Greetings from Kentucky

[jonathanrbaker]

Greetings, everyone.

 

I just wanted to make introduce myself to everyone. I am an Assistant Cubmaster for a pack in Louisville, KY. Our pack nearly folded last summer, but we've been able to pull it all back together this year. Personally, I'm looking forward to getting a fresh start this fall.

 

I have enjoyed reading through many of the older threads and have found them very informative.

 

Happy Scouting!

JRB

[Tampa Turtle]

Welcome fellow ASM! Did you hear we get a 3% pay bump on July 1st? That's what my SM told me.

[jonathanrbaker]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

 

3% of $0 is still $0. So, I guess your SM told the truth, although he probably deserves a kick in the shin for being a smart-aleck.

[Tampa Turtle]

Actually I tease him with the pay-bump talk and he gets a really nervous look...

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello jonathanrbaker,

 

 

 

So what kind of issues are you working on to improve your pack and its program?

[jonathanrbaker]

Actually, we're really just trying to follow the program and survive this year (which began with no plan, no budget, no cubmaster and no committee), so that we can hit the ground running this fall. Thankfully, we've had some real troopers stand up and we've been able to keep the program fun and interesting for the boys, and they should all go up in rank, although we got a late start.

 

Current Action Plans:

-- Spring Recruitment for graduating kindergarteners (and others) at the end of May

-- Encourage boys to attend camp and leaders to get completely trained

-- Keep the pack active over the summer and achieve the Summertime Pack Award

-- Already working on achieving the JTE award

-- Program Planning/Budgeting Conference over the summer

-- Leadership mostly lined up for next year

 

I'm most likely going to step up as CM next year and let the other guy drop down to Committee Member, since he just volunteered to keep the pack from folding. I'm going to meet with the UC in the next couple of weeks so that he can help us put together a good plan/budget.(This message has been edited by jonathanrbaker)

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello jonathanrbaker,

 

 

Sounds like an excellent plan. And an ambitious one for a pack that recently collapsed.

 

It's taken me a lot more than a year to get to those levels with the failed packs I've worked with, one since 2004 and the other since 2008.

 

Any particular issues you are struggling with now?

[jonathanrbaker]

The other major problem is parental apathy. Besides the leaders and a couple other parents, we're not getting much help. I'm afraid this will lead to burnout if we can't get more help. I plan on addressing this at the September Pack meeting, as an introduction for the new families as to what the expectations are, and it can't hurt to review them for the returning families. Also, we need to do better about following up on boys that start missing meetings. You can't grow a pack through recruitment if you're not retaining your current scouts.