New Scouts & the Bake Sale!

It has been a few good weeks for Troop 327 as we get ready for our camping trip the weekend before Thanksgiving. We've had a number of new Scouts join up, brought in by their friends or family members or just asking when the meetings are and then showing up.

I'd like to take a minute here on the blog to welcome our newest Scouts, Dominik, Sebastian, Joe, David, Stefano and Jeffrey. Some of these guys are returning from time spent in the Cubs, but they're new to us.

Membership is going up, but we want it even higher. The more guys in the troop, the more activities we can plan and fund. Here's a picture from two weeks ago as the venerable Mr. Tom Dowd shows our guys some knot basics.  There's 11 scouts in this picture, and there were a few more there that night, the older boys were working on cleaning up the window outside.

The increased membership paid off well today, as we had our first fundraiser of the year, our bake sale. Every boy and adult brought at least two cakes, trays of cupcakes, cookies or brownies for us to sell. Everything looked really great and we managed to sell out of everything just in time for the last Mass from St. Matthias. Thanks to all the Scouts and especially to all of the parents who helped out today.

All in all, it was a huge success and we raised over $300 that will help to buy new camping gear for the troop, go towards our year end trip in June and towards efforts to repair or replace the Scout office store front windows.

Here's a few pictures from the bake sale:

Parents' Night 10/30/09

We are having a parents' night this Friday at 7:30 at the Boy Scout Office. All scouts, please invite your parents down to the meeting as we will have some awards to give out, announcements to make and we'll make sure to have some refreshments and snacks on hand.

All scouts, please wear your uniforms, as complete as you have. That means full uniforms if you have them, red shirts if that's all you've got.

I never leave home with these

As I prepare for our trip to Camp Pouch I go over my list of things to pack. The list is in your Scout Handbook. There are things on that list I never take out of my pack even though I've packed them with me all these years. But I think of the things I will not leave for camp without.

Extra socks. - my old Scoutmaster once said "a dry camper is a happy camper". And you can't be dry if your feet are wet or damp. I bring at least two extra pairs - on top of one pair for every day.

Hats - a wool hat and a baseball cap stay with me always. 30% of the heat that escapes your body leaves from the top of your head. Additionally the cap blocks my eyes from the sun and I use the wool hat as an eye mask when I sleep.

A cup - you need to drink and I think there is nothing grosser than having to borrow someone else's cup. I have the plastic folding one the troop gave away as gifts a few years ago. It takes up no space and I can keep hydrated.

Toilet Paper - this is the last supply you need to try to scavenge for in the middle of the night. I also keep this in a large Ziploc bag in my pack so it stays extra dry.

First Meeting!

Last night was  our first meeting of the 2009-2010 year and I think it was a pretty good one!

Here's what happened:

• After many years of hard work, Miguel decided to step down as Scoutmaster to take a break. He'll still be around as an Assistant Scoutmaster. I (Mike Vuolo) am now the Scoutmaster for Troop 327. All of the other guys are still going to be around as Assistant Scoutmaster.
• We elected a new Senior Patrol Leader and Assistant Senior Patrol Leader. Eryk G will be the SPL and Rafal will be the ASPL. Next week we're going to split into patrols and elect patrol leaders.
• We're looking at having Friday only meetings again. We'll let you know for sure by next week.
• We should be having a camping trip in October, date to be announced.
• We've got a web based calendar for all meetings and events, everyone in the Troop will get an email about it. Find it here.
• The guys took out some of our smaller a-frame tents and checked for pieces, then we practiced how to set them up. Then, we raced to see who could get them up fastest.

Check here for the next meeting info, I'll know by Monday as to what day it is.