For the past several years the scouts have provided s’mores during the Holiday Stroll. We are seeking a parent to be the chairperson for this event. We have detailed records describing what needs to be done. Please contact Nancy Hopkins at nmhopkins1@comcast.net to volunteer.

GS Troop 657 is working on a community service Silver Award Project to increase reading skills and the love of reading through the availability of books in an under-served school. As members of the Riverside/Brookfield community we are very fortunate to have outstanding schools and libraries that have served to foster our love for books, the girls of Troop 657 want to give that same opportunity to kids that do not have those same resources. They have selected to help the K-8th graders at Corkery Elementary School located in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. Through a used book drive and a new book fair they will build classroom libraries with enough books to meet and grow each child’s reading level. The goal is to donate 1000 books to each grade!

Troop 24 Scouts and families can help in two ways:

• Please consider donating any gently used children’s books appropriate for ages 3-14. Scouts can bring donated books to troop meetings on December 5 and December 12. Girl Scouts will have a collection box available at those meetings.
• Join Girl Scout Troop 657, with Scholastic Books, at the Arcade Building for the Holiday Book Fair during the Riverside Holiday Stroll, on December 6, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. to shop for best-selling titles for all ages, interesting reads, and holiday classics. This is a great opportunity to give the gift of reading to your friends and family while sharing that gift with Corkery Elementary. All profits from the book fair will be used to purchase new books for the Corkery classroom libraries.

More information is available here: Holiday Book Fair flyer

Our Popcorn Kernel, Mrs. Kodama, reports that 23 scouts sold a total of $7,325 worth of popcorn, which included $350 of donated Popcorn for our Military. Sales for this year yielded a credit toward Scouting activities of $2,198!

Our top sellers are (in order of sales): Ryan C ($700), Ewan P. ($675), Erik R. ($615) and Jimmy S. ($600). These top sellers earned the ZX Cross Bow and are eligible to attend the Des Plaines Valley Council’s FREE Pizza Party night at Enchanted Castle for their whole family.

Apologies to Popcorn Kernel Kodama because the reminder that popcorn was to be picked up TODAY (Saturday, November 16) did not go out in a timely manner. If you did not pick up your popcorn, please contact Kernel Anne at amkodama@sbcglobal.net

Thank you to all the Scouts who participated this year. You did a great job!

Scouts who took tents home to dry after the Mississippi Palisades outing should bring them to the Troop meeting on Thursday.

Mark your calendars. Scouts who sold popcorn must pick up their orders this Saturday, November 16, at 288 Gage Road, Riverside, between 10:30 and noon. Please forward any questions to our Popcorn Kernel at amkodama@sbcglobal.net.

Attention Life Scouts and Parents of Life Scouts (or those Scouts close to attaining Life Rank)

As announced at the October Court of Honor, there is a Life to Eagle presentation on Tuesday, November 26. Even better, it is to be held in Riverside at the Township Hall! (Right next to the Village Hall)

This presentation will go over in depth the procedures for starting, working on, and completing your Eagle Scout Service Project. Even if you are just starting to think about what you might want to do for a project, this presentation may offer insight on what is/is not acceptable so you can minimize your effort and maximize your success.

Although you can just come that night and register, it is recommended you register in advance so they know how many they should expect to attend. (Like the troop, if there is not enough interest, the Council may cancel this event. This is so close we don’t want it to be cancelled as the next one may require travel of up to an hour to attend.)

http://www.bsa-dpvc.org/Training/Training_Fliers/131126_LifeToEagle.pdf

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Rogers at rogersr2@ameritech.net.

RESENDING WITH CORRECT LINKS

Scouts will have the chance to start two merit badges at the meeting this week: Communication & Personal Fitness. Both of these are Eagle-required badges. The following week, Mr. Flaherty & Mr. Andersen will be back to meet with boys who are working on the Family Life (older scouts) and/or Citizenship in the World merit badges.

Please print out the merit badge worksheet and bring it to the meeting:

Communication
Personal Fitness

We are sorry to say that we have to cancel the EAA outing planned for this weekend due to low interest. We have participated in this program twice in the past (the last time 2 years ago), and have always had more scouts interested than we had room to accommodate. Consequently, we reserved 20 spots this year, which was the number that EAA told us was necessary for this overnight event.

Unfortunately, we had only 12 scouts sign up. We had 4 leaders lined up–thank you to those adults who volunteered! Scouts who paid will be receiving a refund via WePay. This is the second outing that we’ve had to cancel this year due to low turnout (the other being the Camporall in September). It’s disheartening for those who spend time making the arrangements necessary to offer these opportunities to our scouts, and it’s frustrating for the scouts who had planned to go.

We would appreciate any feedback from parents or scouts about why scouts are not signing up–too costly; conflicts with sports, homework, other activities; just not interested? Also unfortunate is the fact that the Troop will lose the deposit we put down to reserve this weekend.