November 30th, 2020

Troop Meeting

Just a reminder, this is the 5th Monday, which will be a Troop meeting night. We are still virtual, so the meeting is at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/216722273. The meeting runs from 7 PM to 8:30 PM. Come and see what adventurous activities we have planned for this week.

Wreath Sales

Do you have anyone looking for some more wreaths? We have a couple 26’s, and 36’s left, and that is it. If you have a customer who might be interested in those, please contact me, and we can see what we have available, be sure to check with me before promising them to anyone. Also, if you have any wreaths that are not in good shape, this is the last weekend to exchange those, but we only have 26 and 36 inch left. If you need a better bow or gold balls, I have some of those extra in my garage, help yourself. Be sure you get your wreaths delivered if you have not done so, I have had a few calls from customers looking for their wreaths.

Wreath Money

Seeing we are not meeting in person for scouts, the question about wreath money has come up. What we are going to do is establish a drop off location for money and each family can drop the money off, but we ask you wait just a few more days, the reason being is we are planning a Troop meeting that will require each scout has some supplies, and we are putting those kits together and we are hoping that each family can drop wreath money off and pick up this kit. A location is being determined so wait till that has been determined. We have the supplies ordered and soon as we have the kits done, we can announce the final details on that, watch for a special BSB mid next week hopefully.

Court of Honor

Next week will be the Virtual Court of Honor, details will be presented in next week’s BSB, it is for both Scouts and Parents to attend. Please plan on both being there for the virtual meeting. It will be short as we don’t have a LOT of awards right now, but let's recognize all those who have had accomplishments in the last three months. Not getting anything this time, don’t forget, the council is offering several online merit badges, be sure to check the council calendar for those upcoming merit badges, the list is pretty light between the holidays, but start a plan for 2021. Even if the Council is not running Virtual Merit Badges, feel free to ask Mrs. Andersen for a Merit Badge Counselor for a merit badge you want to work on, MANY of them are willing to work with you virtually on a badge.

Scoutmaster Comments

The planning for virtual meetings is very difficult, Scouting has a 100-year tradition and plenty of good examples for meetings ideas for IN PERSON meetings and outings. As we are in these temporary Virtual meeting times, the PLC struggles to find good ideas for meetings because this is breaking new ground, so we are looking for any ideas from scouts and parents that might have to have great meetings, feel free to pass them on to me. Some have said commented it's too much like school, some have commented it’s all fun and games without a purpose, and the PLC agrees at times both may be true, and working hard to get away from both concepts, so if you have some ideas how to make it neither of those, we would love to hear it. We want the meetings to be fun and educational for all. We also understand that for some, the 90 minutes of Scouting might be one of the few times that our youth can just “hang out” and be sociable with their friends joking around and catching up, while that is needed, it can be a distraction for others. Scouts, please keep it to the focus of the meeting during the meeting. We have not been shutting down the virtual connection after the meeting till everyone is done, so if you want to hang and chat with your friends, feel free to do so AFTER the meeting but please respect the purpose of the meeting and the ones running it. At times, there will be some pauses as they work out the technical difficulties of virtual meetings, please remember your Scout Law, especially courteous, kind, and obedient. Parents, we ask you to keep one ear to the meeting at times and feel free to encourage your son to also be attentive to the meeting plan as well. Sometimes people in the meeting are spending more time “entertaining” the other scouts with changing their backgrounds and icons, adding sound effects and other distractions to entertain the group and being disrespectful to the group as a whole and its leader. While there is a time and a place for some of these things, I would like to remind EVERYONE, that your behavior, whether in person or virtual should always be guided by the Scout Oath and Law.

That’s it this week

Thanks

Mr. F.

This week’s Zoom Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/216722273

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