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Charter and membership cards


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Our council has always been good at getting the unit charters and membership cards out. But not this year.

 

Currently no unit has received their charters or membership cards even though rechartering was done at the end of the year.

 

Now I have heard two reasons for this.

 

First reason - the council did not order the new membership cardstock (paperstock). All they have are 2010 100 years of Scouting blanks.

 

The DFS reason - council has up to two months to issue charters and membership cards.

 

Anyone else out there been waiting two months after rechartering to get their unit charters and membership cards?

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I turned in my re-charter paperwork before thanksgiving.

and I know my charter has not been processed or it would show in internet advancement.

 

the claim is that mandatory training is taking a while, that they have to go thru and enter all the new leader's youth protection info and process the new applications, and remove everyone who isn't trained.

 

I don't know if that's true or not,

I guess it would slow things down for those who showed as not having training, and units attached cards for proof, that would slow things down significantly to have to enter all of that info before issuing the charters.

 

 

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I know all the Anniversary hoopla created supply problems last year, so I bet it is also this year.

 

Trust me it does take time to enter all the info into SCOUTNET. I do not know how much time is saved doing internet rechartering, but doing it the paperwork method does indeed take time.

 

I remember waiting at the office for my district's charters to be inputed into SCOUTNET on Dec 23 with my then fiance' sleeping in a cubicle waiting for the 3 secretaries to enter all the info to see if I was short in membership and would not be able to go home for Christmas, or if I met goals and would. I knew I met the goals, but had to wait until it was official.

 

We left straight from the office and was able to get a nap before my family's Christmas Eve party.

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My council has been using the internet rechartering for approximately 4 years. We turn the paperwork portion in in December; we are lucky to see membership cards and other info by April. I can only imagine it will be longer this year with the YPT requirement added for adults.

 

I get somewhat frustrated when the units are doing most of the work by using the internet recharter; how can it take so long for them to be processed?

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E -- had you missed your numbers you were going to have to work Christmas day? Gee, that's a tough council.

 

I don't understand this. Are you guys saying it's taking your council months to process your recharters, or just to get the cards back to you? If it's the former, how does that work? Once your charter expires (plus a grace period) I thought your unit turned into a pumpkin or something. If it's the latter, who cares? I think 50% of membership cards are destroyed in the laundry weekly anyway.

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Much like 5year, I "check" the status on the Internet Advancement website when I go in there to enter ranks, MBs, etc. It would show those that did not wish to stay involved if the recharter has been processed by the council.

 

What I understand about the process, if you have your paperwork in before the expiration date, the unit is OK, even if the recharter is not "complete" in the system. But, I do get asked every once in a while by the scouts (and some adults) where the new membership cards are.....and yes, many of them promptly go thru the wash!

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Thanks, UC. If only it was presented in that manner, meaning that in the training for recharter, and some notes, emails, flyers that come out around recharter time, if it isn't in, your unit will be dropped. I have no problem with getting the paperwork on time, and I have no problem with the people who volunteer extra time when the physical paperwork (the ones with the signatures) are turnedin. The only issue I have is the amount of time it takes to get the "paperwork" back (meaning memebrship cards and hard copy of the charter).

 

BTW, I just checked the Internet Advancement page since I had some to enetr. It shows updated now. However, our XO (Reverend of the COR) has been replaced by our COR. Now our XO & COR are the same person.....

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Personally, I glued my YPT Training card to a piece of cardstock so it would survive riding around in my wallet. I added my Scout ID number to it for reference. I find it useful to have handy from time to time.

 

I'll be handing out membershuip cards Monday at our Pack Blue and Gold and PackMeeting. I may encourage Cub Scouts and adults to stick their card on some card stock and cut it out as well. The membership cards have the Scout ID number on it, and it might prove to be useful to boys.

 

Alternatively, you could make a certificate to which the membership card could be glued.

 

I have a large supply of three hole plastic sheet protectors certificates can be put in, and I encourage boys to keep such things in a Cub Scout Scrap book.

 

I'm always on the look out for cheap and easy little projects for pack and den meeting.

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2Cub,

I would be off Christmas, that's a mandatory holiday by National, but I would have to work the 24th and 26-31st if the goals were not met. And yes we did have a few DEs short prior the 23rd, but were able to meet goals on the 24th.

 

When SCOUTNET first came out in 1998, only 2 or 3 people in each office had access to it. All paperwork had to be inputted by hand, so it was timeconsuming. The other problem we had back then was the connection to the database. The system was so slow that it took 2 weeks to print out lables for the council newsletter for every registered leader.

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