Jo_scouting

Lol SSScout, that's a pretty good analogy. On a more serious note, we are starting to come to the same conclusion. I just wish they would save us the trouble of trying if that is the case. I agree that surely there is something involved that we have not been told about. We'll continue trying to get to them before we give up. Thanks again! Jo

jblake47, this is exactly the type of relationship we want with our CO. Again, first we have to be able to talk with them to be able to move forward. For Scout Sunday, we wanted to hopefully arrange something with them so our scouts could take part in their service but again, never got a call back. None of our leaders or parents go to this church and I am sorry but me and my family love our church home. I don't think we should have to change churches (and religions) in order to make a relationship with the CO. This does bring up another option that was brought up to me recently. My church has heard about our struggles and has graciously offered their facilities to be used for our scouting needs. They even said if we'd like to consider creating a new pack with them as the CO, they would love to do that for us so perhaps this might be an option for some of us. Thank you everyone for your feedback. It is truly appreciated.

Sidney Porter, it is not about shaming the church. People say things when they are frustrated, it's how we deal with things. I shouldn't have made the comment and I apologize for it. I am not perfect and I make mistakes. Trust me, I am fully aware of it being a "two-way street" but if we're the only ones driving on it, what does it matter? Perhaps I should elaborate on all of the ways that we have tried to communicate with the church so that you and others can fully understand the situation and give us your best advice. We call the church almost every week. We speak with the secretary and she always tells us that the pastor is busy and we will have to leave a message, which we do, and we have yet to receive a call back after months of trying. We have randomly showed up on weekdays and asked politely to speak with someone...anyone. We are told that they are busy and to leave a message that is once again, never replied to. As far as recruiting their youth, if we can never get a hold of anyone in charge, I am not sure how we would go about recruiting their youth? Same goes for service projects. If we can't get a hold of anyone to plan one, the only other way I know to go about this is to randomly show up but then we'd be treading in that "shaming the church" area that we're trying to avoid. JC2008, we have also tried talking to the keyholder into giving us just a few minutes before and after and we were told that we just had to deal with his schedule. I should also make sure it is noted that every leader that has tried to communicate with both the church and the keyholder has never in any way been anything but polite, so it isn't like we have given any of them any reason to have any animosity towards us. In fact, they have never even met the new Cubmaster. In the beginning, that was the first reason we contacted them. We just wanted to introduce the new Cubmaster and get to know our Charter better. This, of course, was written down in a message that was not responded to. As a leader, I have tried to approach this in every way that I could think of. In the end though, this is not for the adults involved. The boys come first, plain and simple.

SSScout, I LOVE the idea of showing up in church! I attend a different church so I didn't even think of that but it sure would force the pastor to give us some attention, wouldn't it? It would also make the church look pretty bad when some of it's regular members were curious about us then find out that the church is our Charter Organization. We don't care if we have a key, if someone reliable would let us in at a respectable time and let us leave at a respectable time AND be reliable about it. Problem is, since there are NO church members currently in the Cub Scouts, they don't want to give out keys. They used to be extremely active (before me and my husband's time) but a few years back you can see where they literally went from actively caring about the scouts to treating them like a step child that was unwanted. They are the C.O. but want no active role with us what-so-ever. The one dad that has a key (the one that is not reliable, restrains our time and just moved up to Boy Scouts) was extremely defensive when my husband mentioned wanting to find another meeting place saying "You have NO idea how much the church USED to do for us!". My husband replied, "That is all great and dandy but my son wasn't in scouting THEN. He is in scouting NOW." My husband wasn't ugly or mean in any way about it either. He was just matter of fact. Anyhow, thanks so much for the great responses all. You have all given me some great ideas and information!

Thanks for the help! I will definitely look further into this!

Hi. I am in a pack where the Charter Organization used to be extremely active. In the past few years, they no longer are. To give you an idea, I am pretty sure it is the largest church in our area with the biggest youth group and not a single youth is in Cub Scouts as far as I know. Our den and pack meetings are every Monday from 6:00-7:00. There is only ONE key holder for the church and he either shows up right at 6:00 or a few minutes before and we are still expected to be finished and cleaned up by 7:00. This is not fair to the boys or the adults involved. We asked the local council if we were able to hold our pack meetings elsewhere and we were told insurance would not cover us if we did. My husband became the new Cubmaster 3-4 months ago and we have tried repeatedly to talk to the Charter Organization Rep or anyone from the church at all. No one wants to talk to us. I guess I am wondering what our options are?