I get "you have to talk to so&so, he's the only one who knows anything, and he's out at camp this week." I absolutely hate that answer! What is so difficult about having backup staff people available?

[Eamonn 61]

Wearing my Jamboree Scoutmaster Hat.

This is where our Jamboree Troop is at.

Kick off last September. All Adult positions filled and both troops filled with a waiting list.

We have had one fund raising event a Pizza sale which resulted in $6,000 profit. We held one parent meeting and one troop meeting. The Leaders have met and plans are underway. The troop will meet once a month from now till the Jamboree. With an extra meeting next month for the Emergency Preparedness meeting with a chap from the Red Cross. At the September meeting we will hold the elections for the troop and have planned a weekend training for these Lads in January. The pool is booked for the swimming test and a free swim in February and a campout is planned for April. The shake down is in early June.

It does seem that up until now it has been a case of hurry up and do nothing. But with so much going on over the summer it is hard to get everyone in one place. Even our Leader meeting have been hard and we ended up having them at Camp as the other leaders were either up their with there troops or on staff. So far my job has been planning and making arrangements.

We have a good communications set up in place. All the events are planned.

Last Jamboree we had to give the parents a lot more information. This time with so much information available on the web site, there will be a lot less paper coming from me to the parents.

I think that we are ready to go with Troop meetings. I will feel better when I know who the SPL is and who is on the PLC. Then we can really get to work.

I am hoping that the PLC will agree that we can recycle the gateway from the last Jamboree with a new theme and paint job. If not we will add a few Saturdays to build a new gateway. Sad thing is that there isn't a budget for it. What we were unable to get donated last time we sold troop T-shirts to make up the difference. They were neat we listed everyones name on the back.

Eamonn.

We have been holding bi-monthly meetings with the Council Jamboree Committee.

[acco40 95]

I don't have it with me at work but the national council puts out a flier that tells the contingent troops/council where they ought to be wrt Jambo.

 

Our council selected all adult leaders in January but some of the 3rd SAs, i.e. 18 - 21 year olds, are still to be had because most were away at school. We held monthly meetings of the adult leaders and had the boys assigned to a troop and a waiting list by February. Some of the troops have met, some have not. Most will begin monthly meetings in Sept. or Oct. The SPL, ASPL, QM and Scribe will be selected first with PLs to follow. That should be complete by early Nov. Shake out in May.

 

Meanwhile, Jambo committee has been finalizing equipment, travel arrangements, etc. Much energy has focused on the design of our Jambo council strip (sheez ).

 

My bet is that your son is assigned to a troop and much has been going on but that the parents of the Scouts have not been informed to date. Just a guess but one of the items I have brought up is that as soon as the council starts to collect the money (in incremental chinese torture method), the parents should not be left in the dark. Communication, as always, is key.(This message has been edited by acco40)

[Eamonn 61]

There is a guide book and monthly news sheet on the Jamboree site, which is linked to the National Web site.

The news sheets kinda lay out what should be happening and when it is to have happened.

By now the second payment ought to be on its way from your home council to the national office.

A friend of mine is in charge of one of the Action Areas. He is really in need of more staff. He would give anything if they were COPE trained, but needs any and all adults who like working with kids. Action areas are nice they close at the end of the day so you have your nights free and most are set up so that you get a couple of days off. Please PM me if you are interested.

Thanks.

Eamonn

Eamonn.

[nldscout 18]

Let me start by saying I went as 2nd ASM in 2001. We had 2 troop meetings and a sha

[SR540Beaver 116]

CubsRgr8,

 

I am a 2nd ASM for one of 4 troops in my council's contingent. We had our kick-off meeting last November and the adults selected by January. The adult membership meets monthly. Our contingent will consist of 144 boys and right now we are at about 97 and struggling to get another 47 to commit this "early". We are also having trouble finding four 3rd ASM's in the 18 to 21 age range. The council Jambo coordinators are busy making travel arrangements and selecting gear while the adult leaders are beating the recruitment bushes. As a parent of a boy who is going to Jambo, I too would be curious and wonder why I've heard little more than a monthly reminder to please make regular payments. That being said, Jambo is just under a year away. What is it you want these boys to do a year away from Jambo? They aleady belong to a troop where they hold weekly troop meetings and monthly campouts. Why throw another set of meetings on top of them until needed. Our council covers 24 counties in Oklahoma. That is the whole southwest quarter of the state plus some additional area. Some of the boys would have to travel 2 hours to attend meetings. A year out, I really don't know what we would keep them busy with. It is hard enough getting some scouts to attend their own troop meetings regularly, let alone having parents drive them to another set of meetings in another town. I would like to see us have an update meeting for parents and boys and I think there is one towards the end of the year. A cheaper alternative at this stage would be an occasional newsletter to participants or a web page. For those contingents lucky enough to have a waiting list and their troops decided, they could probably have some boy meetings. We are still short a whole troop and anyone signing up now would be behind the curve.

 

[SR540Beaver 116]

CubsRgr8,

 

Some additional thoughts. I don't know about the folks who make up the Jambo adult leaders in your council. Our Jambo coordinator is SM for one of the largest troops in our council. They regularly take 90 to 100 boys on campouts. He is active at the council, district and unit level as is his assistant coordinator. Many (but not all) of the Jambo adult leaders are in the same boat. We are volunteers with families, jobs, responsibilities at home, church, work, troop, etc. On top of volunteering at the troop level, we are further volunteering for Jambo and have to go thru an interview process and pay for the privilige to go. I'm not trying to make excuses, but some dyas there just are not enough hours in the day or days in the week. We don't always have the luxury to hold additional meetings at our leisure and have to do it when it has to be done. An example is fundraising. What we hear when we try to recruit is that the $1900 is too high. Many boys won't sign up because of the price tag. I have one boy in my troop that took $100 out of his personal savings account because he wanted to go so bad. His dad told me that he wished he had not done it because there was no way they could pay his way. I brought this up in our adult meetings. The coordinator was not trying to be mean, just matter of fact about it. He said that he had his hands full making all the arrangements and could not coordinate a fundraiser too. However, anyone that wants to step up and do it is welcome to. I stepped up and single handedly coordinated a fundraiser for 100 boys across 24 counties. We are selling first aid kits thru the month of August. It has been a hardship on me to do this on top of everything else I've got going on, but we needed it and no one else would do it. Most parents and/or boys have no idea of the complexity of organizing a contingent with volunteers who are already taxed.