Wolf News – March 2, 2010

With all the noise of construction and excited boys going on around us at the Church on Tuesday, I don't know how much of "the news" reached the families, so I am posting everything here. I don't want anyone to miss out!

The first payment for camp is due now - $35 per scout and $20 per adult. You can pay me, Jim or Krista, or Cheryl Potter at the Library. Any of us is as good as the other – just be sure to catch one of us soon. I work at the Family Services office on 13th St directly behind Hartzler's on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but you can always leave an envelope for me any day with the front desk receptionist. It will reach me! The second camp payment (in the same amounts) is due on April 6th, and the final payment on May 4th. Turn in your Camp Scholarship request ("Campership") with your first payment or ASAP, so we can get those approved early, and chances are good that no one will have a final payment (May 4th) to make. The Campership should cover it. You can print a copy of the campership form at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26866289/Camp-Scholarship-Form

Health forms for camp are due ASAP as well. Health forms for camp are due ASAP. NEW!!! Word from the Council is that everyone who will be attending camp NEEDS A PHYSICAL! This is just the opposite of what I posted on 3/20, and it's brand new news to all of us. This is a brand new policy with the Council, and this is the first we have heard of it. Sorry for the short notice! Print your form now at  http://www.scribd.com/doc/26866214/Bsa-Health-Form?secret_password=1q80h0vyhskydmz9mk21

The dates for SCOUTING FOR FOOD have changed again (this post update 3/20/10)! We are now planning to hold the Scouting for Food food collection on Saturday, April 24th - which is the date of the Lamar Citywide Yard Sale. With all the cars careening around Lamar that day, we wouldn't want boys walking door to door and taking a chance on getting hit. So instead, we are going to set up several collection sites around town, including a big one on the parking lot of the First Christian Church. We'll make signs and wave at cars and let everybody know why we're there. In addition, we plan to incorporate our Pack 207 April fundraiser into the event, and will be selling hot biscuits and gravy at the church parking lot site to all the early bird yard-salers! We'll need lots of boys in uniform, and plenty of parent volunteer help, too, so mark your calendars! Watch this space for more information as it becomes available.

 

Remember, there will not be any regular den meetings on Tuesday, March 9th, due to the boys being on Spring Break from school ("No school, no scouts" is the rule). 

BIRDHOUSES!  On Tuesday, March 2nd, we started our bird houses for requirement 5 of the "Tools for Fixing and Building" achievement on the Wolf Trail, but ran into some problems with the wood splitting and the nails bending (yikes!). We collected everyone's parts and announced that we would complete the project "next week," once Jim and I have had a chance to predrill the holes to simplify things a bit. Well, I only now realized that next Tuesday is the 9th, and we will NOT be having a regular den meeting, as announced above. So be sure to plan to make the meeting on Tuesday, March 16th! We'll finish the birdhouses then for sure! We promise that, with the holes predrilled, there will be no more splitting, and the nails will slide in like silk. No more frustration! And the boys will leave the meeting with a cool finished birdhouse and a real sense of accomplishment at a job well done.

March dues are $2.00, and can be paid any time during the month. I will have envelopes for everyone at the den meeting on the 16th.

Hopefully, everyone completed February's "homework" assignment, working through Achievement 4 in the Wolf book, "Know Your Home and Community." I was surprised myself to discover the requirement in Conor's Wolf book that the chores assigned in the final requirement have to be carried out for a full month to get credit. The book I carry with me for planning the meetings is from 1999, and that month-long requirement wasn't in there then. But hopefully everyone got a good start, with all the other requirements hammered out and the final one in progress. Let me know when your son has completed the full Achievement, and I will add that info to the Wolf Trail spreadsheet we are using to track everyone's progress.

How about Achievement 10, "Family Fun?" That was also assigned for February, because it is very simple. The Achievement lists 5 requirements, but your son only has to do 2 of them to accomplish the full Achievement. The 5 requirements are:

• Make a game and play it with the family
• Go for a walk together in a park, the woods, a zoo, etc.
• Take turns reading aloud as a family
• Decide with Mom or Dad what to watch on TV or listen to on the radio
• Attend a concert or play as a family

Again, only two are required. Note that anyone who has ever agreed as a family on a TV show and gone together to the zoo or for a walk in the park has met all of the requirements for this Achievement. Chances are, we all have this one down pat. Just let me know that your son qualifies, and I will update the spreadsheet to give him credit.

Here is everyone's March "Homework" assignment:

Achievement 8, "Cooking and eating." We will fulfill the first two requirements, the food pyramid and planning a full day's meals, in a den meeting soon. Requirements C, D and E need to be done at home, though. They are:

• Help fix at least one meal for your family (you decide how much "help" is "help")
• Fix your own breakfast. Wash and put away the dishes
• With a grownup, help plan, prepare and cook an outdoor meal.

Hopefully, March will afford us some awesome spring weather for backyard cookouts. if not, we may have to shoot for Easter – it's always beautiful then! But everyone please try to get these three requirements knocked out in March if at all possible.

Achievement 11, "Duty to God." And while you've got the boy trapped in the kitchen helping prepare that family meal, please slip in a conversation about your son's Duty to God, as you interpret that phrase within your own family. There are only three requirements for this one, and they can all be knocked out in the length of a single conversation:

• Talk with your folks about what they believe is their duty to god
• Give some ideas on how you can practice or demonstrate your religious beliefs
• Find out how you can help your church or religious fellowship.

This last requirement might be accomplished with a quick phone call to your pastor, or by having your son inquire on Sunday morning. If you are not members of a church, feel free to discuss instead some ways your son might help other people in the community, especially those who are less fortunate than ourselves. "Scouting for Food" is one great example of a community activity we participate in purely  to help those in need, and that's definitely fulfilling a "religious duty" in my book. Again, just let me know that you have accomplished this Achievement with your son, and I will update the spreadsheet. Religion is generally a private matter, and I do not need to know anything about the content of your conversation, just your acknowledgement that it took place. Thank you!

A QUICK NOTE ON ACHIEVEMENT 5, "TOOLS FOR FIXING AND BUILDING": The birdhouses we will be completing on the 16th fulfill requirement E of this Achievement. A couple of weeks ago, Ken Davis walked the boys through Requirements A-D – but there were only three boys in attendance at that meeting. So most of the Wolves still need to meet those requirements. If you have already done these at home, let me know, so I can give your son credit. If not, be sure to plan to be at the meeting on March 16th, as Ken will be bringing his tools again to offer a quick "catch-up course."

Thank you all for reading this long, long post! Watch your email for an announcement concerning SCOUTING FOR FOOD, coming up Saturday, march 13th. And remember: 

The first camp payment is due, and

NO MEETING TUESDAY, MARCH 9TH!