Where’s T648? – Cactus Park!

Good morning!

Many thanks to all who joined with us on Tuesday night for our T648 version of the Oscars.  Thankfully we didn’t have to deal with any wardrobe malfunctions or with a scouting version of Angie’s leg going viral!  Just a wonderful evening of reflection and acknowledgement of the advancements the boys are making along the scouting trail.  Keep working!  The next Court of Honor will be held prior to our trip to summer camp at Camp Geronimo in mid-July.

This coming Tuesday is during Scottsdale School District’s spring break, so many of you may be joining my family on our way out of town.  We have just discovered that the church has Lenten Mission night, and has asked that they be able to use their youth room for that purpose.  We thus need to continue our nomadic ways, and quickly find an alternative place to meet again for this week.  The current plan is to hold the monthly Patrol Leader’s Council and the troop meeting at Cactus Park, on the northeast corner of Cactus and Scottsdale Roads on Tuesday the 6th.  Our senior patrol leader Kyle Martin is staying in town during the break and will lead us, and Frank has graciously agreed to be scoutmaster for a week.

Coming up we have some of our best fundraising opportunities to build out those individual Scout Accounts!  You have a chance every Friday night to sign up to sell flag pins during the church Lenten fish fries (please note that the 3/16 fish fry will not occur, but we will instead be working a 3/17 corned beef and cabbage night for St Patrick’s Day).  Mr. Jeorling has been lining up grocery stores for us to begin selling Scout-O-Rama tickets, which is the Boy Scout version of Girl Scout cookies.  Please look for sign-ups for that at upcoming troop meetings.  And on April 14th will be our annual pancake breakfast.  Please begin letting people know that you will begin selling tickets ($5.00 per person) to our breakfast in mid to late March, and encourage your friends, family and neighbors to come for the silent auction as well as the yummy food.  Each patrol will begin working on a theme for an auction basket per patrol, and the boys will be then looking for donations to include in the baskets based upon that theme (Spa, Sports, Movies, Home Maintenance, etc).

I heard last night that a number of our senior scouts decided that they wanted to kick off spring break with their own outing.  Six Eagle and Life scouts have headed up the Beeline, and are spending part of this weekend camping near Saguaro Lake, using all the skills developed during scouting (and possibly a few more!) in their own enjoyment of this beautiful land we call Arizona.  This is another of those frequent moments when the value of this program really hits me.  Once again I give thanks for all the support that the members of this troop provide, help which ultimately turns our boys into exceptional men.

Have a great week!

Mr. Cole