Deep Pocket Troops

[boomerscout 35]

"I wonder whose scouting experience is richer???? "

 

Either! It all depends on the program offered.

 

I guess when we were returning from Philmont, we could have hitchhiked back. Two years of targeted fundraising allowed us to leave on a jetplane.

 

Our troop does four funders a year with specific revenue goals. Any more than that takes away from other parts of Scouting.

Friends of Troop ### frequently does their own fundraising. Some patrols do their own additional fundraising depending on what they need money for. Individual Scouts also fundraise for themselves

 

Buses are not cheap when you factor in insurance, new tires, and fuel injectors. We lease (rarely) as needed.

[Eagledad 2777]

>>Ya know Barry, the scouts know who is rich or not. It is very apparent at summer camp. The troops zipping along in Gators or the rest of us eating their dust. The troops that show up in a bus, not school, and tandem axle trailer painted to match

[qwazse 4342]

We have all kinds of pockets. No secret that we take donations and hand-me-downs. The Mrs. feels blessed with with a job and a love for shopping, so when she hears that Johnny or Janey needs boots or pack she'll get 'em for bottom dollar and have me leave them on their door step no questions asked. Every boy knows that gear just sitting in his closet is doing nobody good.

 

As a result our place is a revolving door for gear.

 

But, charity has its limits. We don't float anyone for high adventures. If they can't put up the cash through fundraisers or their own job, they're off the roster. (Obviously we'll find a donor for the one kid in every 20 who can't make that last payment due to unforeseen circumstances.)

 

It's our units' responsibility to provide low-cost options for program while challenging boys to save aggressively. If a subset of those boys put their dimes behind an additional trip, we support it as best we can. Sometimes we're lucky and nearly the whole troop or crew fall for a big ticket item. Everybody pitches in to make it work. But those times are rare of late.

 

Oh, and we do have a lot of movement in social class. Day laborers whose kids are professional/executives and vice-versa.

[Basementdweller 608]

Summer camp for $600 would be a deal breaker for us.

 

Our entire program per boy including summer camp is $534, that is every camp out advancement everything. Our area of town has a median income of $22k per year.

 

Barry go a head attack my motivation and direction I am an easy target. I could care less. So please enlighten me how having money and being involved in scouting in the burbs makes you a better citizen than us poor black and Hispanic folks in da hood.

 

Yes we fund raise.....It is really tough to fund raise in our neighborhoods. The people on the other side of the outer belt do not allow us to sell candy bars or wreaths or mulch in "THEIR" territory. They have called and complained to the DE and district committee about it and we were told to respect their turf. In other words get back on your side of the outer belt.

 

 

 

 

The entire not participating in district thing is working well, the DE still calls from time to time as does the FOS chairman. The SM brought me the Packs recharter packet.....I finished it got a check from the treasurer and dropped it in the mail.......The week on the AT was very relaxing, I thought briefly of blake and being able to do this most every weekend.(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

[Eagledad 2777]

>>So please enlighten me how having money and being involved in scouting in the burbs makes you a better citizen than us poor black and Hispanic folks in da hood.

[BrentAllen 10]

Wow, Basement - our "rich" Troop program costs the same as yours. We have $80 dues, $175 camping fee that covers trips except for Summer Camp, and Summer Camp fee of $275. That totals $530. High Adventure is extra, if the Scout attends.

 

We raise funds. Some goes towards equipment, some goes to scholarships. We have some needy Scouts in the Troop, single-parent families with employment problems. We offer scholarships based on income and family size. We use the HUD low-and-moderate income numbers to offer assistance at either the 40%, 60% or 80% level (moderate, low, and very low income). A Scout that comes from a family in the very low income category will have 80% of all costs paid for by the Troop. That includes High Adventure.

 

Our unit also contributes a lot to FOS. This year, we had over 80% of our families participate in FOS, with a total of just over $10,000 contributed. That is a lot of $150 Summer Camp camperships our Council can offer to needy Scouts for Summer Camp.

 

Our Scouts also sold over $11,000 worth of popcorn.

 

Some are glad to write checks, others take advantage of the fundraising opportunities. Doesn't matter to me.

[boomerscout 35]

Our unit is going to do popcorn next year because we have several new, younger Scouts. We are thinking of weaving it around the requirements for the salesmanship merit badge -- or vice-versa

[SeattlePioneer 144]

Hello Basement,

 

 

>

 

 

Personally, I'd nod if they ******* at you, and then go ahead and keep selling where you are going to get the best sales.

 

I think they are TOTALLY wrong trying to enforce that kind of restriction.

[SMT224 10]

Our Troop is urban with less white kids than other cultures - Hispanic, Black, Filipino, Indian, and more. Irregardless of race, some can pay the $30 registration fee and $275 summer camp fee, and some absolutely cannot. So we all engage in very active fund raising. No Scout is exempt. This gives enough to have a very active program of camping every month with plenty fun and adventure. We are very thrifty, and create our own high-adventure programs and activities. There is no way we will ever be able to attend a BSA High Adventure camp, go to Philmont, or go to a Jamboree. We have discussed it as a Troop and the Scouts would much rather do a minimal but active fund raising effort to ensure everyone can do everything, and then have plenty of time to go on lots of camping trips and create our own fun.

[Basementdweller 608]

Missed Brents post.......

 

Sure your base program cost the same.....and that fantastic and truly a bargain for those you serve.

 

But I am guessing that your program takes a significantly lower percentage of income than ours does. with the median income for your community at 80k, $500 is nothing .6% of their annual income. but with a median income of $20k $500 is much more significant 2.5% of their income.

 

Far as FOS goes.....$10k is a significant number and one to be proud of for sure. We have never raised more than $1k in the combined troop and pack.

 

 

The boys don't care about fancy busses or airplanes. They don't care about fancy backpacks or fancy summer camps. Our best outings have involved woods and just the troop.

 

what they care about is being made fun of or treated poorly by other scouts and scouters. Happens more than it should, but probably less than in daily lives.

 

 

 

[dennis99ss 10]

Basement--I think everyone agrees that the way your scouts were treated is not appropriate. However, I think you have attempted to hijack the thread, from a discussion of the different value of money in different troops, into a "I hate all well off troops" and "poor troops are better scouts than well off ones" discussion.

 

With regards to how your scouts were treated, I would be embarrased if any of my scouts made such comments, and would sit down and counsel them.

 

Further, It is not the equipment, means of transportation, etc. that makes a scout. It is the learning process and program that does.

 

With regards equipment, etc. I believe that the scouts follow the parents. Personally, I love REI. All of my equipment is from REI, as is all of my boys' equipment. Just because they sleep in a REI bag, or REI tent, etc. does not mean that their experience or scout worth is any less than someone who sleeps in a timber creek tent. It is a matter of being comfortable with the product. It is not that we are different, it is just that we do things differently.

 

In the spirit of the OP, however, we are a lucky troop. We have never had financial issues. We do fundraise, however, and some of the boys take it more seriously than others. Further, while we do fundraise, as a troop, we give over half of that away, to either church needs, community needs, habitat for hummanity, etc. I want the boys to learn giving is more important than getting.

 

With regards fundraising, the days where I would allow my boys to go door to door, without me being there, even in the neighborhood i live in, are long gone. I think a lot of people may share this thought.

 

 

[Mr. Boyce 13]

The dimensions of the Game have changed a lot in the past 15-29 years, to wit:

 

(a) the general expectation is that parents should blow a lot of money on their kids' activities. (This is for many reasons: people having fewer kids, a few psychological notions, the self-esteem BS, the romanticization of youth, our own narcissism and vicarious use of kids, etc.) In my day, no one in my troop had any money for something as grand and glorious as Philmont.

 

(b) The hyper-commercialization of kids activities (first, sports, then other things) changes parents' standards for evaluating kids activities.

 

I believe parents NOW believe an activity is second-rate, and immediately suspect and lousy, IF IT DOES NOT COST an arm and a leg!