Adding more Sizzle!

[mk9750 11]

OGE,

 

We are blessed with a very active bunch of adults who work hard to provide oppurtunities for our boys to do most anything they can imagine and find a way to pay for. When some guys wanted to do repelling, three of our adults got themselves certified to teach rock climbing and repelling, including one of them going to Philmont for training, to make it happen. When other guys wanted to kayak, three other adults (actually one of them the same as with rapelling) have gone through the same process with American Red Cross to be qualified to teach this skill. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that it cost well over $500.00 for each of these adults to become qualified, out of their own pocket, plus the hours and weekends spent doing so. They then also trained older Scouts in the same skills so that as they became adults, they were qualified to teach this stuff too. My point is that not only does it take the boys having the idea, and being responsible for paying for it, it takes something even tougher to come by some times: Commitment from adults. If you can get a few adults to do what they have to do to provide the chance for the guys to do what they want to do, our experience is that the boys will make it happen. Let's face it. As far as money, either the families can provide it, or the boys can earn it, but nothing can keep them from doing so if they want to. But no matter how much money they have, if there isn't some way to provide the activity, by providing adult support, the boys can't overcome that.

Also, the only thinks we ask the boys to provide themselves is specialized equipment. Tents, etc., come out of general funds. General funds come from fundraiser too, that the boys take part in, but we don't do a car wash specifically for tents and such. And we get a lot of help from parents non monetary. They build things, they provide storage space, stuff like that.

 

LautaT7, I am both envious and sympathetic at the same time. I can imagine how junk can accumulate. So many people think they are doing you a favor and give you tents that no longer are of value to them, etc. If they are not valuable to them, they often aren't valuable to a Troop, either, who will most likely be tougher on it than they were. But boy would we like to have a Troop bus! A number of us have considered trying to buy one, and although the initial cost is high, we think we could pull it off. But in our state, anyone driving a vehicle designed for 15 or more passengers must have a commercial drivers license, and we have no one capable of maintaining it. We also are afraid that we couldn't afford the upkeep. And storing it would be a problem too. If you have any thing to share about how your Troop does it, I 'd love to hear about it.

 

You know, it's funny (and I don't mean any disrespect to you OGE, or anyone else), but I started a thread about the problems that exist in a boy led Troop, but responding to other threads, like this, make me see that maybe our guys don't do so badly after all.

 

Mark

[mk9750 11]

cubrgr8,

 

We committed ourselves to providing high venture activities for the specific purpose of enticing older guys to stay active with the Troop. And it has been overwhelmingly successful. Most of the middle age guys (12- 14) work their tail off to be eligible for these activities (we alway provide tastes of them to all: A weekend campout of rapelling for all, or a Troop meeting at a local lake where everyone can use the kayaks). By the time the guys get to the point where they can participate 100%, they know their responsiblity to the Troop. We certainly have learned that we have to cut them some slack: Jobs, sports, band often interfere with regular attendance. But we have no problem at all getting older guys to meetings if they don't have a conflict, and only a small problem getting them on campouts, and that's usually because the planned activity is geared so much for the young guys that it is boring for them, and we really only need a few of the older guys to run the program. The older guys have a very loose rotation to handle the few campouts like this. They know they have a responsiblity, and they come through. We know that programs designed to help the younger guys aren't challanging or fun for the older guys, so as long as we have enough of them to make the program work, we let them off the hook.

 

Specifically, adding these activities has absolutely kept older guys in our program. Although we've not recruited older guys because of theses activities, we believe most of our young recruits were attracted by the oppurtunities to come. and the intagibles the boys get for participating are emmense. Given the chance to do it all over, we wouldn't change a thing.

 

Mark

[LauraT7 13]

The bus IS great in alot of ways - the comraderie it builds, esp on long trips, is great. Ours is an old tour bus (1979?) with storage bins underneath and racks on top for canoes. it has built-in tables with game boards, etc. -it's really a nice thing in alot of ways.

 

BUT - it is sometimes tough finding/ keeping CDL licensed drivers who can drive it for us - right now we have two - possibly three and all three are unavailable right now for various reasons.

The maintenence on the bus is sometimes expensive - brakes, repairs, inspections, GAS. one concern the troop comittee has is that financial records on the bus /equipment have not been well kept, and using the bus may be costing our boys more than it's worth. Certainly our habit of charging the boys $10 (or more) for every campout, (in addition to the many fundraisers we have) has something to do with some of the adults wanting to keep and maintain that bus and paying for the gas,etc. to run it. Some of us are thinking a trailer would be cheaper and easier to maintain.

 

Another problem with the bus is parking and manuverability - it can't go where alot of cars/personal vehicles can. Even parking it at summer camp is tough - it's so big! and TALL. Last summer we almost got it stuck crossing a ditch into the field where we were told to park it. Most Camps will allow a trailer to be left on site, the bus can't even go back there. And once it's THERE - like at summer camp - if the driver doesn't stay for the whole week - we have no vehicle for emergencies.

 

The original deal when the bus was purchased around 1989 - was that it was purchased for a group of troops that joined together for the purpoose of owning and maintaining the bus - somehow, it trickled down to our troop alone - and we now have the responsibility for it.

 

We are blessed through our troops longevity and recognition in the area, to be supported by a number of local families and business. One, who has a tree farm and a big pole barn where he does alot of equipment work - lets us store all our trailers, the bus, etc out there in a field. He also lets us use his air hose and other tools when we need a quick fix for something. He is a true blessing, though his boys are now in their late 20's and early 30's he still maintains this tie with the troop. We have been working on finding and re-locating all our equipment out there - as some of it was kept elsewhere and "forgotten" or used by the caretakers who had it.

 

All the rest of our equipment is stored in the quartermaster room at our CO church or in those semi-trailers that I mentioned that we have to clear out. Which is going to be quite a chore!

[hops_scout 9]

I gotta say Laura, your troop must have quite some money. How many trailers do you have? Our troop has one. We used to have two or three, dont remember, wasnt in then. We have close to probably 15 tents in good condition and I bet we have more somewhere. We have close to 20 two burner stoves in our trailer (wonder how many work), several patrol boxes with tons of gear. I think we have food that should be reusable time and time again in there. Also, we are planning to build two new klondike derby sleds. Light ones ( we dont get much snow here). I wish we had canoes that we owned so that we wouldnt have to rent them from the council each summer and fall when we go on float trips. We dont have a bus and I think that is probably a good thing.