The Village of Riverside and the Olmsted Society invites you to celebrate Illinois’ “It’s Our River Day” & help beautify Riverside by removing buckthorn between the sidewalk & the Des Plaines River along Riverside Road on Saturday, September 17, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Look for the Riverside Public Works dump truck on Riverside Road near Olmsted Road. Come for an hour or three, whatever your schedule allows. Supervised children are welcome. Service hour credits are available. Bring your favorite work gloves & a water bottle. All other supplies & snacks will be provided.

Troop 24 is planning a service outing to the Greater Food Depository of Chicago on Wednesday, September 28. Scouts 13 years of age or older and adults are welcome. Scouts should be dropped off at RPC at 5:15 p.m. We will return at approximately 9:30 p.m. We will drop the kids off at home. The deadline for signing up for the outing is Monday, September 26. Please fill out a form for each scout. There is no cost for this outing. Scouts should wear their Class A uniforms, long pants, and closed-toed shoes. The Depository has requested that each participant bring a jar of peanut butter with them on the 28th. Contact Dawn Gmitro with questions.

This is a great opportunity to put Scout values into practice in our community and spend time with your scout doing something that will make you both feel great.

Ben’s Eagle Project involves rebuilding benches in Riverside. On Thursday, May 19, we will prepare the iron frames for painting, then use Rustoleum spray paint to paint them. On Friday, May 20, we will install new wood and new hardware, to finish all work in time for the Arts Festival this weekend. We will meet at the Riverside Post Office, on Burlington Street, at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, and at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. (RB students are released at 1:30 Friday, because of the Prom that night.)

Please bring your signed permission slip with you. Download the form here.

Due to the inclement weather, Ben C’s Eagle Project for Sunday will be postponed. The next step in the project is painting, and the forecast is not good. Anyone who volunteered to help on Sunday–Thanks! but we will not be working on Sunday. More information on future dates will follow.

All scouts not going to the I&M Canal this weekend are asked to help with Ben’s Eagle Project on Saturday (May 14) or Sunday (May 15). We are going to remove old wood from 5 benches in Riverside. After the wood is removed, we will prepare the iron frames for painting, then use Rustoleum spray paint to paint them. The wood will be replaced with new wood and new hardware on Sunday, the following day. We will meet at the Riverside Post Office, on Burlington Street, for the first shift on Saturday. We will be at the water tower for the second shift. Please meet at the water tower for the Sunday shift.

The shifts are:
Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Saturday 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sunday 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Lunch will be served at 12:30 on Saturday. No lunch will be served on Sunday, but there will be snacks. Please eat lunch before you arrive, if you are signing up for the second shift on Saturday. Cold water will be available at all times.

The adult leaders in charge will be Paul Cox and Debra Cox.

Please bring your signed permission slip with you. We will have work gloves, dust masks, hand sanitizer and safety goggles.

Work on Ben C’s Eagle Project begins this Saturday (TOMORROW), May 7, at his home in Riverside. We will prepare hardwood lumber for installation on benches in the village of Riverside. Scouts are asked to sign up for one of two shifts:
10:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Lunch will be served at 12:30, for those working the first shift. Please eat lunch before you arrive, if you are signing up for the second shift. Cold drinks will be available the entire day.

Please bring a signed permission slip with you. Dress appropriately for the weather. Unless it rains you will be working outside. Work gloves and safety goggles will be provided, or you may bring your own. Information and permission slips for the next work day will posted later. Please contact Ben with any questions. An e-mail to Ben indicating which shift you are working would be appreciated.

Reminder: The cereal drive continues throughout May. The cereal collected will go to children in Chicago who normally receive breakfast at school during the school year. During the summer the kids in the neighborhood can have breakfast at First Presbyterian Church in Chicago. Please have your scout bring cereal donations to any of the May Troop meetings.

All scouts are invited to the Riverside Landscape Work Day (sponsored by the Village of Riverside and the Frederick Law Olmsted Society) this Saturday, April 30, from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Meet at the Big Ball Park to continue the work begun earlier in the month.

Service hours can be used for rank advancements for Star (6 hours earned while a 1st Class Scout) and Life (6 hours earned while a Star Scout), or for the Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge (all 8 hours of community service have to be done for the same organization–Landscape Work Days are scheduled every month, spring through fall).

Scouts can come for the entire morning, or for a portion of the time. Please download the Troop 24 Service Hour Form. It does not need to be signed in advance, as this event is “pre-approved.” Bring the form, filled out with scout’s name & information, and give it to Mrs. Skiest. She will mark the arrival and departure time and turn in the forms to the Troop.

Parents: In the past, the Village of Riverside has required a volunteer waiver form when you drop off your scout. This form must be completed on an annual basis, and our Village Forester will have those forms available, or you can download it here.

If you have any questions, we have two scout moms who are active in the Olmsted Society and can answer questions: Dorie Skiest at djskiest@sbcglobal.net and Holly Machina at hmachina@ameritech.net. Look for one of them when you arrive. Please bring work gloves and a water bottle, and perhaps a hat and sunscreen. Tools will be provided. (More wheelbarrows were needed at the last work day, so if you have one and can bring it, those would be appreciated.)

Due to the weather, Karl’s Eagle Project at the British Home will take place on Sunday rather than Saturday. We hope your time is flexible enough to allow the scouts who signed up to work on Saturday to come on Sunday instead. The two shifts on Sunday will be 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (If your scout was signed up for 9-12 on Saturday, please come at 11:00 on Sunday. If he was signed up for 12-3 on Saturday, please come at 1:00 on Sunday.) If you didn’t sign up, your help is still welcome. See Karl when you arrive.

Scouts should bring gloves. If possible, rakes, shovels, and wheelbarrows are also needed. Please contact Karl J. if you have any questions.

Last year, the Scouts helped greatly in the RPC cereal Drive. During the entire month of May, RPC will again be collecting cereal of all kinds. All cereal collected goes to the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago where low-income children go for breakfast in the summer because they’re not receiving breakfast at their schools as they do during the school year. Our goal is to help as many kids as possible have enough to eat in the summer months! We hope you will consider participating in this very worthwhile cause again this year. Your cereal donations would be greatly appreciated! Bring cereal donations to RPC the night of any Troop meeting during April or May. If you have any questions, please contact Jenny Kolinski at kolinski426@comcast.net.