Another Boy Scout Troop 68 spring breakfast fundraiser has come and gone. The troop has held a spring and a fall breakfast for over 20 years. The two breakfasts are the main source of income for our operating funds and individual Scout credit accounts.
The key to having a successful breakfast fundraiser is to presell tickets. We begin this process about three or four weeks before the event. We will take a troop meeting night and send the boys out to cover as much of the town as possible in 90 minutes. We have the city mapped out into ten sections. Parents will choose a section, then drive out with two or three boys. We hope to sell enough tickets during that first night to pay for the breakfast expenses. This was easy to accomplish when we had a troop of over thirty members, but with a current membership of only nine Scouts we did not even sell enough to cover half of the expenses. Thus, it becomes very important for the Scouts and parents to make the effort to sell tickets during the next few weeks.
Of course, we also sell tickets at the door the morning of the breakfast. We charge fifty cents more for a ticket sold at the door then we do for a presold ticket.
It looks like we did better at this spring’s breakfast then usual. After adding up our income and estimating our expenses it looks like we will have made a profit of over $1600.00. Most of the success is due to the preselling of tickets. In fact, we had one young Scout who sold over $600 of tickets himself, setting a new troop record.
A breakfast fundraiser is easy to do with a troop of thirty Boy Scouts. Troop 68 currently has only eight active Scouts. I am amazed that we can pull off a successful breakfast with only eight families. It is a great demonstration of the support and dedication of the parents to keep the troop alive. Unfortunately, if the troop gets any smaller we may have to drop this fundraiser because we will not have enough people to work for it.
On a final note, this is the first time ever that I had to stand at the grille and make pancakes. (Since I became the scoutmaster my job has been to collect the money from the Scouts, supervising them as they do they duties, and pouring coffee as people sat down to eat.) By the end of the breakfast I was getting decent at making Mickey Mouse pancakes.
It appears that there will be a new movie making its way around the country this year. It is about spending a week at a Boy Scout summer camp and is called, oddly enough, Scout Camp. From the preview it looks to have some humor and some serious moments. I have read it a Scout forum that the movie is written by guys who were Scouts themselves growing up, and it does not follow the guide to safe scouting very well. Oh the horrors!
I am hoping this film comes to central Minnesota. I would like to see it and perhaps bring the troop along. After all, there are very few movies made about Boy Scouting. I love one line from the preview, “I’m fine. I am the scoutmaster.”
Just before going to bed tonight, I decided to check a few sites online, including the “Kids and Family” section for podcasts on the iTunes Music Store. I like checking it once in awhile to see how the three podcasts I am involved with are doing. (For those of you new to the podcast scene, I currently create two podcasts of my own: the Melrose Scouting Productions video podcasts and the newer Around The Scouting Campfire audio podcast. I also co-host The Leader’s Campfire podcast with Cubmaster Chris.)
The Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast has been featured on the “Kids and Family” video home page for a couple months now which, to tell the truth, thrills me. I think it is awesome that my little videos have been found noteworthy enough to be featured by the folks at the iTunes store. I am sure being a featured podcast helps to bring new people to the podcast.
Of course, there are many more audio podcasts out there in cyberland than there are video podcasts, so imagine my surprise tonight when I discovered that my new audio podcast, Around The Scouting Campfire, has made it to the front page of the “Kids and Family” audio home page! With all the competition out there, I never thought I would ever see my podcast about Scouting listed there, especially since the podcast is less than a month old . Granted, it is on the top of the page under “New and Notable”, but it is listed there for all to see.
I would like to thank the people at iTunes for recognizing my little podcasts, and to all of you who have listened to them and downloaded them. I am sure it would not have made it there with out your support.
Boy, I tell you, living with Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, just got a lot harder.
The Bear Hunt. Through the wheat fields, over trees, through the lakes, into the cave. It is challenging. It is rowdy. And it is loud if you have a room full of Cub or Boy Scouts and their leaders. This skit has been with the Scouting program for decades, maybe even longer, and is probably known through many countries. I guess you could say it is a classic.
This version of The Bear Hunt was performed during the opening campfire program at the Buckskin Camp of Many Point Scout Camp in July of 2007. It was raining outside so the staff decided to hold the program in the dining hall. That did not dampen the spirits of the Buckskin staff though. They were excited, loud, and rowdy, and that spirit was caught by the Scout campers.
You are invited to leave a comment using the link below, at the iTunes Music Store, or at the PTC Media forums. It really is great to hear what you think about the podcast videos.
The committee of the Boy Scout troop has recently been discussing ideas about how to get Scouting more visible in our community. The pack has had a few rough years and membership numbers are down. This in turn has hurt the troop since 80 percent or more of our membership traditionally comes from the pack.
One idea that is gaining momentum is to have the Boy Scouts walk along this June’s parade route shortly before the parade begins and hand out small USA flags to children and folks sitting along the street. It would be great to see hundreds of flags waving as the veterans ride and march by during the parade. Of course, the Scouts would be in uniform as they pass out the flags.
The Melrose Chamber of Commerce, who is in charge of the weekend festival to be held the last weekend of June, has shown interest in this project. We will be sending letters to the local VFW Post (our charter sponsor) and the American Legion to ask for some financial support to purchase the flags.
The big question is, how many flags do we need? The parade route is a little over a mile long, approximately sixteen blocks. No one really seems to know how many people watch the parade so I started playing around with some numbers. If the Scouts hand out 20 flags per block, ten on each side of the street, we would need about 320 flags. That does not sound like many, does it?
Let’s bump that number up to 60 flags per block, or 30 flags per each side of the street. That would be nearly 1000 flags waving along the parade route. That sounds much better.
The cost of 6 inch plastic flags would be $5.99 for 72 flags, through an internet site. The total cost of a thousand flags with shipping would only be about $100.00, a very affordable project that would also give the Boy Scout troop a great way to be seen by thousands of people.
Has you pack or troop ever done anything like this project? Do you have any helpful hints? Please leave a comment if you have any ideas.
Here it is, the third episode of the Around The Scouting Campfire podcast. There is a lot happening in this show. It begins with Scoutmaster Steve and Buttons discussing a new (fictional) video game based on the adventure of Scouting. Then Steve reads an email he received six years ago about how things have changed being a kid, and how we as parents have changed raising our children. The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 try to teach us the Dirty Sock Song, and expect you to sing along. Buttons talks about how you know when you are a real Boy Scout. And Steve wraps up the show with a Scout leader’s minute about what really make a troop a good troop. All of this in a show that is less than 18 minutes long!
Steve and Buttons would like to thank everyone who have sent emails about how they enjoyed the shows. Don’t forget to leave a comment at the iTunes store or at PTC Media.
You can contact Buttons at buttonst68@yahoo.com. You may contact Scoutmaster Steve at stevejb68@yahoo.com. We appreciate your emails and letters.
If you have not noticed yet, a comic strip called The Buckets is currently running a few days worth of comics about Pinewood Derby cars. The Cub Scout son does not seem to understand that he has to make a car from this block of wood he received. The father has limited time and tools to help create a masterpiece (which the Cub Scout wants to look like a Star Wars space vehicle. The comic creator, Greg Cravens, is doing an excellent job with the series.
It is time for the second episode of the new Scouting-themed podcast, previously known as the Melrose Scouting Audio Podcast, but starting today will be known as Around The Scouting Campfire. Unfortunately, this episode was created before the new name so it still refers to itself as the Melrose Scouting Audio Podcast. Are you as confused as I am?
During this show Steve and Buttons talk about how famous Buttons really is (in his own mind), a father’s rules about dating his daughter (like you have to be an Eagle Scout), and talk about Life With Dad. Buttons talks about the Scout Motto, “Be Prepared”. And Steve introduces the rap version of the campfire favorite Little Bunny Foo Foo.
Steve and Buttons would like to thank everyone who have sent an email about how they enjoyed the first show. You may also leave a comment at the iTunes store and at PTC Media.
Buttons now has an email address. You can contact him at buttonst68@yahoo.com. You may contact Steve at stevejb68@yahoo.com. We appreciate your emails and letters.
This is a Boy Scout leader's point of view and thoughts on over 36 years as a Boy Scout Leader and scoutmaster in central Minnesota.
This blog also serves as the home of the "Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast" which features Scouting related videos, and the "Around The Scouting Campfire" audio podcast.
Another Boy Scout Troop 68 spring breakfast fundraiser has come and gone. The troop has held a spring and a fall breakfast for over 20 years. The two breakfasts are the main source of income for our operating funds and individual Scout credit accounts.
