Lady_Leigh67

Is anyone else a little concerned that their Unit's Popcorn Sale won't go that well this year due to gas prices, housing expenses, etc?

The school principal where our Pack meets (our CO is the PTA) would like our Pack to do a Flag Ceremony on Sept. 11th before school starts. Normally, we have one of the Dens do the Flag Ceremony at our Pack Meetings. I am looking for suggestions on how to handle this for all our boys. Should it be strickly the Webelos handling the color guard duties, and the other boys being present? We want to have all the Cub Scouts present for this "rare" opportunity with our school. Also, this is pretty cool to have the principal ask us to do this on this date...not only is it Patriot Day, but also our Council's Join Night!

Thought I would chime back in here. Our District had a class on websites and newsletters at the last Pow-Wow. Safety was the biggest concern everyone had. No complete names. First name can be okay, but even then, use extreme discretion. The topic of banners and ads did come up, since not all Packs or Troops can afford their own domain name. Many, like us, use a service like Clubspaces, and cannot get away from advertisements. The Commissioner that taught the class said that there would be no way to get around this. He did mention to not put banner ads on your site if you don't have to have them though. Sponsors are different. Just my two cents. Leigh

We are one of (surprisingly) few Packs in our District that has a website. http://cspack327.clubspaces.com/default_css.aspx You have a ton of information on the home page. Maybe simplify it into other categories that folks can click on. Make the News stuff into a newsletter maybe.

Wow! We already do the can recycling at our school, but this is cool! Thanks for the link!

Our Pack Committee meets once a month, usually the week after Roundtable. Just wondering, what is on your agenda usually? Do you only stick to the agenda or allow "public comments"? And, who on your Pack Committee usually shows up? Do you have a separate Den Leader meeting each month?

Pack468_Troop659 Since you do your sales as strickly show and sell, do you have leftovers that need to be returned, or do you normally sell it all? Do you feel that giving the scouts the opportunity to pick their items for sales really encourages them to participate more than if you give them a round figure? I really like the idea of the ice cream social at the kick-off! Hey, feed them and they will come, right?!

We just had our Day Camp. The scouts were told during the first opening around the flag, that their official uniform for the week was the Day Camp t-shirt, the color group neckerchief and the hat (a denim sun hat of sorts). They were told that while in this proper uniform for the week, that during Flag Ceremonies, they would salute wearing the hat. Parents present were reminded that unless they were in a Day Camp Staff/Group Guide/ or regular leader uniform, they were to put their hand over their heart, instead of saluting, etc. If the cap and shirt are the "official" Day Camp uniform for the time, I would think that the boys could salute wearing the cap.

Like Gold Winger said, remind the kiddos and the adults to keep drinking water. Drink when you're thirsty, drink when you're not, and every time in between!

Den Zero: Oh, I wish we had that here. Popcorn Training is in mid-August, kick-off is the end of August. Orders, show and sell, etc. is all done by mid-October! Our Join Night (council wide) is not until mid-September. scouter.claude: I like that idea! Isn't the real motto for scout parents..."Feed them and they will come!" :-)

Here is a link that might explain the requirements better than I can. http://www.scouting.org/cubscouts/awards/adults/unitawards.aspx

Hi Mike, We have done a few different things this past year that stand out. One, for a Native American theme - we had turkey feathers, with a leather string attached and a name tag at the end with the boy's name. Attached to the leather string, we had all the awards attached. Another time, and we have used this one a bunch, we have some small dollar store boxes that we put the awards into. Patches were taped to the outside with double-sided tape. The boys and parents have liked how simple this was. We also have used wide ribbon in different colors, depending on the level the scout was in. Using a sharpie, wrote their name on the top of the ribbon, then attached the awards. We usually try to give the awards out with some fan fare that goes along with the theme of the month, even if the way we hand the awards to the boys is simple. We always have the parents come forward to receive the award with their scout. Leigh

Bob White, Thanks for the link. We do approach the Pack enthusiastically. Parents do compliment us on the job we do with the Pack. We just don't want to continue being the ones to "do it all." We have recruited and people eagerly sign on to help, but the follow-through is lacking. We have begged the UC and DE to help us out. We have gotten more help from folks at Roundtable and neighboring Packs. We have never seen our UC, except at Roundtable during Recharter time. We have actually been told that since we are a smaller Pack, that we are not a priority. After recruiting folks, people just don't want to stick with it.(This message has been edited by Lady_Leigh67)

Yep! On many occasions. Part of the frustration for us also is that we started the Pack, signed on, went to training and have literally begged our UC and DE to come help us. We have gotten more "help" from neighboring packs on how things should be done, etc. And at Roundtable of course. In the other thread, Bob White mentioned that we are our own worst recruiters. We have tried not to come across as this to the Pack. We are enthusiastic, but we do vent in private. I do enjoy scouting, but just want to be able to focus on one thing at a time at this point in the game. Thanks for the feedback! :-)

Well, we did not really have problems with selling last year. We are just tired of the rest of the pack's parents not helping out. It is the same 2 families that have done everything for 2 years now: Popcorn (1 year as I said earlier), Join Nights, PWD, B&G, etc. Enoug is enough, you know. We doubled in size last Fall too. We have made it clear that no one will be left alone and on their own, but we need people to start helping out.

Hi there. I imagine that I may get a lot of varying opinions after you have read this. Popcorn training is coming. We already have our training dates in mid-August. Last year was our Pack's first year in taking part in the popcorn sales, since the year before we started the Pack a week after popcorn was finished. Anyway, we did fairly well for being a small pack. Myself (CC, DL, and anything else you want to call me) and my Pack Sec/Treasurer, DL, (and anything else you want to call her) have done pretty much everything, all the "big" events, including popcorn last year. We did have a Kernel last year, but she was unable to carry out the duties because of work-related stuff. Fair enough. We have been trying to recruit a parent or two to take this event on, as well as get someone to sign-up and follow-through with other events. No luck. We are going to be hard-nosed this year. We are approaching burn out status pretty quickly and don't want that to happen. Our thoughts after talking last night is that by next month, we will tell the parents in the Pack that if no one steps up, we won't be taking part in the Popcorn Fundraiser as a Pack. And that due to this, we will be asking for more in Pack Dues (possibly $150.00 per scout) to cover advancements and expenses and on some activities we may have to ask for additional funds in addition to the pack dues. Thoughts and ideas please!

Hi there. I imagine that I may get a lot of varying opinions after you have read this. Popcorn training is coming. We already have our training dates in mid-August. Last year was our Pack's first year in taking part in the popcorn sales, since the year before we started the Pack a week after popcorn was finished. Anyway, we did fairly well for being a small pack. Myself (CC, DL, and anything else you want to call me) and my Pack Sec/Treasurer, DL, (and anything else you want to call her) have done pretty much everything, all the "big" events, including popcorn last year. We did have a Kernel last year, but she was unable to carry out the duties because of work-related stuff. Fair enough. We have been trying to recruit a parent or two to take this event on, as well as get someone to sign-up and follow-through with other events. No luck. We are going to be hard-nosed this year. We are approaching burn out status pretty quickly and don't want that to happen. Our thoughts after talking last night is that by next month, we will tell the parents in the Pack that if no one steps up, we won't be taking part in the Popcorn Fundraiser as a Pack. And that due to this, we will be asking for more in Pack Dues (possibly $150.00 per scout) to cover advancements and expenses and on some activities we may have to ask for additional funds in addition to the pack dues. Thoughts and ideas please!

A suggestion that was made at last month's roundtable was that if we have a monthly newsletter, post a "Help Wanted" ad. Focus on one or two positions that you need sooner than others. We tried this and have already had someone step up to coordinate our Day Camp and another to head up our Pack Family Campout this summer. Getting these are huge, since we are still are pretty new and small pack. Some of our Positions are: Cubmaster (filled) Assistant CM (filled) Committee Chair (filled) Treasurer (filled) Secretary (filled) Webmaster/Publicity (Filled) Advancement Chair (CC and Treasurer share this duty, but would like to have this filled) Membership and Registration (open) Recruiter (open) Popcorn Kernal for 2008 (open) Tiger DL (filled, but looking for new Tiger Leaders for new Tigers) Wolf DL (filled) Asst. Wolf DL (open) Bear DL (filled) Asst. Bear DL (open, but Asst. CM helps out here) Webelos DL (filled, but he is stepping down. We need a new one) Asst. DL (open) B&G Chair 2009 (open) Pinewood 2009 (open) Day Camp Coordinator (Filled) Cub Scout Resident Camp Coordinator (filled) Pack Family Campout Coordinator (filled) It doesn't look so bad, but a lot of those filled positions are basically the same four folks doing a lot of that. We have a new DE on board with District that says will be helping us "learn" how to recruit more volunteers. We'll see how that goes.

Infoscouter, Great bylaws. This part rings true since we are dealing with a couple of leaders that fall under the following categories that you had listed in your bylaws. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 3. Bad chemistry of the applicant with the pack. (One who cannot get along with others.) 4. Being a poor team player. (One who prevents others from being effective.) 5. Inability to serve in their position effectively. 6. Failure to complete leader training within one year of registration. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Committee is currently working on a set of bylaws.

Hi there! We are thrilled with the theme of February being Chinese New Year. Our Assistant CM and his wife (heck, their entire family) are involved in Karate and they are going to see if a couple of the instructors would like to perform during our B&G! It sounds like it is a go already.

Um, not sure what happenned. I was trying to reply to shepo1's thread. Sorry! [closing duplicate topic] (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

Hi there! We are thrilled with the theme of February being Chinese New Year. Our Assistant CM and his wife (heck, their entire family) are involved in Karate and they are going to see if a couple of the instructors would like to perform during our B&G! It sounds like it is a go already.

I need ideas for neckerchief slides for Wolves and Bears that fit with the Indian Nations theme. Any ideas (especially inexpensive ones)?

Our current COR is the Assistant Principal of our school. Our CO is the school''s PTA. COR has been okay with signing appropriate paperwork, when needed, but has not gone beyond that. Any advice and input on how important is a good COR. I know that our District''s PowWow, later this month, even has courses geared to the COR. Should we look for a new COR by recharter time, since current COR really does not want to do more than sign papers?

You mentioned Tuesday''s from 6 to 7 that everyone is busy. I take it that you do Den Meetings with the other dens at the same location and time, instead of at someone''s home. Maybe bring to their attention that this is not a babysitting service and that the Adult Partner must be with the Tiger Cub at every event, including Den and Pack Meetings. What we are doing, we are making sure that the new leaders we have this year are getting assistance from one of the existing leaders during the first 4 den meetings (2 in September, 2 in October). That way, until they go through the available training offered here in October, they won''t feel that we have left them alone and wandering around, you know. Could you give the iniative to one parent to set a new date/time/location for the Tiger meetings. Oh, and remind them that each family can host a den meeting each time.