A Scoutmaster's Blog

There was a fairly decent turnout for this spring’s Boy Scout Troop 68 sponsored Dad’s Belgium Waffle Supper fundraiser that was held Friday night, April 15th. We served 296 people in all, not counting the Boy Scouts who worked at the supper. We served Dad’s Belgium waffles (which are the size of a plate) along with strawberries, fruit cups, a variety of syrups, and refreshments. Since it was a Friday during Lent, and this is a mostly Catholic community, we did not serve any meat with the meal.

We really tried to promote the fundraiser better this year. We also took one meeting night and set the boys out into town to sell tickets, sort of our ticket sales kick-off. We sold over $400.00 in tickets that first night with six Scouts being taken to different parts of town by their parents. After that, the boys (and parents) were on their own to sell tickets before the meal.

One of our new Scouts, Alex, really did an outstanding job pre-selling tickets on his own. In fact, he sold over $900.00 in tickets, more then all the other Scouts combined (not counting that first night). I understand he had a little help from his parents and grandfather, but Alex did most of the selling. Only two other Scouts in the troop sold over $100 worth of tickets on their own.

Each of the boys receives credit toward camp based on the number of tickets they pre-sell. Even if a Scout only sells tickets during the first sales kick-off event, he receives some credit. The credit from the first night sales is evenly divided among all the boys, no matter how many tickets they sold in their area of town. That first night of sales earned each Scout a credit of $9.30, which is not really bad for a little over an hour’s worth of work.

We still have one bill to pay, but it looks like the troop did well. It appears we will made a profit of around $1200.00. Of this, nearly $400.00 will be going into the boys’ individual accounts to be used for camp costs. The balance will go into the troop’s general fund.

100 Days of Scouting: Day #67.

Last week I wrote about a new fundraiser the Boy scout troop was going to try, a Dad’s Belgian Waffle supper. (Read the article HERE.) Since we currently have a small troop we needed to try something different from our usual breakfast fundraiser which requires more people to work then we currently have available.

Well, the results are in. While we did not make as big a profit with the Friday night supper that we do with the Sunday morning breakfast, we did do pretty well. The troop cleared over $850 after the bills were paid. That will help to pay program and equipment costs through the year.

The troop has already reserved another Dad’s Belgian Waffle supper for next year which will be held the Friday before Palm Sunday. Once again, we will have the Boy Scouts presell tickets. The committee has already discussed a few ideas to increase the sales, including placing signs at a couple of the busy intersections in town to inform people of the supper that day.

Everyone who came to the supper really enjoyed the waffles and the variety of fruit. Some people even went back for seconds and thirds. It was an “all you can eat” meal after all. If next year’s supper is more successful than this year’s I could see this becoming an annual fundraiser for the troop.

Boy Scout Troop 68 has done pretty well with pancake and sausage breakfast fundraisers over the last two decades. On average, they have netted the troop over a thousand dollars per meal. We use this money for the Scout’s camp funds and for equipment and program expenses.

It takes a decent sized crew to do a breakfast. Parents do the cooking of the pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs. The Boy Scouts set the tables, clean them off, and do the dishes. It usually takes a couple dozen parents and Boy Scouts to work for a breakfast.

Unfortunately, our troop membership has dwindled during the last few years and we now struggle to find enough people to work for a breakfast fundraiser. This year, the troop committee has decided to do something a little different.  Instead of a pancake and sausage breakfast we will be hosting a Dad’s Belgian Waffle supper on Friday, March 26.

One big advantage of hosting a Dad’s Belgian Waffle meal is that Dad’s provides the crew and gear to make the waffles. They provide the paper plates and plastic silverware, and the waffle fixings. That means the troop will not need many people in the kitchen or doing dishes. Parents will prepare fruit cups while the Boy Scouts set and clean the tables.

Dad’s Belgian Waffles will charge the troop a fee for each plate served. The troop set the price of the tickets which the Scouts have been preselling. If we serve at least 400 people we should make a nice profit.

Why did the troop committee decide to do a supper this spring instead of a breakfast? Our troop is located in a predominately Catholic community. We thought this would present a good Lenten option for the area’s families. We will find out Friday if we thought correctly.