Please join us in assisting Riverside Presbyterian Church CARERS committee in making a contribution to the food pantry at First Presbyterian Church in Chicago. This church serves the Woodlawn community. Every Thursday they distribute 100-125 bags of food to community residents.

Please bring  non-perishable food items for donation to the Court of Honor on Thursday, October  21, and to the Troop Meeting on October 28.  Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Central PTO is looking for older kid volunteers to help run some carnival games for the Family Fun night on Friday, September 24. Scouts would work 5:30-7:30 and would get free pizza and pop as payment. Interested scouts should contact Dawn Gmitro.

Christian F. needs volunteers for his Eagle Project, to take place this weekend, June 5 and June 6. The project is the construction of an herb garden at the 1850’s Franzosenbusch Prairie House Nature Center and Museum on Wolf Road and Constitution Drive, in Westchester, and will provide visitors to the Museum with a historically accurate representation of a typical family garden from the 1870’s. The 10 x 16 square-foot garden will include a walkway with 6 separate raised plots for different herbs.

Eight scouts are needed for each of the shifts on Saturday and Sunday:

9:30 a.m – 11:30 a.m.
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Please contact Christian to volunteer. Scouts must have a signed permission slip to participate.

The Village of Riverside’s “Spring Ahead” project to beautify downtown Riverside is moving into the final phase, and Boy Scouts are invited to help. (Service hours available, but don’t forget to have your service hour form approved by a leader and signed by one of the adults in charge. The service hour form is available here.)

May 28 — On this day the Riverside-Brookfield SEE Team (45 kids strong) are coming to help us mulch the Longcommon and Triangle, weed the Burlington planters, and actually plant the beds on Quincy and Riverside Road. We need ten adult volunteers to help from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. We will meet at the Public Works Building at 8:30 a.m. If you have a truck or van we especially need those to help transport plants.

May 29 — The Big Day! We need all available hands to plant and mulch the Burlington Street planters. We will meet at 9:00 a.m. at the parking lot beside Riverside Bank and start the transformation of our downtown. We will break for a nice lunch and then keep at it until we are finished and our downtown blossoms!

Bring your family and friends on the 29th to help us realize this great project. Also please bring hand trowels, shovels, and gloves (and knee pads) if you have them.

So we can plan for lunch, please RSVP if you can help on either day and how many folks you think will be coming with you.

Thank you for your support of the project and our Village. With your help Riverside really is poised to Spring Ahead! If you have any questions, e-mail Ben at bsells@riverside.il.us

Terri Lynne-Culloden, Commissioner, Landscape Advisory Commission
Ben Sells, Trustee, Village of Riverside

Performing service for others is a requirement for most Boy Scout rank advancements. Scouts who want to receive credit toward advancement for service they perform should have the form filled out and signed in advance, by our Scoutmaster or any Asst. Scoutmaster. At the event the form must also be signed by the adult in charge of the event. (In the case of an Eagle Project, that could be any scoutmaster present, or the Eagle Scout candidate. For an non-scouting-related event, it would be an adult who was in charge.) Be sure the hours you worked are accurate. (You might plan to work 2 hours, but if work was done in 1 1/2 hours, you are responsible for making sure your hours are correct.)

The final step–and this is important–keep track of your hours, and the dates worked (retaining a copy of the form yourself is a good idea), and turn in the form at a Troop meeting for our Advancement Chair, Mrs. Olzewski, to enter into “Troopmaster” to track your progress toward advancement.

The “Service Hour Form” is available on the website, right column, under

Reference
Forms and Documents
Service Hour Form

Eagle Scout is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men. The title of Eagle Scout is held for life, thus giving rise to the phrase “Once an Eagle, always an Eagle.”  Requirements for Eagle include earning at least 21 merit badges and demonstrating Scout Spirit through the Boy Scout Oath and Law, service, and leadership. This includes an extensive service project that the Scout plans, organizes, leads, and manages.

During this school year two of our scouts completed their Eagle Projects (Elliot L and Peter F), and two scouts attained the Eagle rank (Dennis P and Peter F).  This spring three more of our scouts have Eagle projects (Sam C, Fitz R, and Christian F). The projects require a great deal of work on the part of the Eagle candidate, but they also require assistance from adult mentors, parents, and especially the other boys in the Troop. In return, the boys who work on the Eagle projects are credited with service hours, which are needed for advancement in the various boy scout ranks. Help is needed from our scouts on the following dates:

To volunteer for these dates, contact Sam C or Fitz R.

Records of Eagle Scout awards at the Council are incomplete, but we know that at least 63 scouts from Troop 24 have earned the rank of Eagle, with the earliest known in 1927. Nationally, only 2% of scouts attain the rank of Eagle Scout. Troop 24’s percentage is much higher.

Rank advancements usually require scouts to perform a certain number of “service hours.” The Troop is often asked to participate in various community events for which service hours may be counted. Our Advancement Chair, Mrs. Olszewski, tracks the service hours for each scout. To make that an easier process, we now have a Service Hour Form, which scouts should fill out and have approved prior to performing the service (to ensure that the event will count). Connor C. has put together a list of local organizations for which service hours are available, which includes contact information.

1. For a service project that is a “troop event,” which would include Eagle Projects and events such as the recent outing to the Chicago Food Depository, scouts do NOT need to fill out the service form. Those service hours will automatically be tracked by our Advancement Chair.
2. Service projects for the groups listed on the list of local organizations are automatically approved, but the scout still needs to have the form filled out and turned in, so that Mrs. Olszewski knows about the hours and can keep track of them. Either our Scoutmaster or the Assistant Scoutmasters can sign the form.
3. If a scout wants to have hours counted for something that is NOT on the spreadsheet, the scout should have the service approved in advance. If the scout does the service without prior approval, it may (or may not) be allowed.
4. Service done for our chartering organization is automatically approved (for example making sandwiches for the Night Ministry, working at the monthly church work days, etc.)

As part of his Eagle Project, Sam C. is requesting assistance, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on March 31 (Wednesday during Spring Break), April 3 (last weekend of Spring Break), and April 24.  The work to be accomplished on these dates, which will be done in conjunction with the Riverside Landscape Advisory Commission, will provide Sam with the plants needed for his Eagle Project, which involves landscaping near the Post Office.

On March 31, the work will involve  weeding downtown planting beds & trimming/removing some bushes, adding compost to planting beds, and digging plants for division.  Meet at Riverside Bank at 9:00 a.m. (rain or shine).

On April 3 and April 24, volunteers will work indoors, at the Public Works building, dividing plants, filling gallon pots with dirt, and planting seedlings.    Meet at the Public Works Building at 9:00 a.m.

Sign up at the March 18 scout meeting. 6-10 scouts are needed for each date.  Be sure to bring work gloves to the work days.  Contact Sam if you have questions.

Scouts are invited to assist with clean-up at the Ames School Book Fair on Thursday, February 11, starting at 4:00 pm and ending no later than 5:30 pm. Among the tasks will breaking down tables, sweeping the floors, and general cleanup of the gym after the two-day Book Fair. Service hour(s) are available. If you are interested, please contact Mrs. Gomorczak at jlgomo@sbcglobal.net. She is the adult in charge of cleanup and the mother of one of our Scouts.

CORRECTION:  The date of the Pinewood Derby is Saturday, January 30!

Pack 24 is in need of some Boy Scout assistance (scouts 8th grade or older, or 1st Class & above) for Pinewood Derby on Saturday, January 30. Service hours are available for these shifts:

8:00-9:00 Help carry tables to the gym (4 scouts)
12:00-2:00 Assist with race (4 scouts)
2:00-4:00 Assist with race (4 scouts)

Please contact Nancy Hopkins at nmhopkins1@comcast.net to volunteer.