Son just called! His patches were stolen at Jamboree! Anyone willing to sell some patches inexpensively?

[jsirkis]

Hello. I'm a mom of a 13 year old 2005 jamboree attendee. My son just called. He's heartbroken! Last night just before going to sleep he put his backpack in his tent, took one last look at his patches and then zipped up his packpack (an older scout friend reminded him to zip it up too!) In the morning, he found his back pack sitcking half out the tent, unzipped-with the opening sticking outside of the tent. His entire zip-lock baggie of patches was gone!

 

I asked him if could buy more patches-but he says that he was not permitted to buy more patches since he had already bought 5 sets before the jamboree- and they were limiting sales. We bought 5 sets of three patches at 10 dollars per set.

 

Might anyone have some jamboree patches to sell? He was particularly sad about the loss of a "blues brothers" patch-but I'm sure he'd be thrilled just to have any patches. Right now he has none!

I don't know much about all of this- but I know that I can't afford the prices on e-bay.

 

My son is with jamboree troop 243 (which is troop 99 from Newtown, PA). He's a sweet, trusting kid who takes scouts (and all the scout rules, laws, oath etc.) very seriously. When I told him he should have locked the patches up in his trunk, all he could say was "so you're telling me I'm not supposed to trust the scouts?" It's a tought question to answer.

[morainemom]

Wow - that really stinks!

 

A same thing happened to one of my son's friends and fellow Scouts back in '01. My son went to the '01 Jambo and is currently down at this one. He does lock him patches in his trunk at all times - unfortunately you can't trust all of the people all of the time.

 

I can send your son one of our Council patches - I will look and see if my son had an extra one of the Blues Brothers patches in the ones he obtained before leaving for Jambo.

 

Did he report this to his Scoutmaster? Sounds like the Troop needs a talk on "trustworthy" - it might get the guilty party to confess and return the items.

 

 

[jsirkis]

I spoke to one of our assistant scout masters. He's not at the jamboree (I had called him to tell him I saw his son in the photo gallery!) When I told him about my son's patches he was also pretty upset about it. He told me they had a problem at scout camp a few weeks ago. He suspects that there's one kid in the bunch who's creating some havoc. this is my son's first jamboree. He's very trusting and I guess it never occurred to him that this kind of thing could happen. So when I spoke to him I told him to lock up all of his valuables immediately (basically just some disposable cameras) or give them to the scout leader who's holding on to valuables. I would really appreciate it if you had even a single patch to send. Maybe receiving a patch from some boy he doesn't even know would remind him that most all scouts are great kids! But-please-only if it's okay with your son. Thanks!

 

The assistant scout leader also suggested what you did-he said he'd call tomorrow and ask our scout leader to give the boys a "speech" about honesty-and then see if the patches reappear.

[morainemom]

My son was 13 also when he went to his first Jambo in '01. He fell on an obstacle course the 2nd day there and broke his arm!

 

He stayed and still had a great time. I had told him to lock everything up - he does this at summer camps, even troop camporees -- sad to say, not every Scout is Trustworthy! :9

 

I can definitely send your son one of our Council patches. I'll see if my son has an extra Blues Brothers one - and if so, I'll send that also.

 

Just PM me with your son's name and address and after my son gets home from Jambo I'll get the patch (es) out to you.

 

I hope that he gets his collection back - sure sounds like it is a Scout from his Troop who is the thief.

[purcelce]

jsirkis

 

pm me with your address I have a 2005 jambo oa flap he can have.

[msnowman]

My Scout is too young for Jambo this year but has been collecting CSP's since he was a Bear. He would be thrilled to do a 2 for 2 trade with your son if you are interested. We are from the Katahdin Area Council.

 

PM me for address if you are interested

 

Michelle CM - P102

[jr56]

At the 2001 Jamboree they had a big barrel of Council CSPs for sale at like 5 for 1.00. If they have that this year, at least your son could buy some more trading stock, and go out and trade for replacements. It sucks that there are so many dishonest people out there.

[karen604]

My son called yesterday with the same news. I too am heartbroken from it. He so admires his brother's traded patches from 01. I have been checking the web trying to find some as well.

 

contact mw privately and I will see about getting your son a set of Denver's patches. they are the theme of America the Beautiful.

 

quilter604@msn.com

[morainemom]

I have been reading over on the official Jamboree website about bags and bags of patches being turned into Losst & Found.

 

If you can contact your sons, I would suggest that they pop over to the Lost & Found tent and see if their patches have been turned in. It's a longshot - but worth trying.

[tiGGertoo]

My son and I just returned from Jambo and I have some extra of our CSPs left over (the 2nd ASM tends to be stuck in camp a lot). I will send you one (Jersey Shore).

 

It's a shame that there were even a few thieves among the thousands of Scouts there (I heard some other stories too, like boys walking over patch traders'

blankets with duct tape on their shoes). We did remind our Scouts many times before Jambo that they should lock up any of their valuables (including patches), but kids just forget or get distracted easily.

 

I hope your son had a great time at Jambo, in spite of the theft of his patches.

 

YIS, tiGGertoo

[BearItAll]

Absolutely!! We'd love to mail some patches to your son! My son and husband just got home from Jambo. I visited them on Sunday 7/31 and had a great time. While there, I watched my son trade patches ... actually, it was my suggestion since I could get a break from walking!! So he set up his patches and said to me within 3 minutes `Two of my patches just got stolen...!!' So there I sat and I WATCHED as boys gathered around and the trading continued.... Five more minutes and he tells me that the Elvis `ghost patch' that his Scoutmaster had just given to him had also been taken.... WOW. Needless to say, he folded up his inventory and we moved on.

 

Just sad, though. Trustworthy? Yes...99.9% are trustworthy. But your son's and my son's experiences tend to take the wind out of your sails ... temporarily at least.

 

Anyway, PM your address and the patches will be on the way!

 

BearItAll from Cleveland OH

[CNYScouter]

This type of stuff is not new.

 

When I went to the 73 National Jambroree at Moraine State Park, PA. I had patches stolen during trading.

It often happened when 2 or 3 scouts would gather around you to trade and one of them would take a patch while you where distracted doing a trade with another one. It was rampant back then also.

I ended not trading very many patches after this and only did trades one-on-one with another scout.

 

We had a scout in our troop get caught by our SM doing this type of stuff and he never returned to the Troop after this.

 

I also heard rumors that our lodge OA flap, at the time very desirable, had been ripped right off of the pocket of a kids shirt.

 

It sad when I think that there are still many untrustworthy scouts out there