dvitous

For the most part, we're primarily water. That said, we will do OJ and milk for breakfast, but we made this part of the adult buy-list when 10 gallons of each started showing up at campouts. Proper portioning in our food-buying is a constant battle we're trying to a handle on. Scouts (but most likely the accompanying parent) seem to make sure there's enough for everyone to have 3rds! We normally don't do bug juice, but do provide hot chocolate when weather dictates. We do have an adult or 2 who pack their own in lieu of coffee, but most prefer to do as the kids do - with the exception of coffee, of course!

Troopmaster has been having some mail delivery issues of late. It seems that email sent from users that have a ".yahoo.com" email account, are having trouble with email getting blocked. Personally, I have a gmail address in Troopmaster, and as far as I know, all emails are reaching their intended targets. This is becoming a fairly big issue with us, and Troopmaster's recommended work-around - essentially creating a single email administrator to send mail... is not a very good option. I'm not a big fan of Troopmaster either.. but as stated above, it works (mostly). I don't know that it's necessarily their fault per-se, but it does have us now looking for alternatives.

I'm not sure how ours is going to turn out... it'll get interesting. We run 2 packs combined. My pack's tradition was for the boys to do their own career arrows - they do the striping - a reflection on their career. The parents helped/did the plaques, and the kids are given them at B&G. My thought was that every W2 had a "career" - so everyone did one, with AOL plaques for those who earned, and plain for those who didn't. Since's it's only a few weeks away, I think we (leaders) are going to end up doing them ourselves. The other pack's W2s - they're doing arrow plaques for AOL only (arrows, but not career arrows), and they are a suprise for the kids! And I need to reconcile the presentation for our combined B&G!

It's really up to the parents to sign off on it. Whether it's actually been done or not? Who can tell? But I think the point really is... The BSA provides this information, and it's up to the parents to follow the directions and sign off accordingly. If they choose to simply "rubber-stamp" this, that's their business, but they're also doing their kids a disservice, especially if something DOES happen. But the same holds true with any home-based achievement - it's up to the parents to sign it off as "done" in most cases. I think I can say with a certain amount of confidence that 50%, if not more of parents don't even PURCHASE a book. We use Scouttrack for record keeping, so parents can simply go there to read a requirement... and sign it off from there. Leaders can't do everything - there's still very much a "family" component to the program... which should be one of the reasons parents signed their kids up in the first place.

We're sort of "loose" when it comes to finances/budgeting. Our pack pretty much seems to spend what we bring in in popcorn sales. I inherited a bank balance that is higher than what most units tend to carry, and haven't really dented it all that much. That said, we charge $55 for the year (just raised this year). $27(?) or whatever, goes to BSA/Boys Life/insurance, and we committed that the rest goes right to den budget. This is a great selling point to parents - with the exception of the BSA-end... all of their money goes directly to their kids dens, and not Pack general funds. What den leaders don't spend, of course, does revert to the pack. The rest is covered by popcorn sales. We cover all awards - even belt loops, vest segments. We do a "rank promotion" ceremony at our May pack meeting where the pack pays for their neckerchief for the next rank. W2's get a flint and steel on a scout keychain. Our April pack meetings have been at a place with the big inflatables - we'll pick up the Scout costs for that as well. Most other things with admissions/fees, the Scouts/families pay the admission for. We charge a nominal fee for Blue and Gold - about $8 per person, Scouts are free.