Scouts going to Kankakee River State Park this weekend should bring, in addition to their usual gear of sleeping bag, pad, flashlight, personal items:

Water bottle – if you are bicycling it would be ideal if you have a bottle rack on your bike to carry it
Cup – this does not mean either a cup OR a water bottle, as you can’t drink soup from a bottle
Day Pack – small lightweight pack that can be used while bicycling or canoeing
Bicycle Helmet – for those bicycling, a helmet is REQUIRED by BSA rules; no exceptions
Hat & sunscreen
Waiver form for Canoe/Kayakers

All scouts who will be canoeing must have a waiver signed by a parent. Please print the waiver here: http://reedscanoetrips.com/agreement.htm

Scouts whose parents are not canoeing must turn in the form on Friday at drop-off.

For those scouts who paid only the deposit earlier, or some portion of their camp fees, we need to receive your final payments by next Sunday, May 20. Scouts can bring their payments to the Troop meeting, or drop them off to Liz Gomorczak or Nancy Hopkins. Only those who earlier paid a $75 deposit and now owe the balance of $215 can pay online at WePay.

From our latest count it looks like 27 scouts have paid in full, which means 33 scouts still owe something. If you have lost track of what you have paid, or what you still owe, please contact Liz Gomorczak at jlgomo@sbcglobal.net Remember that there is an extra fee for scuba or microtreks.

We are also accepting payment for the bus ($100) and for bicycle transport ($15), but the deadline on those will be June 8. Payment for transportation can be made by check or WePay. PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH unless it’s in an envelope MARKED WITH THE SCOUT’S NAME.

The Village of Riverside and the Frederick Law Olmsted Society sponsor Landscape Work Days. The next one is Saturday, May 12 along Riverside Road near Olmsted Road

During several workdays in 2011, dozens of volunteers removed buckthorn and grapevine to reveal a view of the Des Plaines River. Help keep the momentum going! This year, volunteers plan to maintain the cleared section by weeding, applying herbicide & planting native grasses & sedges. Ultimately, the goal is to open up the view along the entire length of Riverside Road and into Miller Woods. With the invasive weeds removed, volunteers found numerous native species such as cup plant, solomon’s seal, wild indigo, woodland sunflower, dozens of oak tree seedlings, elm leaved goldenrod, riverbank wild rye, switchgrass & wafer ash. Come see for yourself!

Scouts are invited to participate, and this project is automatically approved for service hours. It’s also one of the easiest ways to fulfill the community service hour requirement for the Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge: While working on this merit badge, volunteer at least eight hours of your time for the [charitable community] organization. Don’t forget to bring your service hour form to have it signed by one of the volunteers in charge (look for scout parents there). The form is available here: http://troop24riverside.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Service-Hour-Form.pdf

All workdays are scheduled for Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Look for the Riverside Public Works dump truck. Come for an hour or three, whatever your schedule allows. Bring your favorite work gloves & a water bottle, and the service hour form. All other supplies & snacks will be provided.

Future locations & dates:
Scottswood Commons: June 23 & September 22
Riverside Road: June 9 & Sept 8
Scout Cabin area: May 19
Longcommon & Downing triangle: July 14 & Aug 11
Longcommon (Big Ball Park): November 10

Our newer scouts will be working on Tenderfoot requirement 4a (Whip & Fuse rope) as well as catching up on any requirements missed. Other scouts will be working on First Class requirement 5 (Citizenship). 17 of our older scouts need this requirement. Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review will also be conducted tonight.

Troop 24 is collecting boy scout uniforms. If you son has outgrown a uniform, he can donate it to the Troop, and possibly find another one in a larger size. (Who knows, it might already have the badges sewn on!) Bring the uniform to any Troop meeting and give it to Kit K.

In addition to uniforms, the Troop would appreciate donations of merit badge books that scouts are done with to add to the Troop library.

Scouts are asked to bring a box (or boxes) of cereal to the Troop meeting for RPC’s cereal drive. The cereal goes to an inner city church that provides breakfast in the summer for kids who normally eat breakfast at their school. The scouts have been an enormous help in donating cereal in the past, and RPC would appreciate your help again. Boxes of cereal can be dropped off at any Troop meeting in May.

The deadline for signing up for the Kankakee River outing is Thursday, May 10. Two activities are planned for the weekend of May 18-20. Canoeing is available for scouts who have earned the Swimming Merit Badge. Bicycling is available for all scouts.

Please fill out a form for each scout and each leader. The Scout cost for this outing is $30 for food, and $31 for canoeing (2 per canoe) or $42 for a single kayak. (Kayaking is only for scouts with kayaking experience. Do not sign up for a kayak unless you have kayaked before.)

We will provide transportation for the bikes. Scout parents should be sure that the scout’s bicycle is in good working order.

Scout Form
Leader Form

Contact Dawn Gmitro with questions at dmgmitro@aol.com

We NEED to know:
1. Is your scout riding the bus to Camp Tesomas?
2. Is your scout taking his bike to Tesomas?

The cost of the bus is $100. Our leaders will be adapting a trailer to transport bicycles for those boys who would like to bring them. To trailer a bicycle it will cost an additional $15 round trip, in addition to the cost of the bus. The cost will cover the materials to retrofit the trailer.

We need every scout to answer to these questions at: http://troop24riverside.com/2012/05/tesomas-busbicycle-form-scout/

We have 59 scouts signed up to go to Camp Tesomas. Some of our scouts will be riding to camp with their parents/leaders, but we have booked a 56-passenger coach bus to transport scouts and a few lucky leaders. The bus will have a restroom and movies to watch. The cost will be the same as it has been for the past several years–$100. This year, however, the Troop Committee voted to give 2-scout families a break for the second scout, with a cost of $100 for the first scout, and $75 for the second scout. Scouts can elect to ride the bus one-way, but the price will be the same regardless if you ride one way or both ways.

In addition, since Tesomas is a large camp (Camp Tesomas is actually part of a larger area known as the Crystal Lake Scout Reservation), scouts are able to bring bicycles to camp to travel between campsites and program areas. The roads through the camp are hard-packed limestone (in most cases), suitable for mountain bikes/hybrid bikes (not for road bikes, and probably not BMX-style bikes). The Camp requires scouts to wear helmets for bicycling. Additional rules for bicycle use can be found at http://www.tesomas.com/bicycles.html. We will also require that the boys bring their bicycles in for inspection prior to going to camp to ensure that the bicycle is functioning properly.

The Troop would like to know:
1) if your scout is planning to take the coach bus, and
2) whether your scout would like to bring his bicycle.

Our leaders will be adapting a trailer to transport bicycles for those boys who would like to bring them. To trailer a bicycle it will cost an additional $15 round trip, in addition to the cost of the bus. The cost will cover the materials to retrofit the trailer.

We are asking for payment for the bus and bicycle by check, made out to Troop 24, or by WePay. Everyone with a scout going to camp should fill out a form–one for each scout. Leaders should fill out the leader form.

Scout Form
Leader Form