WisconsinMomma

I think since we have two troops in the same community, it makes great sense to merge rather than have two distinct troops. I wonder if we should plan in advance for next school year to be the last year of our Troop and then dissolve/merge with the neighbor troop. This would give all the current Life Scouts another year to finish Eagle with this troop should they want it. The issue though is the trailer and all the money. I am sure we can find people to take them, it's just -- what is the right way to to do this? The chartered org technically would get it all. Can troops disburse their treasury otherwise, like donate to Council, or the other troop in the area? My husband talked about placeholder registrations to hold the Troop for the large Wolf pack coming up but it is unclear how may youth would stay into scouting and you need adult leaders most of all. I think he is nervous about the "old guard" from 3+ years ago showing up and making a stink, but they've left. In my view, it's time to move on.

Backround: Our troop is down to one patrol, figure 10 scouts in the troop. We have key leadership positions filled. Three scouts will age out this year. The next year, three more scouts will age out. Then two Then two are left. We are not anticipating any new scouts joining from Cubs for the next two years. There is a large Wolf den in Cubs. My husband is the Scoutmaster. He says he will remain Scoutmaster for the next three yeas until our youngest scout gets Eagle in this troop. Frankly, I don't know if my youngest son wants to eagle in this troop, or eagle at all. He is interested in Sea Scouts. My husband has been in tears last week because our 17 year old wants to quit and is thinking of not finishing Eagle. I am Assistant Scoutmaster but my involvement is very low, except for going to meetings and camp outs to be the extra set of hands. I don't do very much. I am criticized for not doing much (by my spouse) but also do not want to get in the way. I did a lot in Cub scouts. I see no future for this troop. There is a neighboring troop in our school district who was once very low numbers but has recently gotten a lot of new scouts and grown. I personally think our troop should disband and join the other troop.... however.... There is a lot of stuff and a lot of money -- a fully stocked Troop trailer and about $11k in the bank. In theory this would all be given to the chartered org (or spent down before disbanding?) Has anyone disbanded a Troop? Not that my husband sees this, I think he wants to grind it out to the end but frankly being Scoutmaster is a burden on him and I think he is getting bitter or has been for a while. He feels like he is doing "all the work". We have three supporting adults who do committe chair, plan outings and advancement who are supporting him in those areas. The scouts are all older but there are no young scouts for them to lead and teach, and frankly for them to be role models for. I think this is leading our older scouts to goof off more. That's not necessarily bad, to have a group of guys who like to be social and have fun. I am frustrated. I think there should be a long term plan to wind down the troop and merge with the neghboring troop (who is friendly and the kids in our troop go to school with and know the kids in the other troop). I think the Scouts would be happy enough with a merger. The adults I think would prefer to hang on and feel a sense of obligation to long ago Scouters and the troops history -- all those adults are gone and not coming back. Any advice? My husband wants me to step up. Learn some knots or something. I don't think the problem is so much lack of adults as it is lack of kids.

How did it go?

Does your pack offer a fundraising buyout?

My oldest is a Life Scout and turns 18 in one year. He has 5, whoops, now 6 MB's left to finish. I do not think he will finish everything before July 1. Maybe, but it depends on his hustle. Cit in Society will not have a MB book and it sounds more like a reflection and conversation with a counselor. Might not be all that time-consuming, thank goodness!

This should be a lesson to all troops for what to watch out for. All bullying is unacceptable in Scouting. It can be too easy to see scouts with differences as "a problem" and to pressure scouts and parents to leave. Physical abuse needs to be stopped immediately. Our Youth Protection Training teaches this, but leaders have to be vigilant and have to stand up for ALL YOUTH.

For dens, meet in homes. Does anyone have enough space to host the pack on their property? Call your park director and/or mayor and ask for free use of the pavillion for your non profit once a month.

I am loving the open-ended, campsite gadget idea !

Oh the kids, er, Scouts, have made what we call "tripod with a lever". They LOVED it.

My mistake, they were playing a game of catch.

OK, I am a new assistant scoutmaster, and we have two other new assistant scoutmasters. In addtion, the kids in our troop trend younger. We do not have a strong command of scout skills. However, the bright side is that the kids are having fun at the meetings. At our last one, scouts made an activity to play dodgeball and when you're out, you have to answer a question about hiking / outdoor safety to get back in. This was a good idea and they had lots of fun but they did not have a ton of questions prepared. But it was a good effort. At our recent Zombie outing, the kids first task was to lash a Zombie fence before they could advance to other challenges. The kids struggled but that is OK. But as a troop, the kids are going to need more skills so they can safely pursue more adventures. We don't want them to get bored with the basics. Any suggestions appeciated! Thanks!

I will brag about how awesome our local fire department is. They are very community oriented. Our fire chief is extremely into community partnerships and outreach to the schools and other community groups. They are also working to promote work as firefighters and paramedics, dispatchers, etc. They need good people in the future generations. I think that the only difficulty is that every troop in the metro area would want them as CO. But talk about positive adult association. It's possible that our PD's would also do this for outreach and community building. Our fire chief is in the business of safety. I am sure they would learn the training, get the YPT and they know how to do things right. And they're government. So not as much liability sticks, at least as far as I can tell. Everything has pros and cons but I cannot talk enough about how great our local fire department is.

This totally sounds like they want to reduce liability in case of future abuse lawsuits.

One of the things I enjoyed at scout camp this year was seeing the trailers and flags of units from all over, as well as seeing who some of the sponsors were. Fire departments sponsor units. VFW's sponsor units. There are a lot of places that will help with this, and a lot of people who see the value in Scouting. Our units are sponsored by parent-teacher school organizations. If we had to look for more sponsors, I would likely approach our local Friends of the Library and Friends of the Nature Center non-profit groups,