AttendencePresent: John Stafford, Cece Stafford, Amy Toby, Candy Roth, Jim Roth, James Frese, William Schanks, Holly Hugart, Jacob Hugart.
Absent: Lori Stafford, Ken Alt, Mike Donnelley.
RecharteringLori will be doing the rechartering. Jacob will call her to see what else she needs to know. It turns out that Steve Andert may be interested in being a Den Leader. Jacob will call him and find out. Rechartering has to be done this month.
Pinewood DerbySaturday the 15th! Jacob will pick up the keys on Friday, and turn them over to John to run the Doughnuts on Palm Sunday (see below). Jacob will open the parish hall and gym by 8:30 AM. The weigh-in starts at 11 AM, and ends at 11:45 AM. The racing starts at noon. After it is done, we'll award the trophies and certificates.
We reviewed the roles people would have.
Weighers: John, Jacob, Jim.
Bracketeers: Fawn & Amy.
Car Carriers: Jeremiah & Akio.
Finish Line: John & Sheldon.
Car Chief: John.
Final Judge: John Stafford (he has no vested interests).
The following people are going to bring stuff:
Jim & Candy: Track, display rack, chips/pennies, tape (for decorations), scales, track clearance test strip.
Amy: Glue guns, rule book.
John: Dots for numbering cars, scales, drill, washers.
Lori: Decorations, Awards (4 trophies for best of pack; 4 trophies for best paint job, best workmanship, best design, and best did-it-yourself car; 3 trophies for top three sibling cars; 3 pins for best top three adult cars).
Jacob: Certificates (3 for top three cars in each den; 4 for the track officials (Boy Scout Troop 66, providing security); one "Driver's License" for each boy participating).
Someone is bringing survey tape to isolate the track and judging areas from the public.
Jacob will make an announcement on the rules before the race (for example, you cannot repair a car that falls apart, but you can repair your car if it is damaged by a collision caused by another car), and reminding people that this isn't about winning or losing but about having fun doing.
A reminder: The top three of the pack go to the district derby on April 12. The 4th-place finisher gets to go if any one of the top three cannot attend (people move up as needed).
Friends of ScoutingThis is part of the income that helps the district and council operate. Each pack is given a target; we are $50 shy of our target. If we meet it, then we get our pack's derby cars and rank patches FREE next year. To this end, Jacob will make an announcement at the Derby that we'd like people to consider donating some extra cash that day; also, Lori will have a couple of baskets that will be raffled off at 25 cents a raffle ticket. We hope that this will help us make the target.
FundraisersThe Butterbraids and Spring Bulbs are both due on the Monday, March 17 den meeting (Jacob will announce this at the Derby). Orders must be paid in advance; if a cub didn't get the money from the people placing the order, then the cub (or his family) must make up the difference. No orders will be accepted after the den meeting. We really hope we can order at least 100 butterbraids, since then we can get free shipping.
Butterbraids will arrive around 6 PM on Monday, April 7, which is the Blue & Gold dinner. Some volunteers will be needed to help sort them out so people can take them home (we'll keep them in the parish hall kitchen freezer until then). We will probably set up the potluck first, so people can eat, then we will do the ceremonies and finally disburse the braids.
Spring Bulbs will arrive a week later.
After the orders are in on March 17, we will know where the boys are financially, and be able to decide if we need another fundraiser this spring.
Boy AdvancementWe discussed how well the boys are doing at reaching their rank requirements this year; ideally, we'd like every active boy to reach their rank. It was suggested that photocopying pages from the handbook, to give to the boys' parents, will help the parents.
Sign-in/outWe had a sign-in/sign-out sheet at last Monday's den meeting, and most people seemed to use it. There were a couple parents who didn't come in with their boy, and we need to stress to them the reasons for doing so:
- Safety: The boy isn't walking alone through a parking lot where many vehicles may be moving.
- Flexibility: Sometimes den meetings get cancelled when not enough leaders can be present, and having a boy discover that the door is locked after his parent has left would be unfortunate.
- Security: We also want parents to come in to get the boys. We do not know who may be waiting outside for the boys.
Recruitment
The district would like us to do a spring recruitment drive. We agreed that we'll see about getting the free council posters that have our meeting times on them distributed to our local schools, but won't plan any special event.
We will focus on working with local schools to schedule fall recruiting efforts. Boy talks are probably easier to arrange now than in September. Some local schools even go beyond 5th grade, and could be a source for Troop 66.
Adult Leaders
Jim and Candy Roth will be too busy this fall to be leaders; Jim is willing to be our Derby trackmaster, but we'll still have to find out what to do for Candy's den. Amy will have a new baby and isn't sure what she will be able to do for the pack, but could probably still help with fundraisers. James Frese might want to try being a Tiger Cub den leader in order to keep up with his youngest son, who will start in the fall. All the others seem willing to keep on in their current roles. The plea was made that if anyone knows someone who is interested in doing more to direct them to Jacob. Steve Andert's name was mentioned as someone interested in den leadership.
Palm Sunday
Owing to some miscommunication, St. Bernard's didn't inform us until recently that this Sunday was set aside for the scouts to do Doughnuts. John will be there Sunday morning, and will welcome volunteers, especially around the 11 AM surge.
June 14 Pack Meeting
Our end-of-year pack meeting is schedules for Saturday, June 14 (Flag Day) at Newell Park, the same place where we had the Halloween meeting (this is on Pierce Butler Route and Fairview). We have the shelter from 7:30 AM until 2:30 PM. Lori reserved this for $49 out of her own pocket, and the pack will need to repay her.
May 5 Pack Meeting
The May 5th pack meeting will be converted back to a den meeting; this way, we don't have awards going out too frequently. John will contact the Catholic Aid society to see if we can arrange a neighborhood clean-up effort on a Saturday in May, ideally the third Saturday (the first two are fishing openers in Wisconsin and Minnesota).
University of Scouting
The council-wide training program will be offered on Saturday, April 12, from 8 AM to 5 PM. This is an excellent place to get training you can't get elsewhere, on topics from cooking at camp to working with ADHD or Austistic kids, to how to conduct a flag ceremony. Attending this is often a requirement for cub scout leader knot awards. You can also get training for your next den leader position (although this is usually free through other venues).
The meeting ended before 8:30 PM.
