Each year on Palm Sunday, Boy Scout Troop 68 conducts a spring breakfast fundraiser. The troop has done this for most of the last twenty years. It has done well, usually bringing in over $1000.00 to the troop’s general fund and the boy’s credits for camp.
I am getting a little concerned about how much longer we will be able to do the breakfast with our dwindling membership. Ten years ago we had nearly thirty Boy Scouts to presell tickets and work the morning of the breakfast. Currently, we have only nine Scouts, which is barely enough to conduct this fundraiser.
The troop takes one meeting night three or four weeks before the breakfast to hold a ticket selling kick-off during which we try to cover as much of the town in one night as we can. When we had thirty Scouts we could cover a large area of the town (of 3100 people) in one night. The boys would usually sell $700-$800 worth of tickets in that two hour period which was enough to cover most of the expenses. Now, with our small troop, we cannot even cover one third of the town in that first night of selling.
And this year was worse. Four of the nine Scouts did not attend due to sickness or family matters. An extremely cold kick-off evening made our time for selling even shorter then usual. The boys did not want to be out in the cold, and I really could not blame them. When the last Scout returned from selling we had sold less then $300 in tickets. “This is not looking good,” I thought to myself.
During the next three weeks the weather stayed cold with many days below zero degrees. Tickets sales were not going well because the boys were not getting out to sell them. During the fourth and final week the weather finally warmed up, allowing the Scouts to get out for one last push.
The Boy Scouts turned in their money and leftover tickets as they arrived at the church basement on the morning of the breakfast. I was surprised, and proud, to discover that they had sold over $900 of tickets after that first night. Things were beginning to look up. If the walk-in business was good, then we would do well.
The Scouts and parents worked hard that morning. The parents did the cooking. The boys set the tables, cleaned them off, and did the dishes. By noon, everyone was exhausted. Eight Boy Scouts and their parents had accomplished what used to be done by two dozen Scouts and their parents.
Our troop treasurer was sick with the flu Sunday morning, so I took all the money home and began to get the preliminary figures together. I was smiling when I pushed the last button on the calculator. It appears that the troop will once again make a profit of over $1000.00. Nearly $300.00 of that will go toward the boy’s funds for camp.
Not bad, huh? Everyone worked hard and we did well. We are now done with fund raising until October when we have another breakfast, followed by the council’s popcorn sales.
