Our sponsor organization, Ashland Church, just sent all the books collected by our Pack to start a library in Kwabeng, a remote village in Ghana, West Africa.  We received a special thank you letter. See http://www.africanbookchallenge.org/ for more information about this project which spreads "good will" to kids far away who will now be able to read the books we sent, otherwise many of them would have nothing other than their schoolbooks to read.

HUGE thank you to ALL the volunteers who made race day such a great experience for the boys (and incidentally, our two guest Girl Scout troops)! The race on Saturday, February 25 at Ashland Church was a huge success! EVERY Scout and Sibling had a great time! See attached results in PDF format listing all those who got the most votes for design categories, or placed within Dens or overall in the Pack. Also attached are the raw timing sheets, just find the car number from the sticker given during race-day registration to find the right data. 

Our Popcorn Fundraiser was successful this year, and sales this year exceeded last year by $2,044 winning us recognition by the Southern New Jersey Council White Horse District for being the 3rd highest increase among nearby Scout units. All rewards for individual Scouts (patches, gift cards, etc.) will be distributed at the December Pack Meeting. Liz Lowell, our Pack Committee Member in charge of the Popcorn Fundraiser, supplied the following summary of notable Den and Scout achievements. Highest individual sales, Connor Tracey: $468.77; Den that sold the most $ wise: $1205 Bear Den 1; Den with largest number of participants in the sale: 7 scouts Bear Den 1; Den with the highest average sales per scout: $329 Tiger Den (only 2 scouts sold but they totalled $658 between them!); Tiger Den Average sales: $329 with Total Sales: $658 and Scouts participating: 2; Bear Den 1 Average sales: $172 with Total Sales: $1205 and Scouts participating: 7; Bear Den 5 Average sales: $146 with Total Sales: $729 and Scouts participating: 5; Wolf Den Average sales: $121 with Total Sales: $606 and Scouts participating: 5; Webelos 2 Den Average sales: $264 with Total Sales: $1055 and Scouts participating: 4; Total sales by our Cub Scout Pack 127 Scouts totaled $4273.43, out of which about $1500 will fund our Pack Budget at the expected level.

 

I encourage all Pack 127 parents to attend this training for your own knowledge of “camping the cub scout way.” The Pack will reimburse registration fees, and process your “leader application” as a Committee Member or Assistant Cubmaster so you can help lead our Pack camping program. EVERY Pack camping trip MUST have at least one leader who has attended BALOO. Details: Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation (BALOO) is a one-day training event that introduces leaders and parents to the skills needed to plan and conduct pack outdoor activities, particularly pack camping. Participants who complete this training course will: Understand the focus of the Cub Scout level of the BSA outdoor program. Gain the skills needed to plan and carry out a successful Cub Scout-level overnight activity. Learn more about the resources available from the BSA for carrying out this activity. This training is required for any adult who is in charge of planning a pack campout.

We have a few exciting overnight events upcoming, so there are a few things all parents need to understand regarding BSA policies that apply and I need to enforce. Official overnight events are registered with the BSA Council. This means that our Cub Leaders must enforce all National BSA policies, and we will be representing the BSA and our Pack. All registered leaders and boys will be covered by the BSA supplemental liability and accident insurance, but parents and siblings are not. Adults will supervise their children. Boys will as usual need to follow directions given by Pack Leaders, and parents will be responsible for discipline as needed. No alcoholic beverages, inappropriate language, or smoking allowed at any time. BSA Youth Protection will be observed at all times by leaders (two-deep leadership). Only relatives may sleep together in the same tent, except boys only or girls only may sleep in a tent but then no adults can be in that tent. Only adults or qualified Boy Scouts (such as siblings or Den Chiefs) holding the proper BSA authorizations will be allowed to tend to any fires, cook over flames, or engage in other potentially unsafe activities such as those involving knives, saws, axes, fuel, matches, etc. Repeated non-compliance with these policies will result in that family being asked to depart without recourse. Bring the medical form found at link below for each boy and leader (not required for parents or siblings), which will be reviewed by the event leaders and held during the event in case of of incident. Scouts are not allowed to self-administer any medications, so parents must hold and dispense. Form ONLY needs parent signature.  This is the same form needed for scout day camp this summer. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/HealthSafety/pdf/parts_ab.pdf LET’S HAVE A SAFE AND FUN TIME AT THESE EVENTS!

Ticks are present at many outdoor locations in our area, and are traditionally present in significant numbers at our Pine Hill Scout Reservation. Preventative measures include long sleeve and tucking pant legs in or using a tie/band around them. Check areas around waistband, underarms, hair, groin area, etc. after returning from these areas and remove any ticks found promptly using these directions: http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html