Help! Book Drive 2012, the Eagle Project starting on April 14, needs more scouts and adults to sign up! There are less than 3 weeks to go until the project! Scouts and adults are still needed on Saturday, April 14, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., as well as Sunday, April 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., to man book collecting stations in downtown Riverside. Also, one more adult and scout is needed for the unmanned collecting station signup. Remember, this means that volunteers will meet every day, Monday April 16 to Friday April 20, at about 3:45 p.m. or 4:00 p.m., to check on 3 stations close together around downtown Riverside. This process will take half an hour (or less) each day. More information will be given at signup.

Also, we need boxes! If you have a box that can fit 10 reams of paper, or with dimensions roughly 9” by 12” by 17”, please donate them to Joe Rogers by contacting him at rogersj17@gmail.com. We need about 30 more to prepare fully for the project, so please donate soon!

The Troop Committee will be conducting Boards of Review for advancement on Thursday, April 5 (exact time and location to be determined, due to services at RPC that night). So far, we have been notified that Joseph C, Derek J, and Glen Q are ready for a Board. This will be the last opportunity for a Board of Review prior to our Spring Court of Honor to be held on April 19. To request a Board of Review, contact Nancy Hopkins at nmhopkins1@comcast.net.

Due to spring break, there is no Troop meeting this Thursday (March 29). We will meet on April 5 AT THE SCOUT CABIN. Scouts who are ready for a Board of Review should contact Nancy Hopkins at nmhopkins1@comcast.net. Boards will be held on April 5, with location to be announced.

Voyageur Trace District invites all Des Plaines Valley Council troops to participate in a Spring Camporee allowing your new scouts to learn some skills for summer camp. Please join us in pitching our scouts against the great outdoors.

When: Friday, April 20 to Sunday, April 22, 2012.
Where: Camp Lakota, 2050 Deep Cut Road, Woodstock, IL 60098-9743.

Program will include the following scout skills: Campfires, Pioneering, Rope Skills, Fire building, Box Oven Cooking, Tent building, Cooking, Dutch Oven Cooking, First Aid, Cleaning & Packing for Summer Camp, and Orienteering. There will be a camp-wide patrol competition culminating in the Camporee campfire celebration on Saturday night.

Troop 24 Scouts will leave from the RPC on Friday evening (time to be determined) and return Sunday around noon. The cost for this outing is $45. The deadline for signing up for the outing is Sunday, April 15 at noon. Please fill out a form for each scout.

If your scout plans to attend our summer camp at Camp Tesomas (July 15-21), he should attend at least one weekend camp-out before attempting a week away from home & family. This camp-out is one opportunity. We will have one other camp-out before summer, on May 18-20, at Kankakee River State Park.

Scouts (other than 1st year scouts) should print out and bring a copy of the worksheet for the Medicine Merit Badge to the meeting tonight. The worksheet is available here:

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/0/04/Medicine.pdf

FIFTY scouts have now signed up for summer camp. We encourage you to sign up soon. Our initial payment is due to the camp by April 1, and we’ll have to pay more for anyone registered after April 1. More information can be found at
http://troop24riverside.com/2012/03/summer-camp-tesomas-july-15-21-2012/
or go directly to the sign-up form:
http://troop24riverside.com/2012/03/camp-tesomas-form/

Roving correspondent, Jimmy S, reports on the Troop’s recent ski trip to Sunburst.

The ski trip for scouts was fantastic! Wonderfully planned by Mrs. Lynch, the scouts had an awesome time! We first arrived at RPC at 7:00 a.m. and left in our separate cars. We arrived at Sunburst Ski Resort, and it took about a half hour to get all of our equipment: helmets, skis or snowboards, depending on what you chose, and boots. Most of us chose skiing over snowboarding, and gathered in a group for skiing lessons. The lessons started at 10:30 and ended at 11:45. In them, we learned how to clock turn, which is how to turn when you are walking with skis on, how to walk uphill with the skis on, how to use a tow rope, and how to ski downhill.

One question may still be lingering on your minds: How do you ski? Well, it takes some practice, but you glide downhill with your skis on and try not to fall over. When you are skiing, you might want to turn, so you just shift your weight onto the side opposite of what you want to turn to. We also gradually started using the ski lifts and going down the higher hills. At 1:00, Mr. Robertson instructed the snow sports merit badge. Alas, at 4:00, skiing was over.

We went back to a really nice hotel and had pizza and soda for dinner. At 6:45, all of the scouts went into their cars and went back to Sunburst for tubing. Tubing was a lot of fun, but was not like water tubing. Yes, of course, we used tubes, but instead of water, we slid down slopes of ice. It was a lot of fun, and it was even better because it was at night! Unfortunately our tubing session ended and we all left the ski resort. We got back and went to the pool for about an hour. We goofed around and then went to our respective hotel rooms and went to sleep. At 7:00 a.m., all of us were supposed to get up, eat our breakfast, pack up, and go home. Unfortunately, my room got up at about 9:00 a.m. and it took a bit longer than it should have.

For his Eagle Project, J. Rogers will be collecting and donating books to Worm Angels, a 501 (c )(3) non-for-profit charity based out of Chicago, which donates the books to Chicago Public Schools.

Scouts and adults are needed to help man and/or check on the collecting stations. There will be two types of collecting stations: unmanned and manned. The manned stations will be hosted on Saturday and Sunday, April 14 and 15, in 3 hour shifts from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. They will be hosted at Riverside Foods, Grumpy’s Café, and the Riverside Library. (Please note: the Riverside Library will not open until 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 15, and the only shift available for that location on that day will be from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.). The unmanned collecting stations will be boxes that people will drop off books in. They will be set up from Monday, April 16, to Friday, April 20, and will be at Town Hall, RPC, and the Riverside Bank. Volunteering for an unmanned station means that adults and scouts will meet all five days at a specified time and location to check on the collecting stations for damage, overflow of books, and types of books donated. Also, if the boxes need to be emptied, the volunteers will set up a new box and transport the full one to another location. This will not be a long process, but please note the adult’s work schedule and the scout’s after school activities.

Signup sheets will be at all Troop Meetings until the week of the project. If you cannot make the meetings and would like to volunteer, or have any questions, please email Joe Rogers at rogersj17@gmail.com.

The Village of Riverside and the Frederick Law Olmsted Society sponsor Landscape Work Days. Scouts are invited to participate, and this project is automatically approved for service hours. It’s also one of the easiest ways to fulfill the community service hour requirement for the Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge: While working on this merit badge, volunteer at least eight hours of your time for the [charitable community] organization.

All workdays are scheduled for Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Look for the Riverside Public Works dump truck. Come for an hour or three, whatever your schedule allows. Bring your favorite work gloves & a water bottle, and the service hour form. All other supplies & snacks will be provided.

Locations & dates of work days:

Scottswood Commons: April 28, June 23 & September 22
Riverside Road: May 12, June 9 & Sept 8
Scout Cabin area: May 19
Longcommon & Downing triangle: July 14 & Aug 11
Longcommon (Big Ball Park): November 10
Various locations: Oct 13