During the Troop Meeting on Thursday, March 10, we will hold an orientation meeting for new scout parents. Please join us in the Social Hall at RPC at 7:00 p.m. Please bring the forms your scout was given at the Scout Cabin last Friday. Four scouts were not able to come to the meeting Friday – parents of those scouts, please contact Nancy Hopkins at nmhopkins1@comcast.net, and we can get the forms to you before Thursday.

Please let us know if you are able to donate a treat (fruit, cookies, etc.) to be shared on the refreshments table following the Thursday, March 17, Spring Court of Honor and/or if you are able to assist with the setup (arriving by 6:30 pm) and clean-up.

Treats should be delivered to the Social Hall kitchen by 6:50 p.m., and beverages will be provided.

Please let Debbie Payne (dpayne@accme.org) or Mary Jo Robling (mjrobling@gmail.com) know if you are interested in assisting with the refreshments table setup/clean-up and/or what you are bringing.

Troop 24 is planning an overnight camping outing to Cantigny Park in Winfield on Saturday, March 19.  Scouts should be dropped off at Riverside Presbyterian Church on Saturday morning (time to be announced).  Scouts will return to RPC around noon on Sunday, March 20.  They will call to be picked up.  Return time is approximate and families must be available to pick up their scouts.

The cost for this outing is $20. The deadline to sign up for this outing is Friday, March 11 at noon.

Scouts will be camping in tents and should come prepared with sleeping bag and sleeping pad.  They should be prepared for cold weather:  synthetic wicking underwear, another insulating layer, pants, synthetic or wool socks, appropriate footwear depending on the weather (plus an extra pair of shoes/boots), a warm coat, hat and gloves, and a change of socks.  Do not wear cotton.  If it gets wet, cotton is cold. 

Please contact Dawn Gmitro at dmgmitro@aol.com with questions.

Sign up here.

Two of our upcoming outings are ideal for new scouts: Cantigny on March 19-20, and the Voyageur Trace Spring Camporee at Rochelle on April 15-17. We ask that any new scouts planning to attend summer camp (and most do), participate in at least one overnight outing without a parent. Both of these outings are open to scouts of any age/rank.

The Troop Committee met on March 1, and discussed possible outings through next December. For various reasons, scouts have been signing up for our outings “at the last minute.” Because we don’t have a firm roster of participants very far in advance, we have been unable to fully utilize the Patrol Method, with scouts planning meals, participating in shopping for food, working as a patrol, etc. To the extent possible, we will be trying to return to the patrol method, which will require us to cut off registrations farther in advance than we have previously. We request the help of our parents in discussing outings with your scouts and making an effort to commit to an outing as early as possible.

All scout families: If you have not already done so, please take this survey!

The Lincoln Pilgrimage is annual scout event sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Council in Springfield. Last fall our Troop Committee chose this as one of our outings for the 2010-2011 scouting year. To participate in this outing, we would leave RPC as soon after school as possible on April 30, with a 3 1/2 hour drive to Springfield. We would camp Friday and Saturday nights, participate in activities until 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, and return to Riverside by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 2.

The Pilgrimage has been in existence since 1926, and is an annual event for many Troops. Our Troop has not participated recently. Because of the distance involved, and the various possible activities available during the weekend, we need to know in advance if there is enough interest in the event–both from scouts and from parents/leaders–to offer this outing.

More information is available on the Abraham Lincoln Council website at http://www.alincolnbsa.org/council_index.htm

To gauge the level of interest, we are asking each scout family to participate in a survey.

Take Survey

Pancake Breakfast set-up is tonight, Thursday, March 3, at RPC. Some of our scouts were assigned to set-up as their official Pancake job, but we could use more help from adults and strong scouts. Please be at RPC at 7:00 p.m. if you can help.

Mr. Ringbloom will be coordinating the crossover, on Saturday, March 5, for incoming scouts from Pack 120. He would like a few scouts (7th & 8th grade) to assist. Please contact Mr. Ringbloom at jrringbloom@sbcglobal.net to volunteer.