Popcorn sales

This weekend launched our efforts to sell popcorn in what is called a 'show and sell'. Think of when Girl Scouts show up in front of a store and sell cookies. The same thing, but as Boy Scouts we sell popcorn. This is the first time our troop has done the show and sell since I've been with the troop. We are selling all this weekend and also next weekend (August 14 thru 16) at the Wal-Mart on the corner of Antelope Road and Roseville Road.

So far it seems to be going very well for us. The nicest surprise has been the straight donations we have received. People wanting to help us out without purchasing the popcorn. That's obviously best for us as we get to keep all of that for our use. So, if you have any friends, and I know for a fact that some of you do, tell them to stop by and see us and buy some popcorn. Or not.

Push Car Derby build day - take 2

Actually, take 1. A few of the boys showed up to begin building their car for the race. Quite a bit of progress was made I believe. We're going to have the car at our next meeting so it can be worked on some more. And we will more than likely need to have a second Saturday build to complete it. I think the boys had fun working on it and that's the whole point. Not only teaching them something that they can use for the rest of their lives, but having a good time doing it. It's also a nice break from the usual type of meetings.

Push Car Derby build day

If you haven't seen it, Mr. Powers sent out an email to announce a build day for our derby entry. This Saturday, August 8th at Mr. Powers' house from 9 to 2. If that isn't enough time to complete the car, we will try again the following Saturday.

Annual Planning meeting

We held our annual planning meeting and it went very well I think. The boys gave input as to what they wanted to do next year and then we had discussions on where we should visit to do those things. I think we have a good year planned. The next step in this process is to select a boy to be in charge of each event and an adult to help guide them through the leadership of that outing.

September committee meeting date changed

The first Monday of September is Labor day. The troop will take that Monday off from meeting so we moved our committee meeting to the last Monday of August, which is the 31st. Make sure to update your calendars.

Monthly PLC & Annual planning meeting

This coming Sunday, August 2nd, will be the next PLC. This will be immediately followed by our annual planning meeting. We will meet at our normal weekly meeting place, the VFW hall. The PLC is from 4 to 5pm and the annual planning meeting will go from 5 to appoximately 7 pm. For the annual planning session, have your ideas for outings that you would like to see the Troop do for the upcoming year. All ideas are welcome. This is when we pick what and when we want to those fun things we enjoy doing during the year. See you Sunday!!!

Been absent awhile

Haven't updated the blog recently, don't know why. So lets get us up to date.

Since I wrote last, the big event was summer camp. Other than that, we have had our normal weekly meetings. So lets talk about summer camp.

Six of our boys and five adults went with us to Camp Fleischmann in Chester. This is our seventh or eighth year of attending this camp and the boys still love it and want to come back. While there, each of the boys earned at least 4 merit badges each. Only a couple of partials were brought back, so that's a good thing.

Best of all was that each of them took and earned the Citizenship in the World badge. This is an Eagle required badge. And when I say 'earned', I mean it. The counselor for this badge tested each boy at the end of the session before signing off the blue card. A couple of Troop 22's adults were recruited to help with the teaching of this badge and I was asked to help out with the testing at the end of the session. There were 4 or 5 out of 52 that signed up for the class that he wouldn't sign off on. This is a good thing because those boys that he didn't sign off weren't ready for this badge. They were too young to understand what it meant.

We didn't earn any special awards while at camp, but we did get many compliments on the cleanliness of our campsite. We also got many comments of one of our camp gadgets that one of our boys put together. One of the pet peeves I and other adults have while at camp is having day packs left wherever they get put down. So Steven built a day pack hanging station. It is the second one he has built for us and I think it needs to become a Troop 22 camp site fixture from here on out. Job well done!!

This years summer camp was different than years past because we left a day early. We broke for camp on Saturday so we could get our site up and running and not have to worry about it on Sunday, the actual start of the session. It worked out great and we plan on doing this in future years.

During the week we had some guests visit us as well. Mr. David and his son Andrew stopped by as well as Mr. Fox and his daughter Katie. That was a nice surprise to have some visitors. Remember, just because you may not be able to join us for the week, it doesn't mean that you can't come up and join us for a day or two. You are always welcome! Just make sure you bring snacks!!!

I'll end this entry here. Others will follow concerning specific topics. So keep a look out for more frequent updates.