ScoutNut

No one is jumping all over the opening poster, or blaming her for anything. She asked for help - >>"I could use some help here."

>>"I did not know Webelos were Cub's why would I?">"Our cubs do not wear blue."

Again, a big issue I would have is weather or not the church is charging their other church organizations. If you really want to push it, you can get a copy of the Charter Agreement signed by the church stating their responsibilities to your Pack. One of those responsibilities is to provide meeting facilities. If the church is on the verge of financial collapse, you need to know that up front. No pussy-footing around the info. Tell the COR you need some solid information. Do you have a Unit Commissioner? A UC could help you talk to the church Elders, and also get help getting the DE to do her job. If you don't have a UC, talk to your District Commissioner.

$600 per year is a chunk out of your budget, can the Pack afford it? How has the relationship with your CO been previously? Have they fully supported the Pack? Are they actively involved with the Pack? How big of a financial hole are they in? Are they requesting money from any other church organizations? Would the COR be willing to consider a smaller amount? If you do any more joint fundraisers, get it in writing first from the COR that the church's half of the profits go toward covering the Pack's rent. Try to sort things out with your CO yourself first. If you can not come to any satisfactory mutual solution, get your DE involved. A sure fire way to get your DE off his backside is to leave him a message that your unit could possibly fold. That impacts your DE's pocketbook and should get his attention.

>>"Clearly, I am just learning that a Webelos is a cub and not a junior scout. Too bad, I paid the scout dues, and the other kid paid the cub dues."

>>"GSA is reducing the types of cookies to 6 kinds this year, all best sellers.">"The report also stated that the cookie sale is a $700 million profit for the GSA. While I realize this is put on by their national office, does anyone have any idea what the BSA popcorn brings in?"

I have also been there, done that, for both BSA and GSUSA, and you are so right. There are WAY more forms that have to be filled out for cookies. For those on the cookies side, while the cost might be lower ($4 here) than popcorn, you are only getting a handful of cookies for that price. As others have mentioned, the girls have to sell a LOT more cookies in order to make a decent profit. In this economy many people are only buying 1 or 2 items. If the boys sell two $10 items they have usually made at least $6. The girls make UNDER $2 for those two boxes of cookies. The biggest difference between GSUSA cookies, and BSA popcorn, is that the GSUSA cookie program (not sale) is a National sponsored program, and the BSA popcorn sale is local, not National. GSUSA National contracts the cookie bakers. There are only TWO bakeries that are authorized to make, and distribute Girl Scout Cookies. GSUSA National creates, and produces all of the program materials connected to the Cookie program. The individual councils set their own sale dates, pricing, profit, and incentive programs. While BSA National encourages councils to hold fundraisers, and acknowledges that the popcorn sale is rather a tradition for many councils, that is the extent of their involvement. If a council decides to sell popcorn they pick their own popcorn vendor, and everything else about their sale. While Trail's End is popular, there are others out there. Campmaster's is another popular large vendor, and some councils use small, local, popcorn companies. Some councils do not sell popcorn at all. So, if you are unhappy with your local popcorn sale, don't complain to National. They have nothing to do with it. Get a movement going in your local council to change who you get your popcorn from, and how the sale is done. Or even drop it altogether in favor of some other, cheaper, product.

I agree with Calico here. You say that your son is a 5th grade Webelos who just recently earned his AOL, and crossed from his Cub Scout Pack, to a Boy Scout Troop. Then you state that he recruited a fellow 5th grader who has been in the Boy Scout Troop since September. In order for this boy to be in fifth grade, and also a member of a Boy Scout Troop since September, he must have been 11 years old in September when he registered with the Troop. The boy's date of birth is on his BSA application for membership. The council registrar would not have been able to register him in a Boy Scout Troop if he was only 10, and had not yet earned his AOL. If you are concerned that a mistake has been made you can mention to the Scoutmaster that you believe the boy is only 10 years old, and that you don't want the boy to face problems because of that down the line when he is up for Eagle.

There is no question that this is a permanent condition, and the family would have no problem getting the required medical paperwork. The Council Advancement Committee does not choose the alternatives for the Disabled Scout. The Scout, his Scoutmaster, the unit Committee, and his family, all work together to prepare a detailed, specific, list of what accommodations/alternatives the Scout would do to replace specific requirements, and merit badges. This request is then submitted to the District Advancement Committee, along with the other required paperwork, for their approval. The question I had of Kathy was what alternate Merit Badges did they request for their Scout who "has very little muscle and who may never get much bigger or stronger.."? I realize that the Scouts disabilities (and abilities) are different. I was just trying to get an idea of what they felt would work with their Scout. Presenting a hesitant family with a real-world example might help them to decide in favor of Scouting for their challenged son.

>>"in my assessments it would take over 3 years for him to even possibly make it, but even then he may not. We've gotten all the doctor papers - now they are just waiting to hear from council I believe."

>>"The BSA system is a great one, and one that has worked for over a century. I don't think picking and choosing which section of the manuals we choose to enforce is a model I want to follow."

Change starts with the youth. Suggest to your kids that they talk to their Advisor about taking Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews training. Have your kids done any of the BSA online training for Venturers?

I got the feeling that BSA was hoping to get AHG Charter Organizations (churches, private schools, NFP groups) to charter some BSA units. Membership is everything. I wonder if BSA has gotten any member/units out of this so far?

The 2011 Boy Scout Requirements Book was released January 1, 2011, and should be in your local Scout Shops now. Per the above book, requirement #6 for Life, has been changed to include one more option. Option #g states - "Three requirements from one of the Eagle-required merit badges, as approved by your unit leader.". So, yes, it is "official".

Does your council hand out pamphlets on every group BSA has some sort of agreement with? If so, they must have a very large store room.

Yes, a COR can be dual registered as both COR, and CC. Yes, a COR can "fire" anyone they want with little to no explanation. That is why it is generally not a good practice for a unit to have husband/wife teams in the positions of COR, and unit leader. The unit leader is not the CC. Unit leaders are Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Coach, Crew Advisor, and Skipper. To have one person registered as COR, and their "better half" registered as the unit leader can lead to the problems that CNYScouter has seen. It only makes problems even more possible if the COR is also the CC. You then have all of the top leadership positions in a unit, or units, held by the same husband/wife team. While some units have no problems with this type of arrangement at all, in many it can create an atmosphere of a "fifedom" for one family only. The saying about power, and absolute power, can be very true. Of course, with a CO that is very "hands on", this scenario is a lot less likely to happen. But, even with a CO that is involved, most are not involved in the day to day minutia of running their BSA units. That is what they trust their COR, and other leaders, to look after. CNY- I would go with Beavah's approach for currently chartered units. For brand new charters, I see no problem with suggesting that spreading the units authority among multiple families might be a good practice to consider. However, ultimately, if the CO likes things the way they are, your Council can not force them to change.

Go to the Red Cross web site and look for classes near you. You said that you recently took a CPR course at work. Check your certification card to see when it expires. You might just need the basic First Aid course, without CPR/AED. Red Cross has a relationship with BSA. Contact your local Red Cross branch to see what they can do for your unit.

If you have siblings you must provide age appropriate activities for them. How you split up the activities depends on how many staffers you have, and what your budget is. With a small staff you will not be able to a complete separate program for every level. The bigger the budget, and the more volunteers, the more you can do, and the more diverse the activities can be. I recommend that you try to keep Pack families together (both in where they camp, and activities). Get a trained Program Director on board as soon as possible.

Eliza, as the AOL became a Cub Scout rank in 1972, the arrow plaque you noticed on that successful businessman's wall was most likely his son's, and not his. That rather supports the argument that fancy arrows are more for the parents than the boys. Finding out what things the boys have done thru the years is very simple, with no complicated, historical, Pack paperwork needed. Simply look at their uniforms. Everything should be there. If they are wearing the tan shirt, have them bring in their blue one so you can see what is there. Check out their brag vest's (or whatever they use for extra patches) too. If the boys have not bothered to save their blue shirt, or their old patches, then it obviously was/is not that important to them. You can always simply do a generic arrow with the boys name, and his start and end dates with the Pack, written on the shaft. To make it a bit fancier you can use a wood burner instead of a sharpie to write. If you want to differentiate the arrows for the boys who earned AOL, draw the AOL symbol (arrow w/sunbursts) after their membership dates. Or, if money is no object, there are plenty of places online that you can order custom made up arrows.

Personally I was not fond of the bags for the popping kernels. The kernels tended to poke holes in the bags, then you start loosing corn all over. Not a good thing.

Well, personally, I don't see the benefit to kicking boys out of a Pack in February/March simply because they have not earned an award as fast as other boys. That said, I think it is a great idea to give a "career arrow" to all Webelos Scouts who are leaving the Pack. The arrow can be done however the Pack, or Webelos den leader, want. It can be fancy, or plain. Basically it is striped with different colors for each year the boy has been in Cub Scouts. Some Packs use different types, and colors, of cording, some just use sharpies. It might also have different trinkets on it depending on what awards the boy has earned. Each arrow is different, and specific to the boy who is receiving it. The AOL award is not a wooden arrow.

It's supposed to be above freezing on Saturday, and then cool off again. The averages for February are all above freezing. There is no reason to rush this, or use some marginal activity. The weather will improve in a week or two, and then your Scouts will have an opportunity to actually help improve their neighborhood. Have a bit of patience. Even if the lake again dumps on your area, the temperatures will be a lot easier on the little guys.

A bit late now, but for the other newbies out there, this is why is is always a good idea to go thru the Handbook before den meetings start, find the requirements that are weather sensitive, and do them first. That gives you more time if the activities have to be bumped due to weather. I also suggest you wait a bit for February weather to kick in. By the middle of February there should have been some days with temps over freezing. Even if all of the snow is not gone, there will be trash on top of it. You should be able to get the boys out for a slushy litter walk before your B&G.

My Pack does many of the same things each year for Pack meetings, and such. However, it is how you do them that counts, and whether or not not the Scouts actually like the event, activity. If you do the same EXACT thing every year, with little to no variation, and you repeat events even if they had bad attendance, then yes, you run the risk of the boys getting bored, and leaving. We have no problem with losing Scouts every year because they are bored. District activities are no different. As for Webelos leaders, who do not do any den activities, and "rely" on the Pack, and District, for their entire den program, well, they are simply not very good den leaders. I suggest the Cubmaster sit them down for a friendly chat.

>>"So how does a volunteer normally find these without having to ask each time?"