Yikes - 6 weeks to Philmont and 5 open slots

[Jeff Mason]

(hope this is not a double post - the first one did not appear to go through!)

 

Six weeks until our troop crew heads to philmont, and we have some circumstances that resulted in FIVE open slots on our 12-person crew.

 

Has anyone run into this before and if so, do you know of any way to fill these slots? Our trip coordinator has been working with his district contacts (Timberline District) and the Denver Area Council, as well as making calls to Philmont, but so far we have had no luck.

 

Five open and unfilled slots will be a HUGE drain on Troop Finances, so I really hope we can find a solutions.

 

We have one adult slot and 4 youth slots.

 

Any ideas, suggestions, past solutions to similar issue would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff Mason

Troop 640

Littleton, CO

 

[Trevorum]

Jeff, five is a big order to fill, but it sounds like your trek coordinator is doing the right things. He needs to get the word out to ALL Scoutmasters and Crew Advisors in your district and council. I'd recommend getting your commish involved pronto! You need to get a council roster of unit leaders and then just sit down and man the phones until everyone knows of the opportunity. And that's what this is! An OPPORTUNITY for four lucky youths and a lucky leader to make the trek they thought they'd never get a chance to experience! Good luck!

 

(ps, welcome to the forums!)

[Jeff Mason]

Thanks for the support and welcome. I'll get with him tomorrow and see what I (and the rest of the troop) can do to help.

 

We really need those extra slots filled, somebody has to carry me out of there!!!

[baden]

This will not help Jeff, but we can all learn from this. For things such as Philmont we must get the money upfront, then if circumstances require someone to drop, they find their own replacement or take the loss. This also keeps a lot of "circumstances" from ocurring. Philmont is tough. The commitment so far in advance does make for some challenges. We were fortunate a number of years ago. We had a boy decide he wasn't interested about 60 days out. We tried to fill his spot, but no luck. His Dad came to the Troop Treas. and paid the Philmont fee. We hadn't asked, but he said the Troop had laid out money for his Son and he saw no reason we should eat it. This is not always the case.

[purcelce]

If you don't fill them locally, I would post the open slots here. You never know you might get them filled.

[AvidSM]

Can your District send out a district-wide email for you with the information? When is your next Roundtable? Can you make an annoucement there?

[Jeff Mason]

my district does not appear to have anything resembling a district-wide email. I think I'll work with the Webmaster to get an announcement on the district homepage (not that many people look at that )

 

I will also mention this tonight at the roundtable... although my Trek Advisor did talk to people last month at the OA meeting during roundtable. Can't hurt to make another announcement!