fauxc

Yes, that was it, thank you. Sorry, I've been busy getting ready for my Scout Signup night which was tonight. Now I can take a little breather until the first den meeting in September.

I came across this website the other night while searching for cermonies - http://my.dmci.net/~dmanchester/default.htm I contacted him trying to trade to get the cereomonies in a pdf format, but the email was retruned with unknown address. Does anyone have all of these or know where I can get them? Thanks

I'm holding my first Scout Signup night and I wanted to see what others are doing for this. Here are my plans: Room will be setup with table to display pinewood derby cars, regattas and trophies, popcorn, brag vest There will be 2 display boards with pictures from things we do such as derbys, campouts, advancements, fundraisers, etc. Leaders and their boys as door greeters Table with parents to get contact information and hand out welcome kits Have popcorn in bucket to dish out Agenda for the meeting: Opening flag ceremony Quick discussion with parents and kids showing them scout sign, etc. Introcudction of Leaders and Committee Leaders and boys will go outside to do paper rockets while I talk to the parents inside about scouting as a whole including expectations, parent involvement, meeting times, fundraisers, etc. Break out into dens once everyone comes back in after about 15-20 min. Answer final questions Show slide show of what we did last year. Closing Does anyone do anthing similar to this or do you just try to get them in and out as quickly as possible? Thanks,

The bamboo is dead and the bugs are just living on there. We had a good rainstorm the last two days so maybe that washed most everything off. I'll check them out to see how they look and then maybe sand them down. Thanks,

I have some dead bamboo sticks that I got from a parents farm and I'm going to use it for den flag poles. What is the best way to treat this. Right now it is full of bugs and needs trimmed up to look better. Any ideas? Thanks

Beavah, I think that you are way off of the subject here. The idea of this post was to get some suggestions on how to use Scout Accounts. I am by no means committing fundraising fraud or tax evasion as you put it. This money is in one account which is the Pack account and the money belongs to the Charter Organization. The separate scout accounts are just a way to allocate the money on a spreadsheet. The money is used to pay for activities, events, camping, etc. We are not writing out checks individually to each scout. At the end the Pack is still paying for everything. This is just a way to give an incentive to have the boys raise money and more importantly to have the parents see the benefit of their son participating. Because if you don't have the parents on board, then you talk forever about how it benefits, the boys, pack, etc, and it doesn't matter. In the end, the Pack still pays for everything.

Our Pack is setting up seperate Scout Accounts for the boys. I know that some have tried this before and either don't like it or think that it is too much work. First let me explain the reason why we are doing this and what I am looking for advice on. Currently we do fundraisers and some of the boys do it and some don't. The boys that usually do it are the same ones and some of them go above and beyond, but don't get rewarded like they should. We would like to reward those boys that do this and have a portion of the fundraiser money go towards their account. Here are my questions: 1) Are the Scout account funds used to pay for everything such as camping fees, derbys, trophys, activities or does the pack pay for a portion of these. I would expect that the Pack would still pay for advancement awards, banquet, etc. 2) What % goes toward the Scout account. 3) My concern is that I want to be sure there are enough funds for the Pack to pay for awards, banquet, etc., so what happens if the Pack falls short? 4) How did you handle pushback from parents? Thanks

Thanks Infoscouter, That's exactly what I was looking for. Now I can print my high quality images.

I'm making some resource manuals for my DL's and I'm looking for some good downloadable rank advancement logos (Tigers, Wolves, Bears, Webelos) that will have print quality. Anyone know a good resource for this? Thanks

In response to ScoutNut's questions: >>"But, if you are giving points based on how many Scouts are wearing the complete uniform ("head to toe"), and how many times (den meetings, Pack meetings, den/Pack activities, etc) they are wearing that complete uniform, then you are "penalizing" the entire den for the boys who do not have a "head to toe" complete uniform. Perhaps you should change the criteria to simply be "most boys in uniform", and not stipulate "complete" uniform.">"Since you are including den meetings, why is only good behavior at Pack meetings rewarded?">"What do you consider "spirited"? How do you get to be "more spirited"?

Has anyone used or heard of a spirit stick? I'm looking for some ideas. Basically, I want to award a den the spirit stick for the month. They will earn this in several ways based off of a point system. 1) Boys in full uniform from head to toe. I believe if the boys have the full uniform then they should wear it. The issue is that if they don't have the full uniofrm, then their den shouldn't be penalized for that. 2) Best behavior at pack meeting. 3) Most spirited. 4) Percentage of attendance at den meetings 5) Once the den receives the spirit stick, they can decorate a section of it however they please that would represent their den. They bring it to den meetings, campouts, events, etc. Since this will be a competition and all of the dens will have a chance to get it, I'm thinking that the den could earn it more than one time. In other words, they could possible earn it two or three times within the year. Any thoughts? Thanks

Does anyone out there either have or know where I can find some Microsoft Publisher Templates with a Cub Scout them. I know that there is an excel one on the BSA site, but this is a little too basic for what I want to create. Thanks, Cris

roadkill, Do you have the timer system too? If so, does it work good and is it easy to use the computer software? Thanks

We are looking to purchase an aluminum Pinewood Derby track and timer system. Does anyone have any good suggestions of what track seems to work the best. I have been looking at Best Track. Thanks

ScoutNut, I started out with 12 tigers and lost 3 along the way. Two of them did not show up at several meetings so I contacted their parents and they said the boys were involved in sports. The third one has an older sibling and they just show up once or twice a year and apparently have done that for a while now. I had the other 9 advance and 8 of them wanted to move on. The one didn't want to be in it anymore, but his older brother is still in and the parent is very involved.

horanmm, We did not do a blue and gold in February. We do the AOL ceremony and crossover at the pack meeting and have a cake for the scouting birthday. I'm trying to change this and do more of a blue and gold although it will probably still be at the pack meeting since we do our advancement banquet in May. ScoutNut, What I meant by everyone does not move to the next rank is that they decide not to continue and they don't get their colors because they are not at the graduation ceremony. We do not make them pay dues until the school year in September. In the past, we have not done any type of awards at the pack meetings, I awarded all of mine immediately at the Tiger den meetings, but this year I am doing advancement at the pack meetings for all of the dens. If some of your cubs earn their rank in February, then you do a special ceremony for them then right? And if some earn it in March, you do it again and the same for April? I like your idea of doing advancement first and then graduation after with the indian theme.

We are using QuickBooks to create individual scout accounts to keep track of dues and fundraiser allocations. Does anyone have or know where I can find a template that may already be setup for this? Thanks

This year we held our advancement banquet in April and had our graduation in May which seems to be what is typically done since we only have 2 den meetings per month and we don't have enough time to advance in February. The vote came up whether to combine the advancement and graduation ceremony into one because a lot of people don't understand the difference between the two, but I do. I voted against it because I think that it would be rushed and not everyone moves to the next rank because they may decide to drop out. I also believe that having them seperate allow special ceremonies to be performed for advancement and graduation seperately. We have about 45-50 boys. After the vote, it was a tie and the CC got to make the deciding vote which was to combine them in May. Since I'm the CM, I have to plan for these two to be together and somehow seperate the two which means the ceremony could get quite lengthy. I just wanted to see if others had this issue and if so what they have done to resolve them. Thanks

We are going to be doing a space derby this year for our pack and it's the first time ever so we have to build the track. Does anyone have any good pland and ideas where I can get some? Thanks, Cris

I can only copy and paste the text, not the pictures. I could do that and add pictures later, but I'm trying to avoid the extra work so that I can concentrate on more important items.

I'm looking for a parent handbook that explains information about cub scouting and specific things that our pack does. I've seen other packs that have created their own.

Does anyone have an editable version of an adult handbook. I have seen many online that are in PDF format and I don't have time to create one from scratch. Thanks

fred8033, we do do the AOL ceremony and the crossover at this pack meeting and we also had a cake. I guess I just felt like it should be have been more of a celebration to scouting that all of the boys could be involved in. Maybe we could do some sort of pot luck and have the boys make centerpieces or something. We did have them make something for the advancement banquet, but of course the Webelos II's are gone at that time.

Thanks everyone, I just realized that I should have been clearer in my post. We don't hold up their advancement until April, they just don't usually make the requirements in February, so April gives them some more time. What are some things that are done for the B&G in February?

Hello Everyone, I'm going to be the CM next year and I had a question regardng the Blue and Gold Banquet. Our pack only has 2 den meetings a month, so we don't advance them until April. This is an advancement banquet ceremony with food, etc. We had a cake at our february Pack meeting to celebrate the Cub Scout birthday. Does anyone else advance at this time and if so, do you still do some sort of Blue and Gold banquet. I feel that this is important for the boys to celebrate and it should be something that they remember. I'm not sure if we are giving it full recognition or maybe our advancement banquet is celebrating that. Thanks in advance