Troop 648,
I hope this update finds our Scouting family safe and well. I am first going to apologize for the length of this e-mail. It is longer than most, but believe me, chock full of information and discussion topics about what the Scout Leadership envisions the rest of the the month (and possibly beyond) will look like for our Troop. Obviously unless redirected, the state of Arizona is in a “stay at home” order likely through the end of April. All face to face meetings and outings and projects are cancelled or postponed. This includes Sean Hart’s upcoming Eagle Project (new date to be determined), and most likely the early May outing at Parson Spring. We will be notifying the Troop if that might possibly be rescheduled at a later time.
Now a recap of the PLC Meeting. We had a “virtual” PLC Meeting using the Zoom videoconferencing platform. I think it went very well, and a lot of good ideas and solutions were discussed about how to go forward this month for the Troop. It was decided that we will attempt our first Virtual meeting this Tuesday (4/14/2020) at 7 PM on Zoom. It is a very easy software program to use and easy to set up a free account. I recommend everyone doing that prior to Tuesday to get used to the process. I will be sending out, in a separate e-mail, the invite to the meeting and recommendations on how an efficient and polite Zoom meeting should go (just a few recommended rules). We have a great speaker scheduled for that night. State Senator Heather Carter from Arizona’s 15th Legislative District will be speaking about the role of government during the current crisis. Please let us know if you have difficulty with accessing the program or need equipment to do so. We’ll try to the best of our ability to get that lent out to you.
To all the adults and adult leaders, we will be having a short TAC (Troop Activity Council) Meeting just before the Troop meeting at 6 PM. This is open to all adults who wish to hear and opine more about the virtual meetings upcoming. Because of a lack of ability to have any other events at this time, the meeting will be mainly about the virtual meetings. I will send a separate invite for that meeting – again only for the Parents, guardians and adult leaders in the Troop.
A final note is about the opportunity to continue to help the community and local neighbors through volunteer work and donations. There have recently been two chances to be involved in that I would like to share with you. First, Joseph Sucher’s Mom, Mrs Sucher, would like to bring to everyone’s attention the Harvest Compassion Center. They are currently in desperate need of Diapers, wipes, pantry items, toiletry items, shaving cream, sunscreen and single pack toothbrushes. If anyone would like to help organize, to donate, or would just help spread the word and let Mrs Sucher know, she would be more than happy to coordinate a way to get those items. She can be contacted at [email protected]. The second is an idea from one of our adult leaders that the Troop itself contact a local food bank and try to contact friends and neighbors about collection and delivering items to the food bank. That is something we can discuss at the meeting next Tuesday (Both TAC and Troop Meeting).
As always, out thoughts are with all of our Scouts and their extended families as we continue to get through this crisis together. Please stay in contact, and let us know if there is anything we can do to help.
Mr Blair
Troop 648 Scoutmaster
(602) 430-8142