Starting a new pack

[TundraHawk]

Does anyone have any success stories to share in regards to starting a new pack? Our DE recently approached me about starting a pack at my son's school. Since our family's departure from our last pack (where both my husband and I were very active volunteers), my husband and I have vaguely kicked around the idea but never took it too seriously until my talk with our DE. While I feel I am motivated enough for the challenge, after such a bad experience with our last pack I have to admit I'm a bit hesitant to take on the endeavor.

 

What were the biggest obstacles you had to overcome? Any hints/tips/lessons learned that you could share with me?

 

 

[SemperParatus]

TundraHawk,

 

It is good to hear from you again, especially about the idea of starting a new unit. I have been involved in a couple of start-up situations, most recently with a boy scout troop that went from zero to over 50 scouts in a three year period.

 

Lessons learned:

 

1. It is very hard work. In fact, it can consume your life for several months or longer.

 

2. Find a group of similarly minded, committed people that can work well together. Together, you can share the load and offer each other the support and encouragement needed during the difficult start-up period.

 

3. The first order of business is to hook up with a Charter Organization that you feel you can work with and may be able to offer support (both monetarily and resource-wise) and to recruit the adult leaders - the committee chair, cubmaster, treasurer, advancement chair, den leaders and assistants. Getting the adults, will translate into the initial corp of scouts that can be built upon.

 

4. Starting fresh, its a perfect opportunity to get everyone trained at the same time. Attend as a group and meet afterwards to download and discuss the program, and how as a group, you would like to see your pack develop.

 

5. Money can be a problem at the outset. Perhaps your charter org can help with some seed money, or the parent 'pioneers' may have to loan or contribute some funds. There is nothing wrong with going as cheap as possible for as long as you can - make your own pack/den flags, build a PWD track out of wood, judge with the eye rather than a timer, schedule trips that are free.

 

6. Talk to your DE and Unit Commissioner often, to make sure you are doing the things you need to do. They can especially help you with recruiting ideas - they probably won't actually recruit for you but can give you good ideas. Perhaps plan for an assembly at the local school, put on a presentation at a local church, handout flyers at 'kid' places, spread the word and make your program exciting and you will be surprised at how quickly you grow. Big Note - don't judge your pack's success by the quantity served, but rather the quality of those who you do serve. Doing this, the numbers will take care of themselves.

 

7. Establish an exciting calendar of events for the coming year and publicize it to potential recruits.

 

8. That first pack meeting (and all thereafter) - make it special and superfun for the scouts so that they want to come back again and again. Coordinate themes with the dens so that they can be tieing into the pack event (use Program Helps found in Scouting Magazine). A coordinated program works better and helps to put all the leaders on the same page - rather than running around doing their own thing.

 

9. Put your hands on as many scouting resources as you can - Cub Scout Big Book of Fun, Group Meeting Sparklers, etc. Look for ideas on the web (e.g., Baloo's Bugle)Your local scout shop will be a great place to visit and load up on informative literature. And visit this forum often - the experience of the forum members here is unbelievable.

 

10. Most of all have fun and make it fun for the boys (and the adults).

 

There is a lot more and I am sure you will hear a lot of better ideas and encouragement from the other forum members.

 

I wish you great success in this endeavor. Believe me, it is can be challenging but very satisfying.(This message has been edited by SemperParatus)

[TundraHawk]

Hi Semper,

 

Thank you for all your input! I'll go point by point from your post and add what I have in regards so far:

 

1. Hard work is something I'm not afraid of and know that is what it'll take to get the pack off to a strong start. I've heard from several folks that it takes a good two years or so to really establish a pack.

 

2. I talked to my husband this evening, and he is completely supportive. Although he will be leaving in the upcoming months, he is more than willing to help out until then. I also talked to another mom (who has two scouts), and she is very eager to see a pack at our school. She is full of ideas on ways to get the boys more involved in the community, etc. We also know of one or two others that would be interested. Of course we'll need more, but this is a start! One of our biggest assets is the principal of the school. She is a huge advocate of scouting and has wanted a program at the school for quite some time.

 

3. One of the first questions I posed to our DE was in regards to the CO. He seems very gung-ho to find us a good CO...possibly the Elk's Club or the VFW. Our DE is good in letting the CO know their responsibilities, etc.

 

4. Training is HUGE for me. In our last pack, my husband and I were the only fully trained volunteers. District training doesn't happen all that often, but I know we'd be able to have someone come out and train us specifically. Getting everyone together to get their views on the program is so important, and I think it would help foster more of an "ownership" of the pack by the parents and other volunteers that are involved.

 

5. Money, I have to admit, is one of my biggest concerns. I've seen how quickly pack funds can dwindle away. According to our council, our school would be part of the Scoutreach program, and I was told we may be able to get a bit of help because of that. I don't know much about the program -- that is something I'm going to educate myself on next!

 

6. Thankfully, I have a good relationship with the folks at our council, and they know that I will come to them with any questions I may have. They've joked about getting me a desk in the office. LOL

 

7. The calendar is something I've been toying with for several weeks (ideas I was working with for our last pack). There is so much that our boys can do in our area that our last pack didn't take advantage of -- most (if not all) of them being free.

 

8. Ah, yes, the pack meeting! I can't wait until my son (and the other scouts) experience a FUN pack meeting. I'll probably be asking for y'alls advice when it comes to a SUPERfun meeting. I have a few ideas but would love something that would just knock the socks off the boys.

 

9. Semper, I could open a library with all my scouting literature. *grin* Cub Leader Books (2 copies), How To Book (2 versions), Academic & Sports Program, BSA Family Program, G2SS, Sparklers, Ceremonies, handbooks for all ranks, etc -- I try to read all the information I can get my hands on.

 

10. Fun??? You mean scouting is supposed to be fun?? (kidding, of course!!) I've seen too many boys drop out of scouting for that very reason...it just wasn't fun. No matter what we are doing, we've got to bring fun into the mix. )

 

Thanks again!

[SemperParatus]

GREAT!!!! Sounds like you are covering most of your bases already. Now, its just a matter of turning your vision into reality.

[Oakville Tim]

I'm glad to hear you are still so positive about Scouting. Not a surprise to those of us who read how diligently you were trying to solve the problems at 'your last address.'

 

I didn't glean whether your son has indeed found another unit to continue seamlessly. (The fact that the DE has approached you about starting a Pack seems to further answer that.)

 

For all the great advice that SemperParatus offers, I would just add this caution -- just another point of view:

 

You KNOW the time and energy you spent trying to hold 'the old address' together. Are you ready to take on the same challenges at your son's school? Please consider that.

 

You clearly have a bank of positive energy ready to contribute. I'll guarantee you that some other 'quality' Pack out there -- even if it meant driving 10 extra miles to get your son to events -- would be thrilled to add you to its Pack Committee. I would fly you down to St. Louis if I could afford it.

 

You could simply fill one niche there, and do it right the first time and do so with enthusiasm. You would have one job, and JUST one, instead of the 457 that surely would accompany a startup.

 

(All this presumes that you could indeed find a 'quality' unit where your son would fit in -- with your church as the CO? With a neighbor kid's private school as the CO?)

 

By the way, I don't take my own advice very well. I am our Pack's new Cubmaster effective with our Blue & Gold next month -- our CM, ACM and CC all are 'graduating' with their sons -- and I have all these grandiose dreams of what our Pack could become. I have good relationships with all our Den Leaders and we have our first planning meeting this Saturday.

 

Very best wishes to you, TundraHawk!

 

[Eamonn]

The list that SemperParatus has given is both comprehensive and seems to cover most if not all that I would have listed.

One problem I have seen with new units is that they fail to make long term plans.

Getting a new unit up and running is hard work, making sure it will last beyond the time that the originators will be around is really hard work. I have seen new units start with a few people who work their tails off. But they don't look to the future. One of the most important things that we all should be doing is looking for and training our replacement.It seems that we have people who are willing to take on more and more responsibilities and wear lots and lots of hats. Which seems all well and good at the time but the trouble starts when this person burns out or moves on. Then we have to look at finding 3 or 4 people to fill the void.

Eamonn

 

[TundraHawk]

OT -- I really appreciate your insight. As of right now, my son isn't in a pack. Thankfully he has only been out of the loop meeting-wise for a few weeks and is completely up to speed on his rank, etc. (he's actually farther ahead than most boys in his den) I have the contact information for several packs but don't really know much about any of them. We planned to begin visiting a few of them when our DE approached me about the formation of a new pack.

 

When he first mentioned this I was hesitant and thought my husband would go crazy at the mere mention of the idea. I was really surprised when my husband was very excited about the prospect. With all the challenges/frustrations we experienced with "the old address" (love that term!), I think we have a much better understanding of how NOT to run a pack. LOL

 

Much of our frustration came from under enthusiastic volunteers - those just doing the bare minimum to get by. I think if we get a core group of enthusiastic and hardworking folks (which won't be easy), many of the other things will fall into place.

 

I have a meeting planned with our DE to discuss this more in-depth. I have a number of questions that I plan to ask, and they will really be the determining factor on whether I take this on. If I don't feel comfortable doing it, I will most definitely look at joining a pack and helping out.

 

BTW, best of luck with the Cubmaster position!!

 

 

Eamonn -- you brought up a very important point and a big obstacle that we will have to address. The majority of our school is made up of military kids (and, hence, transient families). That was one of the biggest downfalls from our last pack - they never planned ahead for folks to take over when the other volunteers had to move.

 

 

Another concern I have is the formation of bad blood between our old group and this new pack. Inevitably some of the scouts from the other group may come to our pack (since they go to that school, etc.). A little "healthy" competition is good to an extent, but I don't want to do anything that will create a downright nasty situation.