Our Spring Court of Honor will be held Thursday May 25th.
Scouts should turn in any completed blue cards to Mrs. Enochs no later than May 11th in order to receive their merit badge patches at the Court of Honor.
Scouts who are ready for rank advancement should complete their Scoutmaster conference and Board of Review no later than May 11th to be recognized at this Court of Honor.
Boards of Review will be taking place Thursday May 11th at the troop meeting. They will also be available Sunday May 7th (late afternoon and early evening by Zoom) for scouts who are unavailable on May 11th. Please sign up if you are ready and let us know what date works for you.
Request Scoutmaster Conference
Request Board of Review
Adult volunteers are needed for Boards of Review – please reply to this email if you are available.

Scouts can earn a Climbing Merit Badge or just camp and climb for fun on next month’s campout.

The campout will be on May 19-21.

We will be camping at Comlara Park Campground located in McClean County.

We will be climbing at Upper Limits in nearby Bloomington, IL. The pictures below don’t do it justice; Scouts will be climbing in a converted grain silo which is 65 ft tall!

Signup will be out shortly. Have a nice weekend!  If you have any questions please email Troop24Events@gmail.com.

The Hofmann Dam River Rats Annual Spring River Clean-Up
Saturday, April 29
9 am to noon

Join the dedicated Hofmann Dam River Rats in their semi-annual litter cleanup along the banks of the Des Plaines River. Enjoy the outdoors and learn about the river while helping your local natural areas.

*Disposable gloves, bags, refreshments and training will be provided
*Dress for the weather and to work along the river. Wear sturdy shoes/boots, long sleeves and long pants that can get dirty, and work gloves. Dressing in layers and wearing a hat is recommended.
*Overflow parking is available at Stella’s (3903 Joliet Ave, Lyons)

Meet at the forest preserve area east of the Lyons side of the Barrypoint Bridge and the Hofmann Tower.

Work will include removing trash from the DesPlaines River and the river bank.
The Hofmann River Rats is a registered not-for-profit organization, service hours will be given.

Please have the River Rats sign our service hour form for you.

Here is some additional information about the Aviation Merit Badge for our Troop at the Clow Airport in Bolingbrook on Saturday May 13 – plan to meet at 7:45 am at RPC to carpool to the airport. We should be able to complete the program in the morning, then we can have lunch togather at Charlie’s restaurant at the airport.
The good news:
Thanks to the great people at the Illinois Aviation Museum this will be FREE event.
Scouts will have the option to participate in a free flight that day with the EAA Chapter 461’s Young Eagle Program – weather permitting and waiver required (scouts doing this merit badge will be pre-registered and do not need to sign up through EAA).
The airport, aviation museum and restaurant are really cool places that we know you will enjoy!
The bad news:
A parent or legal guardian MUST be present in person at the airport to sign the waiver for the flight. This is a strict EAA rule due to insurance requirements. We will know by the night before about if weather will allow the flights, which are NOT a requiremnt for the merit badge.
Also, in order to earn the completed merit badge, scouts MUST read the Aviation Merit Badge booklet and complete the worksheet. Our troop library has multiple copies, so do you do NOT need to purchase the booklet. If scouts wish, we can plan a time to work together on reviewing the worksheets ahead of time. We will be meeting with a certified merit badge counselor at the museum who will sign off on blue cards at the event.

Please let us know if you are interested and have not yet signed up:
SCOUT SIGN UP
Adult SIGN UP
If you have already signed up, we will assume you can bring a parent along to sign the waiver unless we hear otherwise from you. (We need to give names and ages for flights one week in advance.)
13 Scouts have already signed up! (You can reply to this email to let us know if your parent can’t attend or ask questions.)

Service Project coming up this month:

Scouting for Food is the Boy Scouts of America’s nationwide service project to help stop hunger in our communities. It began as a Scout’s service project in St. Louis, MO in 1985 and was adopted by the Boy Scout National Organization in 1988.

Pathway to Adventure Council will hold a council-wide Scouting for Food program that takes place on two consecutive weekends.

• On the first weekend, Scouts distribute bags or door hangers within their assigned area to let their neighbors know about the drive.
• On the second weekend, Scouts revisit those houses to pick up nonperishable items.

Our Troop will then drop off collected food items at the Riverside Presbyterian Church Little Free Food Pantry. Scouts will receive service hour credit.

Noting that several of you are camping this weekend, if you can assist, please reply to ASM Lauger tlauger@gmail.com for the records.  Another email will be sent to all volunteers.

Thanks!

YIS, ASM Lauger

1. Saturday April 15th from 10 am to noon: Door hanger drop off
2. Saturday April 22nd from 9 am to noon: Food collection

It’s time to register for Troop 24 Summer Camp!!

Troop 24′s annual summer camp will be at Camp Tesomas, north of Rhinelander, Wisconsin (about 6 hours from Riverside). Traditionally, almost all our scouts attend summer camp, and we highly recommend that new scouts attend camp. The dates for this year’s camp are July 16-22. More information about the camp is available here: Camp Tesomas Website

Younger scouts (current 5th, 6th, 7th graders) will take merit badge classes. For our 5th grade scouts particularly, our leaders will discuss their options with them and make recommendations. You can start thinking about your merit badge choices by looking at the 2023 Tesomas Advancement Schedule. Eagle Quest is an alternative to merit badge classes and can help scouts earn rank advancement.

The cost for camp is $370. The camp fee should be paid by check made out to Troop 24. Checks can be turned in at a Troop meeting. Scouts with popcorn credit received an e-mail with the amount. If it will be a hardship to pay everything at once, you can pay $185 now, with the remainder due by May 15. Troop 24 also has campership money available for scouts with financial hardship. Contact Scoutmaster Dave Flassing at flassing@yahoo.com for more information.

As in the past, we will charter a bus to take our scouts to camp. The cost will be $125 per scout (which is in addition to the cost of the camp). We will also be transporting bicycles to camp. More information about the bus and bike transportation will be available later. The bus will leave about 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, July 16, and will return mid-day on Saturday, July 22.

All scouts will need an updated BSA medical form, signed by a physician (Part C) prior to going to camp. Please make your doctors’ appointments soon. The form that you need to take to your physician can be downloaded here:
BSA Medical Form

Please don’t wait until the last minute to register! Register for camp here:
Scout Summer Camp Registration

At this time, we are accepting adult registration from ONLY Leaders and Troop Committee Members. Leaders planning to attend Camp Tesomas, register here:
Summer Camp Adult Leader Registration
General questions about camp can be directed to our Summer Camp Coordinator, Rachel Schrier.

Please save the date for a Troop 24 day outing to the Clow Airport in Bolingbrook for the Aviation Merit Badge on Saturday May 13 – this will be an all day activity. Thanks to the great people at the Illinois Aviation Museum this will be a lost cost or no cost event. Scouts will receive a tour of the museum and airport and all instruction for the merit badge. Scouts will have the option to participate in a free flight that day with the EAA Chapter 461’s Young Eagle Program – weather permitting and waiver required (scouts doing this merit badge will be pre-registered and do not need to sign up through EAA). Please let us know if you are interested – we need a few adult drivers/chaparones for this event.
Scout Sign Up
Adult Sign Up