Hey all
Just a short email to keep everyone informed.
Sorry about the lag in keeping everyone informed, we have had a lot going on.
Summer camp is rapidly approaching. We will be departing the hut at 6 am Sunday June 20th. Please try to arrive by 5:30AM to unload gear and say goodbyes. I will email the Scouts schedules, now that they are final, as soon as I can. Scouts will need Merit Badge books and worksheets for each class. Scouts in the Cripple Creek and Rampage programs are exempt. They will receive separate notifications. We ask (beg) that at the end of summer camp that you donate your used merit badge books to our library. (More on that in a minute) Anyway we will be back Saturday the 26th around 5pm. I will be sending a separate summer camp email this weekend, so look for it with schedules and all the details. Main thing we need now is the final balances paid and Med forms turned in asap. Remember every scout and adult attending will need BSA physical form filled out by a doctor. You can get them done at Walgreens for 35$ or if you have had a physical recently your doctor will probably fill it out for you. We need those no later than 6-15-2010. Here is a link to the forms http://scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34605_Letter.pdf
We have done our pre camp swim checks thanks to our very own lifeguard Mr. Chris Swindell , so once we send our med forms and swim checks to camp we have express check in. This is a big plus for the Scouts. Nothing is more painful than spending 6 hours getting to camp only to stand in line for three hours to swim check and med check. Please have those forms turned in by June 15th to help the Scouts.
Please keep Bo (Austin's dad) in your thoughts and prayers. He went through some tough times and a rough surgery earlier this week. We hope he will be fine. He is such a great guy, the day before his surgery he was hauling metal for the Troop. When I last talked to him he said" I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach by three mules" Hang in there Bo'
Speaking of Bo - Bo's General Scout Store (BO-MART) is now open. Now you can get most of your basic scouting needs at the hut. We have scout books, field books, book covers, shoulder epaulets, neckerchiefs and slides. We even have Eagle camp mugs and compasses. Soon we will add pocket knives. We know times are tough and spare time is even tougher to get. The Troop store will save you time and money. We are buying in bulk and passing the savings on to you. You no longer have to travel to Fairburn or Griffin to get the basics. No other Troop has an onsite store for its member's convenience.
Austin, Nathaniel and Robby completed NYLT at Camp Jamison at Bert Adams Scout Reservation last week. For 6 days and nights they attended some very intensive training. They started early Sunday morning and graduated Friday night at 9:30. NYLT is intense training – they start at 6 am and don't end until 11 each night for 6 days. NYLT stands for National Youth Leadership Training. J.W. Marriott once wrote that he had had no formal training; he learned everything he ever needed to know at NYLT. It's that good!! Hopefully we can continue to send three Scouts a year; the difference in them is incredible. It has been a wet week for them, but it will still be one of the best weeks of their life. I was at their graduation, and was impressed. Thanks guys.
We have rental gear! For 5 American dollars you can rent a backpack or a tent for a weekend. The packs and tents must be returned clean and dry at the following Tuesday night Troop meeting. We hope this will help ease the burden of purchasing gear for new Scouts. As our rental program grows look for more packs, tents and eventually stoves. See me or Bo. No other Troop offers this convenience.
Our Metal Militia continues to rock. Tony has tons of metal donated. We need a Metal Militia coordinator to put everything together to pick it up. We hauled two cars yesterday. Please thank Bill with Bills Towing whenever you see him. He has hauled tons of stuff for us. We really need someone to step up and haul some metal. Let us know if you can help.
Congratulations to Eagle Scout Jacob H. for graduating high school, and for turning 18, and most importantly for becoming an Assistant Scoutmaster at Troop 165. He filled out his forms Tuesday night. PS – He needs a summer job – if anyone can help, let me know.
New parents/old parents training – I want to thank everyone that showed up. Thanks to dedicated parents like you our Troop will continue to grow. Look for the next training to happen in the early fall. Remember BSA and Troop 165 rules are going to require everyone to be Trained for their position. It is just common sense. Look for a spreadsheet in the next week or two with training records. Please send me any updates you may have.
The Troop 165 Archery Range - The large dirt mound on the back left of the parking lot will serve as the backstop for the new Troop 165 archery range. Larry S. is a NRA certified range safety officer, and an NRA range training officer, so he can run the range for us. I am going to try to take the training this fall (money permitting), and once I'm done, we will have two range safety officers and our own range. How many Troops have that?? Mr. Lesley from the Georgia Bow Hunters Association is going to try to help us with the range setup and even come down and organize some shoots for us. He thinks he can even get some targets and other stuff donated!!
Training - Every Adult that plans to help or camp with the Troop must have Youth Protection. Period.
We have a new Unit Commissioner – Ms. Patty Nash.
Yeah !!!! – Jeremiah is going to Summer Camp to earn his Lifeguard Certification. I know he will make it. That will give us two BSA lifeguards in the Troop!!!!
Day of Service – I was really proud of the Scouts for their hard work that day. We picked up Pates Creek Road in those hot rubber vests. Then we had lunch. After lunch we went to Ms. Woodall's house and cleaned up what we could. She had a lot of storm damage. We really made a difference. We cleaned for 6 hours. We covered her shed and moved her sailboat. She was crying when we left. We hauled off two trailer loads and three truck loads of debris. It meant the world to her. What a sweet old lady. She still takes care of her 93 year old mother in Macon every day. She's a hoot. She's 78. Anyway when we got back to the hut around 7 we did about an hour of work around the hut then the Scouts got to get their game on. They played video games until 1:30am and watched Avatar till 4 am. Special thanks to our "mystery donor" that bought all of those pizzas for the guys. Also thanks to Scouts Austin M. and Joseph B. for putting the lock in together. As an adult trapped there, I must say it was actually fun. That's why I love Scouting – It brings young men together for a great cause. That was one of our best days of service ever. When most Troops are focused on their own advancement and nothing else, it was neat to see young men help and bond with an adult. We will help Ms. Woodall again. She is cool and our Scouts are way cooler…
Adopt a Road Luncheon – Thank you to our Scout Nathaniel S. for attending the Adopt a Road luncheon held at ELCA. Nathaniel goes to school there and was able to attend the luncheon for us. We have the plaque he received hanging in the hut.
We are going back to Philmont in 2011; the dates are July 6th through the 18th. Currently the Trek is accepting three more scouts. The Adult side is full. If you are interested in going let me know.
I need some adults to be thinking about that summer (2011). I only get two weeks paid vacation and will use that at Philmont in 2011. I need a couple of adults to commit to Summer Camp that year so I can go to Philmont. I really want to go to Philmont, but I need to make sure the Troop has the required leadership to go to Summer Camp also. So far Mrs. Burton and Chris Swindell have replied that they could go. Let me know.
New Electronic Stuff you must know about. We are rolling out two new programs: First is an online payment program. When an event comes up this program will send an email asking for payment. You can click to pay online or still pay at the hut. I need one parent per scout to send me an email with the preferred email address they want to use to pay for stuff. This email address submitted will be the one that receives all of the payment notifications. We need one parent per Scout to join. Upon joining you will receive notifications and be able to click and pay with a debit card or a credit card. You will get email notifications that "nag" you to pay. You can click and pay or you can still pay us directly at the meetings. This will give us the option of setting up payments for summer camp and our ski trip. Also for the guys going to Philmont, look for emails real soon to start that payment plan. We are trying to make it easier for you. Second is a new program that a lot of larger Troops on the West Coast are using. It is really cool. Scouts now will set up their Scoutmaster Conferences online, check out Merit Badge Books online, request Board of Reviews online, plan their meetings and menus online and tons of other things. Adults when you sign up it, gives us a feature to send a text to let you know what time we will be back from a trip. I send a text to one number and it forwards it to everyone else. So I need every Scout and Parent to send me the email address they want to use for these programs.
Toner cartridges and cell phones - please continue to bring in those old toner cartridges, and used cell phones. We earn steady money from them, not much, but it is steady. Every little bit helps. We recently rolled $350.00 over to the bus account from the toner account. We are fixing to roll over $200 more next week. That helps a lot. If you need labels let me know, or if you want to help let me know.
Web stuff – we are on facebook at – boyscouttroop onesixfive. We are on youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/ScoutTroop165
Remember – Our Yahoo group is our #1 source of info. Go to Yahoo groups and search for– Troop165 – then click join. You may have to create a yahoo login if you don't have one.
And as always at http://www.troop165bsa.org/
Knotmaster Program– This is a really cool program – Jacob and Jeremiah are running this- it is incredible. It is a program that will teach scouts to tie knots to new levels. It can take years to complete. It is sorta based on Karate – as you advance you get to wear different colored Knots. My thoughts are that each of our Eagles should be "Black Knots". Our scouts can camp better, cook better, and perform better than most. Now they will do knots better. At the rollout meeting the Scouts decided to give up game time to tie knots. The scouts still continue to give up game time to tie knots and try to advance in the program. Really cool. Keep up the great work Jeremiah and Jacob.
Please send me an email with the preferred emails for our two new programs ASAP.
In closing, let me say thanks to each and every person that reads this email. Every one of you has helped us. Thank you!!
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Doug Clemens
Scoutmaster Troop 165
http://www.troop165bsa.org
scoutmaster165@gmail.com
404-520-1160
The school system may have done away with winners and losers; life has not.
Bill Gates
