This week, we’ll continue our exploration of camp-craft in anticipation of our Spring camping season.
So, BRING A SLEEPING BAG!
We’ll discuss camp bedding, tent etiquette, enjoy a camping skills contest and a sleeping bag relay.
We’ll also continue to review our “next-rank” requirements.
So, BRING YOUR HANDBOOKS!
ITEMS OF NOTE
MANDATORY TROOP MEETING on Feb. 27th: Troop Election Day!
We will leave Friday afternoon, have dinner on the road and drive straight to Tesomas this year, participating in the winter camp offering and adding on an extra day to make it a three day weekend, returning on Monday afternoon.
Program options for campers are Downhill Skiing, Snowboarding, Tubing & Tenderfoot Rank Advancement, and pricing ranges from $80-$125 for the entire weekend including equipment rental.
Please email troop24events@gmail.com with questions, thanks!
Yours in Scouting,
Cindy Reynolds & Kimber Coombes
Troop 24 Event Coordinators
Troop 24 will be holding a Family Night at Michael Anthony’s restaurant on Sunday, February 9th from 5 to 8 pm. Come and enjoy dinner and an evening out with your family and Troop 24 friends. The restaurant will donate 15% of our orders back to Troop 24. Michael Anthony’s is the same great restaurant that makes the delicious pizza for our 4th of July booth. The restaurant is located at 6434 Ogden Avenue in Berwyn, we will be in their Party Room. Hope to see you there!
At this event we will also have a brief presentation from Assistant Scoutmaster Flaherty about the Friends of Scouting Program. Please read the letter below about this important program.
To the parents of Troop 24:
A Scout is Prepared. As such, I want to prepare you for a special presentation. On February 9th, we have our Friends of Scouting (FOS) presentation. This is the one time each year when parents are asked to financially contribute support to the Pathway to Adventure Council. I am oftentimes asked “Why should I contribute to FOS?”, so I wanted to send information to you ahead of time so you understand what Friends of Scouting supports and why it’s important.
As a Troop we ask you to pay Troop dues that covers a National Registration fee, Boys Life fee and supports our Troop. Friends of Scouting dollars go to “behind the scenes” expenses that support our unit and that we never “see”, but are incurred by our local Council. These expenses are things like:
• Operating costs for Camp Napowan, Camp Betz, Camp Owasippe and Camp Lakota.
• District and Council programs such as Pinewood Derby’s, Training Events, Winter Klondike Derby’s, Merit Badge Days, Haunted Hikes, and more.
• Important items such as Adult Leader Training and Accident and Sickness Insurance coverage for all registered youth and leaders, and Camperships for Scouts whose families would not otherwise be able to afford to send their child to camp or join Scouting.
Contributions vary going all the way up to $5000 and even more! It takes about $240 per Scout per year to support the services and programs provided by the Pathway to Adventure Council. That’s only $20 a month. A target amount of $240 will cover all expenses incurred by our Council for your Scout this year. If you can afford more, fantastic! Your donation will help support Scouts who are less fortunate. If you cannot give at that amount, I hope that you will give whatever you can. Please consider the benefits received by your child and other youth when making your decision. In 2019, only 11% of families participated in FOS. We hope to have 100% participation this year, but we need your help!
At the presentation you will receive a Friends of Scouting pledge card. I ask that you be prepared at that time to donate/pledge. You can write a check for the full amount, spread it out over the year, or even make a pledge via online resources, there is also a text to give option as well.
I am ready to make my pledge to FOS and believe that supporting Friends of Scouting is important. I ask you to thoughtfully consider helping us reach our goal of 100% participation.
Thank you in advance for your consideration and your support of FOS.
Troop 24 Committee Chair, Unit FOS Coordinator
Carrie Staubus
Having concluded our Sports theme with blanketball, skills circuits, water polo, and informative overviews of wrestling and soccer, we’ll be starting our last theme of the Fall term – camp-craft.
This week, we’ll start with an overview of tents, including the particular tents used by the Troop. This will prepare us in the off-season for tent-camping coming soon in March.
We’ll also be visited by the Pack 24 and 120 Webelos II Crossovers, so be prepared! Let’s show them why Troop 24 Scouting is fun!
Finally, we’ll continue to review our next-rank requirements this week and throughout February.
So, BRING YOUR HANDBOOKS!
ITEMS OF NOTE
-Sell those pancake breakfast tickets! If you didn’t have a chance to pick up your tickets, they have been mailed to your home address.
-Scout Sunday at RPC is February 2nd! Click here for details.
-Michael Anthony’s Troop 24 Family Dinner on February 9th, 5:00-8:00. Details forthcoming.
-To register for the annual [February] Winter Tesomas outing, click here.
-Still spots available for the July Isle Royale high adventure back-packing trek [14 and older/First Class and above]. Click here for information.
Riverside Presbyterian Church, our charter organization, invites you to attend RPC on Scout Sunday, February 2. RPC’s Service of Worship begins at 10:00 a.m. with Coffee Fellowship to follow in the Social Hall. Please wear your Class A uniform and encourage family members to wear their uniform as well (Girl Scouts, Venturing, etc.).
The Scout Sunday tradition was started to make people in houses of worship aware of Scouting, and to allow Scouts to live out their “Duty to God” pledged each week. The Scout Law says that a “Scout is Reverent” and Scouts promise to do their “Duty of God” in the Scout Oath.
Scout families who would like to provide treats for the coffee hour after the service are invited to drop them off in the Social Hall kitchen of the church any time between 9:00 and 10:45 a.m. Thanks for your contribution & hope to see you there!
If you can’t join us at RPC, wear your uniform proudly to whatever house of worship you attend to show the community what we mean when we say “a Scout is Reverent.”
This week, we’ll continue our Sports & Athletics theme in the pool.
Bring a suit, towel, flip-flops, and goggles [if you have a pair]!
We’ll explore some – or all – of the requirements below. Handbooks are not required, since we’ll be at the pool, but if you can note what you haven’t fulfilled below, that may help!
Second Class
5a. Tell what precautions must be taken for a safe swim.
5b. Demonstrate your ability to pass the BSA beginner test: Jump feet-first into water over your head in depth, level off and swim 25 feet on the surface, stop, turn sharply, resume swimming, then return to your starting place.
5c. Demonstrate water rescue methods by reaching with your arm or leg, by reaching with a suitable object, and by throwing lines and objects.
5d. Explain why swimming rescues should not be attempted when a reaching or throwing rescue is possible. Explain why and how a rescue swimmer should avoid contact with the victim.
First Class
6a. Successfully complete the BSA swimmer test: Swim 75 yards in a strong manner using one or more of the following strokes: sidestroke, breaststroke, trudgen or crawl; then swim 25 yards using an easy, resting backstroke. The 100 yards must be completed in one swim without stops and must include at least one sharp turn.
6b. Tell what precautions must be taken for a safe trip afloat.
6c. Identify the basic parts of a canoe, kayak, or other boat. Identify the parts of a paddle or an oar.
6d. Describe proper body positioning in a watercraft, depending on the type and size of the vessel. Explain the importance of proper body position in the boat.
6e. With a helper and a practice victim, show a line rescue both as tender and as rescuer. (The practice victim should be approximately 30 feet from shore in deep water.)
ITEMS OF NOTE
Your pancake breakfast tickets will be available if you did not pick them up at the Jan 16th meeting. Click here for pancake breakfast details.
The Pancake breakfast is our biggest fundraiser of the year and we need your help to make it a success!
As always, ALL Scouts are responsible for selling 15 tickets at $5 each for a total of $75.
Scouts should pick up their ticket packets at either of the next two Thursday meetings, 1/16 or 1/23.
Ticket money is due 2/13. You may bring your ticket money to a Thursday meeting or drop it off at Ms. Henderson’s house. Her address may be found inside your ticket packet.
*If you have not sold all of your tickets by 2/13, you can buy them yourself, then resell up until the date of the Pancake Breakfast, Saturday March 7, but you are responsible for the full value of the tickets you are issued.
***Please Note – Your ticket packet will contain your BSA ID#. You will need your BSA ID# to sign up for your Pancake Breakfast job once the signup website is ready. Please save this information in a safe place!
This week, we’ll continue our Sports & Athletics theme.
Since we’re missing snow cover for outdoor Broomball, and it may be a messy evening, we’ll enjoy indoor activities.
We’ll first have a discussion of athletics and teamwork, and how they make a positive impact on your lives. We invite all Scouts who play a sport either in school or in a league to participate.
We’ll conclude with a skills/dexterity workshop with friendly competition in basketball, soccer, and dodge ball skills.
Finally, we’ll take some time to set/review our next-rank goals so we continue to make progress for the Spring Court of Honor.
So, BRING YOUR HANDBOOKS!
ITEMS OF NOTE
To join the Klondike Derby team for the 2020 “Pathway to Adventure” Derby, and attempt to re-claim the trophy, sign up here.
To volunteer to assist the running of the 2020 Pack 24 Pinewood Derby on January 25th, sign up here.
To register for the annual [February] Winter Tesomas outing, click here.
Still spots available for the July Isle Royale high adventure back-packing trek [14 and older/First Class and above]. Click here for information.
It’s back, this time with more options and better pricing!!
We will leave Friday afternoon, have dinner on the road and drive straight to Tesomas this year, participating in the winter camp offering and adding on an extra day to make it a three day weekend, returning on Monday afternoon.
Program options for campers are Downhill Skiing, Snowboarding, Tubing & Tenderfoot Rank Advancement, and pricing ranges from $80-$125 for the entire weekend including equipment rental.
We can only accomodate 12 Scouts on this trip, so please sign up right away. If you miss registration and would like to be added to a waiting list, or are interested in another trip like this but on a different weekend, please email troop24events@gmail.com.
Please email troop24events@gmail.com with questions, thanks!
Yours in Scouting,
Cindy Reynolds & Kimber Coombes
Troop 24 Event Coordinators
Just a reminder that we will be playing blanketball tonight.
If you have a few old blankets and/or a beach ball for tonight’s “Blanketball” games, please bring them along!
We’ll also briefly review the Eagle-optional “Sports” merit badge so we can decide whether to organize a merit badge workshop later this year.
And … we’ll begin forming this year’s Klondike Derby crew.
Finally, we’ll take some time to set/review our next-rank goals so we continue to make progress for the Spring Court of Honor.
So, BRING YOUR HANDBOOKS!
ITEMS OF NOTE with updated links!
PAV YMCA swimming/aquatics day at the January 23rd Troop meeting.
To volunteer to assist the running of the 2020 Pack 24 Pinewood Derby on January 25th, sign up HERE.
To join the Klondike Derby team for the 2020 “Pathway to Adventure” Derby, and attempt to re-claim the trophy, also on January 25th, sign up HERE.
