Posts Tagged ‘thrifty’


waffle supper 2014Boy Scout Troop 68 of Melrose conducts three fundraisers during the year. In the fall we participate in the council’s popcorn sales. For the last few years the other two fundraisers have been a Dad’s Belgium Waffle meal. We have been holding a supper a week before Good Friday and a breakfast the first Sunday in October.

The troop usually does very well with these three fundraisers but last fall we did not do very well with our waffle breakfast. The pre-sales ticket period of time lapped over the council popcorn sales since the council sales began earlier then they used to. The popcorn sales went well but the breakfast proceeds were the lowest we have seen in decades.

This spring, the scoutmaster and I talked to the Boy Scouts about the importance of having a successful meal fundraiser. Yes, they would earn credit for camp for each ticket they pre-sold but the meal fundraisers were the main ones used to keep the cost of the yearly program to an affordable level for the families.

For example, each year the troop participates in the council’s annual Ripley Rendezvous, a weekend outing at the Camp Ripley National Guard Base in Minnesota. The cost for each participant is around $40. The troop has traditionally paid about $20 of this fee. Due to the troop not doing very well last during last fall’s breakfast our troop finances were getting a bit low, so the troop was only able to apply $10 to the cost of this year’s outing. As we explained to the Scouts and their families, we either work together to make the fundraisers successful or it will cost more out of the family pocketbook.

The Boy Scouts took the message seriously this spring. Most of them did go out and sell tickets. In fact, the top seller sold 95 adult tickets, just falling short of his 100 ticket goal. As the current troop treasurer I was impressed when I started adding up the final pre-sales tally.

The troop served over 430 people during the waffle supper. As we counted the income and started paying the bills we soon realized this fundraiser was turning out to be one of our best fundraisers ever. The troop made a profit of over $2000 which was more then three times the amount we cleared at last fall’s breakfast. The troop should be financially stable for the rest of this program year.

Now the committee has to look toward this fall and see how we can avoid the problems we had last year.

2013 Spring Fundraiser PosterBoy Scout Troop 68 held its spring fundraiser last Friday, a Dad’s Belgium Waffle Supper. This was the fourth year we held a spring waffle supper. The troop use to hold a Palm Sunday pancake and sausage breakfast but when the troop membership became less than a dozen Scouts we switched to the Dad’s Belgium Waffle meals because we no longer had enough Scouts and parents to work our own breakfast. Melrose is a predominately Catholic community so we hold our spring waffle suppers on the Friday before Good Friday to give folks an option other than fish for supper. It has worked out fairly well.

The troop members began pre-selling tickets for the supper five weeks before the meal. We took the third February troop meeting and used it as a ticket selling kickoff event. I was a little disappointed when only three of the eight Scouts showed up that night. It was a cold evening but the boys went out and sold nearly $180.00 worth of tickets during that hour of sales. That was only a third of the tickets we sold last spring on the first night of sales. It was not a great start for this year’s fundraiser.

During the coming weeks the Scouts were on their own to pre-sell tickets. When the event arrived I discovered that only six of nine Scouts actually went out and sold any tickets, including our newest Scout who joined the troop after the sales began. While three Scouts did not sell any tickets two sold nearly $200 worth, one sold over $350 worth, and one sold over $900 worth of tickets. The troop pre-sold a over $2000 in tickets for the supper. Now it was up to the door sales to see how well we would finish this spring.

The supper began at 4:30 and lasted until 7:30 on March 22. People had already arrived at the opening time and for the next 90 minutes there was a steady stream of people coming to the church basement to eat all the waffles their stomach could handle. We also served fruit cups and cheese curds, along with coffee and milk to wash it down. Most people were satisfied with one of the huge waffles, but many went back for seconds, and a few even tried thirds.

This morning I, as the troop’s treasurer, sat down to see how the bills compared to our income. While things are not quite finalized it looks like we made a profit of over $1200. Of this, approximately $440 will go into the Scouts’ individual credit accounts which they will use to offset the cost of camp. About $850 will go into the troop’s general fund. While it was a good fundraiser it was down about $300 from last year.

This is the only spring fundraiser the troop conducts. In the fall the Scouts will have a choice to participate in the council’s popcorn sales. And, depending on what the committee decides at their April meeting, we may have a fall waffle breakfast.