evmori Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 The Pack that feeds my Troop has started to experience inequitable recruiting. There are two Packs in my borough. Cub Fall Roundup is done at the borough elementry school & both Packs are present. The adult leaders from on pack are on the PTA & heavily involved in borough politics. At roundup, they get 70% of the new Cubs & my feeder Pack gets the rest. The Pack that gets most of the kids has a membership of around 80 Cubs. I was one of the original committee members of my feeder Pack & don't want to see it die. By not getting enough new kids, the adult leadership is also in trouble. I have already talked to my unit commissioner & he is planning on taking some type of action. Any suggestion on what (if anything) we should do from here. My big concern is if the Pack folds, my Troop will be hurting for new Scouts & could fold as a result. Ed Mori Scoutmaster Troop 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eisely Posted January 5, 2002 Share Posted January 5, 2002 The size of the pack (80 members) should by itself be a red flag to somebody. In some districts and councils, when a unit gets so large pressures are applied to divide it up into two units. This may not be the ultimate solution, but it might help level the playing field a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutmom Posted January 5, 2002 Share Posted January 5, 2002 Ed, Do you have only one elementary school in your town? Our town has 3 Cub Scout Packs and we each have a designated school to recruit from. One Pack is charted by the local Catholic Church and they recruit from their Parochial School. Or maybe you could do roundup on different nights. How about a Spring roundup? Is this other Pack getting more Scouts because of parental politics or because of their program? Play up your Pack's activities. Bring in your Pinewood Derby Track and let the new recruits have a race. Have your current Scouts bring all their cool stuff from summer camp. A couple of kids saw my son's BB Gun Sharpshooter Award from day camp and they were hooked!And get your current scouts to recruit their friends. Just a couple of ideas. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slontwovvy Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 We had a similar problem with the troops in our town. Eventually, the other troop just couldn't keep up with the number of kids its 5 feeder packs were giving it, so two feeder packs switched to feeding to our troop. Now they have a more manageable number of boys, and we are no longer lacking for members. Things do even out. No troop, in my experience, can go long with a membership above 70. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chippewa29 Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 slontwovvy- I would love to have the problem in your area. Although we have fifteen packs in our area (within fifteen minutes of our troop meeting place), most of them are currently tied to other troops (there are five other troops in our area). Seven of the packs feed into one troop (this troop established the links with those packs several years ago when the other troops in our area were on the down swing) and although this troop gets 25+ new Scouts every year, they only have 35-40 Scouts in their troop at the end of each year. Even with the high turnover, we can't get any of those packs to even visit us (other troops have had the same problem), let alone consider switching. I hope someday that I get my troop to the point where we need to consider splitting. I agree that troops should limit their size. I think once a troop hits fifty and looks like it will keep growing, they should start working toward a split. Back to the original issue. I hope this other pack is being built on their virtues and not on other pack's "problems" ("oh, you wouldn't want to join those people because..."). If you figure out a solution, please present it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slontwovvy Posted January 8, 2002 Share Posted January 8, 2002 A couple of suggestions: First off, try talking to the other pack's leader about your concerns. If he is a true Scouter, he'll understand and try to help you out. Eighty boys is likely rather unmanageable--try suggesting that he move some of his cubs over to yours to help ease the load. Secondly, let your commissioner handle it. I love those guys!!! (Sniff Sniff) Thirdly, have the cubs currently in the pack recruit their friends, maybe those that aren't in any pack, because we all know there's a lot that slip through the cracks. A couple of questions though: how many boys does the 30% constitute? I'm not sure about what trouble the adult leadership is in, but if you could tell that would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evmori Posted January 8, 2002 Author Share Posted January 8, 2002 scoutmom, There is only one elementary school in my borough. Chippewa 29, The "you don't want to join ...." is part of the problem. My feeder Pack has a good program. The problem is the program is going to suffer if there are no Cubs. slontwovy, 30% amounts to about 5-7 kids. The adult leadership trouble I refered to is due to turnover. The current leadership has been with the Pack for 5+ years & looking to move on. Ed Mori Scoutmaster Troop 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutmom Posted January 9, 2002 Share Posted January 9, 2002 Ed, Since there's only one school for you both to draw from, how about seperate recruiting nights? I like the idea of taklking to the other Pack's leadership and I agree that it is perhaps an issue for your Unit Commissioner. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob White Posted February 4, 2002 Share Posted February 4, 2002 Feeder Packs? I've never really appreciated this term either as a Troop leader or Pack Leader. Any troop can recruit membership from any pack. What makes the differenceas to where the boys go? Usually it all comes down to program. the boys will want to go were they percieve they will have the most fun. If by feeder packs you refer to Charter Organizations that use multiple scouting programs to serve youth, such as a Cub Scout Pack AND a Boy Scout Troop, of course they will have a high recruitment rate. Don't you expect the members of your church's youth choir to join your church's adult choir. One of the benefits of an active Charter Organization is that they often grow thier scouting programs to meet the growing needs of the youth they serve. Let's not get caught up in whose pack or troop is biggest. Program..."if you build it they will come". Concentrate on a quality scouting program with trained enthusiastic leaders, mix in good communications with local Packs and a dash of Den Chiefs, and you will have Webelos crossing by the Patrol full. Best of Luck for successful scouting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evmori Posted February 4, 2002 Author Share Posted February 4, 2002 Thanks for all the suggestion, folks. The Cubmaster of Pack 1 hsa "thrown in the towel" & I have informed my DC of the problem. He is in the process of trying to work something out. Ed Mori Scoutmaster Troop 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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