Unit 24 is planning a day trip to Upper Limits Climbing in Bloomington on Sunday, March 14. We will meet at Riverside Presbyterian Church at 6:45 a.m. to load, departing at 7:00 a.m. and returning to RPC at approximately 4:30 p.m.   The cost per boy is $40 for those pursuing the Climbing Merit Badge, or $30 for Rock Gym 101 (those who already have the merit badge). The permisison slip and money are due by Friday, March 5. Spaces are limited, so please return your forms early to ensure your spot. Forms may be turned in at the Troop meeting, or to Mrs. Gmitro.

A scout must be First Class or higher rank to attend this outing. Waivers are required by the facility. Scouts should bring a sack lunch and wear t-shirt and shorts, covered by sweat shirt and comfortable pants. Boys attending the merit badge class must obtain a merit badge book (available at the Scout Store), know the knots, and be able to answer the questions in the book. These will be covered in the mandatory scout meeting.

Some websites on knots are:

www.animatedknots.com
www.animatedscoutknots.com
www.2020site.org/knots.

The merit badge counselor at Upper Limits will not sign off on the first aid requirements so scouts will have to secure the first aid merit badge prior to or after the course in order to complete the full badge requirements.

Contact Dawn Gmitro with any questions.

Troop 24 is planning a 5-day outing, during the week of Spring Break, to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. We will depart on Saturday, March 27, and return on Wednesday, March 31. While the schedule is not completely firm, the attached preliminary agenda gives an overview of the activities. Parents and siblings (1st grade and older) are welcome on this trip. Scouts who attend without a parent must have been on a previous Troop overnight trip. In order to make reservations for the cave and museum tours, we need to know how many people plan to attend. Please contact Asst. Scoutmaster Jim Ringbloom by this Friday and let him know if you plan to attend.

Saturday our troop took place in a bi-annual event: The Klondike Derby. It was held at Bemis Woods and we had 11 boys participating. They were:

Andy C.
Ben C.
Sam C.
Dan D.
Cole G.
Max H.
Joey J.
Cody L.
Charlie M.
Abraham O.
AND new addition – Elijah O.

As a team, we took 3rd place overall out of 19 teams – not too bad! Good teamwork and a lot of hard work was had by all. Our SPL, Ben C., along with his brother, Sam C. did a great job leading and coaching the boys in this event.

Our thanks to Deb and Paul Cox, Joe Derosier and Joe Ourth for driving. Thanks to Joe Ourth for making the station rounds with the team!

Next meeting: this Thursday at Riverside Presbyterian Church gym. In order to start the meeting on time, please arrive by 6:50pm.

Scouts who are going to the Klondike Derby were given a handout at yesterday’s meeting. One of the required items is a complete change of clothing for each scout in waterproof wrap. More information about what to bring is provided on the handout, which is available here. Please be sure to review the requirements.

We still have space for additional scouts to participate in the Klondike Derby on February 13 at Bemis Woods South in Western Springs. We will leave from Riverside Presbyterian Church at 8:00 a.m. and return to RPC by 3:00 p.m. The cost per boy is $6.50. Contact Mrs. Gmitro by Tuesday evening, February 9, to reserve your spot. The permission slip is available here.

If any scouts or parents have photos from recent outings (particularly Eagle Cave or the Luge), and you would be willing to share them on our Troop Photo Gallery, please send files to Nancy Hopkins at nmhopkins1@comcast.net. If your files are large, please send them in batches of 3-4 photos, or put them on a CD.

Scouts are invited to assist with clean-up at the Ames School Book Fair on Thursday, February 11, starting at 4:00 pm and ending no later than 5:30 pm. Among the tasks will breaking down tables, sweeping the floors, and general cleanup of the gym after the two-day Book Fair. Service hour(s) are available. If you are interested, please contact Mrs. Gomorczak at jlgomo@sbcglobal.net. She is the adult in charge of cleanup and the mother of one of our Scouts.

Some of you may have noticed that Feedblitz messages may now contain advertisements in the body of the e-mail message you receive. (Previously there were advertisements, but they were only placed at the bottom of the e-mail.) These advertisements are there because the Troop is using a FREE (ad-supported) version of the Feedblitz service. To receive this service without ads would cost approximately $120/year.

This week our Troop meeting will be held on Friday, February 5, at the Scout Cabin at 7:00 (NOT on Thursday at RPC). The Webelos 2 scouts will be joining us for their official visit to a Boy Scout Troop in preparation for their crossover. On the agenda is a demonstration by a firefighter on the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator) as well as pizza and a movie. Because we’ll be meeting on Friday rather than a school night, scouts can stay later than our normal meeting time. You may wish to send your scout to the meeting with a cell phone. We have the Scout Cabin until 11:00.

We’ve added a new feature to the website. Found near the top of the right sidebar, Upcoming Events lists the outings that have been scheduled for the next couple of months, with links to more information, if available. Upcoming Events does not include every meeting and event for our Troop, just the outings and larger events like Pancake Breakfast. For complete information, go to our Calendar. (You might try the “agenda” view if the “calendar” view is not to your liking.)

Some of you may rely on Feedblitz messages for Troop news. There is more on our website than just these message posts. Please visit the website.