Boy Scout Troop 843
Committee Meeting
September 8, 2008
In attendance: Deb Dorph, Susan Emerson, Connie Everhart, Diane Gearinger, Mary Grebe, Phyllis Hollifield, Sabina Koehler, Wendy Shingler, Alan Zuelke,
Secretary’s Report: The Secretary’s Report from the August meeting was accepted with one revision on a motion by Diane Gearinger, seconded by Alan Zuelke.
Treasurer’s Report: The Treasurer reported that there has been no activity since the last meeting, so the current balance remains $8,895.99. He provided a detailed report of where each Scout’s account stands as well as troop activity. Alan cleaned up the boys’ accounts to reflect boys who have left the troop. He shared a letter that will go out to boys with a negative account balance.
Outdoor Activities Chair: Connie shared that she has asked the ASMs to provide input on what high adventure trek they would like her to pursue next.
Connie was just back from Camp Chief Logan and they seem to have some sites that might work. She has been told the same thing by Camp Falling Rock, though the site that Tod Jervey recently recommended against is the only one large enough to accommodate our troop. The Council is hiring a new person to be over all camps, and that may lead to improvement. Connie noted that the dining hall at Logan is probably as nice as Camp Friedlander. We probably would not want to do Oyo because it bills itself as high adventure and is priced accordingly. Otter Run is too small and not run as an official summer camp program. That exhausts our in-council alternatives. Connie shared that if the troop selects Logan, she recommends that we wait and do OA tapout there.
There is still a possibility of picking up our own high adventure trek for next summer. If that doesn’t work out, then Connie will strongly recommend we put together some type of Gettysburg type trip.
We need to make sure we have representation at Roundtable. It was suggested that perhaps we should send out an e-mail for it.
Advancement Chair: Irene could not attend, but sent the report that there were just a few advancements turned in so far.
Old Business
Phyllis Hollifield reported that she got a copy of the form used by Council to screen families needing financial aid. It was pretty generic, but it did ask if the family had participated in fundraisers and then required the Scoutmaster’s signature. Phyllis is going to look into what the schools use as well, although there was consensus that we would not ask family income. However, number of siblings and their extracurricular commitments seems like a worthwhile question. Phyllis recommends that we require that they be active in the troop (participate in at least 50% of meetings), participate in fundraisers, and come up with a process to encourage them to become self-sufficient. We need to identify a process that protects confidentiality while still providing adequate controls – maybe define a committee of three people. Also, Phyllis points out that if we go to in-council camps, we can also seek financial aid through council. The group also recommends that we make all Assistant Scout Masters aware of it so that if they become aware of a family with financial needs, they can steer them into this process. Based on this discussion, Phyllis will bring a formal recommendation to the next meeting.
Phyllis reported that Webelos Woods went very well. However, it turns out there were only five troops participating. The approach another troop took was to have their SPL hand-pick a patrol representing all ages.
New Business:
Alan Zuelke asked a question about recruitment. Since we didn’t get any of the boys from Pack 843 last year, what are our chances of getting them this time? We also discussed what we should do at Webelos Day and the need to get it scheduled and announced. For example, we could make it an overnight instead of just an afternoon activity. We recommend that we get all den chiefs assigned, then present them with den chief cords at a meeting. Deb Dorph suggested moving it closer to Halloween and using a Halloween theme to make it fun for Webelos. We could camp right on the church grounds, especially if we could get the path to the fire ring cleaned up in time. Alan Zuelke took the assignment to see what he packs have scheduled for that time.
There was discussion of putting together a conservation project to clean up the area at the back of the church property so that some of the boys could pursue the Hornaday award.
There is a campout being held at the Liebert space the weekend of 10/18 for Pack 843. It was suggested that we send a patrol of kids to that just to mingle and lead and recruit.
Deb Dorph has a personal conflict with the second Monday of the month. She asked if the committee would be willing to meet on the first Monday of the month for a period of time instead. Upon discussion, the group thought there may actually be some advantages to this meeting time as it gives us an opportunity to feed topics to the PLC and the ASM meting. Until further notice, we will be meeting on the first Monday of the month during the regular troop meetings starting at 7:00.
There was discussion about the fact that we currently have more boys working on Eagle Scout projects now than we ever have had at any one time in the history of the troop. It would be nice to see them reflected on the calendar or some central location and better coordinate their time efforts. There was also discussion that there is a requirement in our policy that a boy must show leadership and attend meetings. That is a prerequisite for Eagle, not just doing a project. We need to communicate this to the boys.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. The next committee meeting will be held on Monday, October 6 at 7:00 p.m.