Troop 24 will send a crew to Philmont in July of 2013. If your scout is interested, but you did not attend the informational meeting on February 6, please contact High Adventure Scoutmaster Jim Ringbloom ASAP. All interested scouts (& adults) must pay a $100 deposit, by February 29, to reserve their spot.

Troop 24 along with Girl Scout Troop 657 will be participating in a joint service opportunity to package food for starving children around the globe.  We will spend 2 hrs at Feed My Starving Children in Aurora, IL.

Friday, Feb 10 is an early release day for District 96 scouts.

We will need a lot of chaperones for this outing.  The adult : scout ratio requirement for this age group is 1 : 4.  If you are an adult who would be available and interested,  please put this date on your calendar.  We will have scouts sign up in mid-January for the outing.  For more information on Feed My Starving Children check out their web site at http://www.fmsc.org/

Contact Susan Lynch with questions.

Scouts of 1st Class rank and above need troop positions. Scouts who do not have a position, and are interested in being assigned to a leadership position, should contact Mr. Payne by Monday, October 31.

We will have a parent meeting at 7:00 on Thursday, September 15, in the Social Hall (basement) at RPC (at the same time the Troop meets). We would greatly appreciate one parent from every scout family attending to fill out paperwork for the year. We must have the permission slip signed for the year before your scout can attend any overnight outings.

If your scout was planning to bicycle & camp at the I&M Canal this weekend, please let Nancy Hopkins know if he is available and interested in going next weekend (assuming the weather is better).

Several tents have not been returned. We will need all available tents for our Bicycle outing this weekend. If you are not going to be at the Troop meeting on Thursday, please make arrangements to drop off your tent to Mr. Payne before Thursday evening.

The Troop Committee updated our “Scout & Parent Guide” for new scout families. Because we did not have such a document at the time most of the older scouts crossed over, you might want to look through the Guide, which describes things such as uniform requirements, dues, medical forms, record-keeping, and expectations relating to fundraising. Suggestions for improvements for our next update are welcome (contact nmhopkins1@comcast.net).

Download Scout & Parent Guide.

The Troop Committee met on March 1, and discussed possible outings through next December. For various reasons, scouts have been signing up for our outings “at the last minute.” Because we don’t have a firm roster of participants very far in advance, we have been unable to fully utilize the Patrol Method, with scouts planning meals, participating in shopping for food, working as a patrol, etc. To the extent possible, we will be trying to return to the patrol method, which will require us to cut off registrations farther in advance than we have previously. We request the help of our parents in discussing outings with your scouts and making an effort to commit to an outing as early as possible.

You may want to read an article in National Geographic about the influence Boy Scouting had on one former scout:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/traveler-magazine/unbound/boy-scouts/

For a copy of the pattern for a paper airplane from the Experimental Aviation Association outing, visit the Reference section of the Troop website under Forms and Documents.