83Eagle

Well, I filed one of the new plan forms 2 weeks ago for a camping trip at got it back no problem a day later. Saturday I decided to fill ones out for all four of our summer activities that seemed to require one. Got this message back from the district: "Due to some on for seen problems with the New Toru Plan at the National level, please go to myscouting.org and fill out that tour permit. It is the old one and we are still accepting those." Aaaaargh!!!!

Throughout the summer: -Volunteer service (hour sessions) at local food pantry End of May: -Pack family camping -Memorial day service June: -Cookout and campfire -Semi-pro football game outing July: -Parade -District camps August: -Minor league baseball game -Movie night at a drive in theatre

No more than 2 eggs in a bag. Use FREEZER ziplock bags, not regular ones. Use a sharpie to label the bags Keep bag away from the side of the pot for the most part Use a tong to squeeze the bags while they cook Mix in anything you want that you would put in a regular omelet. Keep quantities reasonable About 5 minutes cook time is plenty if you squeeze while cooking. You can't really overcook them but they can be undercooked and it is hard to fix that. It sounds harder than it is. Toss stuff in, mix the bags well, toss in water. Slide out the omelet when done or let cool a few minutes and eat from the bag. Easy as pie. Yeah, they are on our menu for spring camp in a few weeks. Oh, one more thing...don't let anybody tell you the plastic bags are poisonous...

We did sock wars for a Christmas activity with new socks that families donated and we gave afterward to a shelter. It went well but it is still hard to get parents off their cans. I gave people a choice of helping with the forts or rolling socks but a handful still stayed planted on the bleachers. This time I'm not pulling the bleachers out.....

Went through a bunch of the games listed. The problem is most of them are the same general theme in a different way, involving either a variation of tag or a lot of large-space running around. Great for evenly aged kids, but not great when you try to add in grandpa and 4-year old sister. Thinking about it some more, I'm thinking of "minute to win it" stations. They're goofy and not terribly physically demanding. Plus you can easily modify some of them for a wide range of ages, such as requiring younger ages to do less of a particular activity--i.e., keeping one or two balloons in the air for a minute, rather than 3.

We bought a box of the Alpha III bulk kits from the scout shop and built them at the last den meeting. They took about 45 minutes to build. Having built one kit before, I did modify the sequence a bit so that one part could set up while we were working on another. However, if you use tacky glue you can do it all in one sitting, because the glue bonds firm enough to hold without having to let the parts sit to dry. We are planning on launching at our next meeting, weather permitting.

Hey there, from the Bay Lakes Council....

I guess those details would help... I would expect about 60 people. 25 scouts, and 35 others. We meet in a gym.

No. Bad idea IMO. Who's gonna listen anyway? Very few people have the intellectual honesty to look in a mirror and accept what is clear to everyone else.

For our last pack meeting, I'd like to do a group game(s) that is active and involves the entire family (adults and kids) and gets everyone off their duff. Maybe 2 games/activities that would last about 15 min each. Nothing jumping out at me from the big How-To book. Any suggestions?

FOS coordinator doesn't really take that much time. In order to be a FOS coordinator, at least in our council, the volunteer has to go to offsite FOS training. Truthfully, I would have been more than willing to pass out the brochures, explain why I thought it was important, and ask people to support scouting. But I'm not going to give up an entire evening to fit in FOS training.

Ok, everybody out there who thinks I don't personally understand the value of FOS to Scouting, take a deep breath. I never said that. In fact, our family has been a regular FOS contributor (not just 10 bucks either) for the entire time we've been involved in the program. I understand the need of the support system just like there is in any other organization. shortridge said it perfectly: "But that still doesn't mean a DE or DD or other professional whose job it is to raise money should be tone-deaf to the position of the audience." The presentation to our Pack was not about any of the points listed above. It was, 100%, "Donate to help poor kids JOIN scouts," and I do emphasize the word JOIN. "And oh, by the way, if you don't turn in your brochure, we WILL be calling you to follow up." I felt it was a disingeuous approach at best, and left the adult volunteers in the program who know the financial situation of our Pack, and the money that WE pay to help kids JOIN the program, wondering, what the heck? Seattle, you say we should recruit a FOS coordinator from our pack if we don't like the message. Well, I'm sorry, but I (as CM) am not going to beat the bushes looking for someone to take their time to do this when I have enough problems getting volunteers for "regular" pack stuff. In my opinion, if the district wants money, the district should come and ask for it. Disagree with me if you want, but that's my belief. So, I will admit I passed the buck on this request to our committee (where it belongs, according to responsibility descriptions of the committee), and they wanted nothing to do with it. So again, let me restate this hopefully completely clearly. I, personally, support FOS, both in principal and in principle. My complaint is with the message being used to solicit--as I said in my original post, in the past "the emphasis was on the total organization." This year, the presentation was singularly focused and rather off-putting, a fact that was mentioned in unsolicited comments by many in attendance.

SP, your COUNCIL does cub scout recruiting? How did you get so lucky as to have them do recruiting for packs? Or is it more of a general thing. I'm not aware of any pack in our district that does not do 100% its own recruiting.

Well, regarding our Pack providing its own FOS presenter--district communications come through me (the CM). We have a hands-off (i.e., "I don't want to be involved in anything, ever, period") CC/COR, which I've detailed elsewhere. I have zero interest in being the FOS coordinator (and it's supposed to be a committee responsibility anyway), so I turned it over to the pack "committee," who said, not interested. I'm certainly not going to toss the request out to the families at large when, like any Pack, we are challenged enough with getting volunteers for our own Pack activities. Seattle, we raised about $500, about 1/3 of our goal, but I already have one parent looking to reneg on her pledge after going back home and reading more about FOS. (Oh, it was only a 10 minute presentation, though she promised 5 minutes--NEVER EVER go over the time you tell people!) I do believe FOS has a place, and is probably necessary as any organization needs a certain amount of "organization" to run itself. My compliant, as others', is with the messaging as presented to our particiular Pack situation.

BS-87 - Then I would suggest that FOS focus on how the dues that boys pay, plus the popcorn they sell that BSA gets proceeds from, plus the camp fees they pay to go to camp, are inadquate to fund a quality program at the district level. Because as it stands, 100% of the message we got last night was "donate to help poor kids who can't afford scouting," which was not only a turnoff but, in my opinion, disingenuous because it is the Pack who provides direct financial assistance to boys in need to join our program.

Here's one that's been bugging me and after discussing with other Pack leaders they felt the same way so I thought I'd share it here. The district has been asking our Pack for a FOS coordinator for some time but, well, people in the Pack aren't really clamoring to go to an offsit training session to learn how to ask the Pack for money to send in to FOS. (Shock!) So after hearing "no one is interested" from me for the Nth time the district offered to send out someone. Ok, fine. And that person was our district director. Now, I've been through these several times and I know the drill. The emphasis has always been on the services Scouting provides that the Pack benefits from that aren't covered by the $15 registration fee, camp upkeep, etc etc etc. Now, you can look skeptically on that if you want but at least the emphasis was on the total organization. This year, the presentation was ALL about the poor families who can't afford to be in Scouting. I mean, it was 100% guilt trip..."close your eyes and think about all the things you want your son to get from Scouting...now realize there are families out there who can't afford to do that." Say what? Well, let's see... -If the Scout can't afford to pay the $15 annual dues, the pack covers that, no questions asked -If the Scout can't afford a uniform, we go to the Pack's cub closet (or my own pocket) -If the Scout can't afford activity fees, etc., we find a way to make it happen. NONE of that comes from the district. So that leaves us with one financial thing from the district--camperships. Which, thus far, no one in our Pack has applied for because we've just really started to take advantage of district camps. Now, to top it off, the school we recruit from is the poorest in the school district. Half the boys are on free or reduced lunch. So the other leaders had the same question to me that I had...Are these families now going to start coming to the district (or us) and asking where the aid is for their kids???! I don't know what you all think about this, but the message didn't resonate well.

Well, out here in flyover country the school buildings are used by both BSA as well as by a local church which holds Sunday service there while it raises funds to build a building. The school principal is a huge advocate of scouting and has been more than accommodating in letting us do recruitment during school hours.

The "blame the victim" mentality that has been displayed in some posts here is distressing! I'm not sure why the attitude toward new posters is "troll until proven otherwise" but it's something I've mentioned in other threads. Is this truly an open forum, or were you expecting she'd earn her "posting chops" over a few months before bringing this issue up? I think a few of you could learn the value of just keeping your mouth shut if you have nothing constructive to say, and that having the right to say something doesn't mean it should be said. Yes, it was not particularly helpful for the OP to issue a "warning to single moms," which is why I said it was an unusual post. Neither do I think such a warning is needed because the BSA program has nothing against single moms. Is it a "boys club?" Well, yes. Does it exclude families, in whatever form those families may be? Absolutely not. So again, just take the post at face value. The salient points are: -Son was beat up. -Mom and son don't want to talk to the Troop about it, despite offers from the Troop to do so. So, to singlemom, if you're looking for advice, the advice has been given--to talk to someone, either within or outside the troop, not only for your and your son's benefit but as a duty to other boys who might be injured by this particular bully. If you're only looking to this forum to be a sounding board, so be it, but I do not agree with your warning.

This is an unusual first post by a new member to say the least. The facts laid out by the poster are that-- Her son was beat up and is not interested in scouting any more. The troop leaders have offered to discuss this with the poster but she refuses to do so. So...other than issuing a "warning" to the forum at large, I'm not sure what the point of this is supposed to be. Like other people have written here, I'd encourge the poster to meet with the troop, if you have any interest in seeing the situation somehow resolved. The offer has been made on their part, and you can plan your next action based on the result of that meeting.

It looks pretty much like yours but it reflects our specific events, and it's shorter. I sent you a PM with a link.

I liked this idea so much I decided to tinker with the tool and based on that have some additional feedback. I don't see any questions that I would add. In fact, I (personally) would probably drop the Yes/No section. I guess I'm thinking of the "time factor" and most of the answers to that can be discerned from responses to the multiple choice parts. But...you may want to keep it in. I also think that three multiple choice are fine: Excellent, Good, and Needs improvement. Because if it's just fair, it needs improvement, IMO. Lastly, I added a "contact info" text box, with the message that "if you want to volunteer but want to take the survey anonymously, just send an email with your contact info to...."

If you live your life in fear if what might happen you never get to live what can happen.

Yes, you will have better luck, and results, asking the person who you think is best for the job. But you have someone, give him a try. Regarding: Sorry for the rant, but I don't get paid enough to put up with crap like this... so tired of no / little input until a decision is made, then everyone wants to debate the merits of the selection. What have you done / or how have any of you approached this type of situation in the past? Number one, as CM, I accept no complaints regarding the work any volunteer does. If there are any complaints I hand them a complaint form (the adult volunteer form) and state there is a $15 filing fee. (Ok, I do field legitimate complaints, but you get the idea.) Number 2, by this point after a few years in the program, anyone knows that if they come to me with an idea, suggestion, etc., it becomes their idea/suggestion to run with.

This looks great to me. Some questions for you: -What is your participation rate in the survey? -Are these all anonymous or is there the option to include your info (I did not complete the survey, obviously) -Any downsides based on your first year doing this last year?

It looks like 2 people looking into their reflection in the water. Hence the mirror-image writing of "lifeguard." If you're looking at it and seeing an adult and a half clothed youth looking worried...well I don't quite know what to say about that...