Boy Scout Troop 648 Scottsdale, Arizona

Troop 648!!

The countdown is on and we are 4 days away from our annual Pancake Breakfast and Auction.  Tonight, Tuesday, May 2nd at our regularly scheduled meeting is the last opportunity to turn in live auction items.  This allow us to prepare accordingly for the event.

I will be at the meeting to collect any last minute items!

See you at the meeting…. and please let me know if you have any questions!!

Jody Achor

Also, please don’t forget, we will have our new parent orientation meeting tonight in the South room of the forum from 7:15-8:30. Any parents are welcome; I particularly encourage anyone new this year to attend!

Finally, don’t forget the Patrol Leader’s Council meeting for our youth leaders is tonight at 6pm.

Thanks,

Mr. Benyi

Greetings!

We have a busy few weeks ahead for Troop 648! Two items that I want to specifically mention here:

1. We will have a New Parent Information Meeting on Tuesday, May 2. We are very excited to have so many new families in  the Troop and want to orient you on the key things to know about Troop 648 and scouting in general. There is no better program for positive youth development than scouting! This meeting will share with you how your son and family can get the most possible out of the scouting program in general, and from being a member of Troop 648. We will start the meeting at 7:15pm and will run through the end of the regular troop meeting. We will plan to meet in the south room of the Forum. (This is the room with the couches that is immediately adjacent to the regular Troop Meeting room.) All parents are welcome, but if you have joined the troop in the past 6 months, I particularly encourage you to attend. Bring good questions!
2. I am going to hold an Architecture Merit Badge class on Sunday, May 7. I invite you to come and learn a little about the profession of architecture, and you can earn a relatively easy MB in the process. We will meet at my office, Jones Studio, at 2pm. We are located at 205 S Wilson St, Tempe, AZ 85281. You will probably never see an office that looks quite like this one! We will have one class session which will take about an hour. Then you will have an opportunity to do a couple of drawings and finish the MB at your own pace. All are welcome! If you are interested, please let me know so that I can prepare sufficient materials.

Thanks!

Mr. Benyi

Hello Troop 648

We had been doing a great job having fun and informative meetings, along with spreading out the responsibility of leading a meeting. However, we’ve had a few open meetings over the last couple months and need to get back to having a Scout leading each meeting.

If you/your Scout are new to the troop, we like to have each Scout lead at least two meetings a year. It’s not hard, but provides great experience and leadership for the Scout, plus it helps to share the workload. We have a monthly theme for each of our weekly meetings so the Scout has something to plan around.

What should your Scout prepare? The following is a general timeline for our meetings. Your Scout should focus on the ‘General Meeting’ portion of the meeting, about 50 mins.

• 7:00 – 7:05pm Open Flag Ceremony
• 7:05 – 7:15pm Uniform Inspection
• 7:15 – 8:05pm General Meeting
• 8:05 – 8:20pm Announcements
• 8:20 – 8:30pm Closing Prayer and Flag Ceremony

Your Scout can lead any combination of activities, games, presentations, arrange a guest speaker, off-site trips, work on the theme’s specific merit badge, etc. The options are wide open, with limited restrictions. Look through the upcoming themes and decide if you, a family member, friend, neighbor, other have specific knowledge or experience within the theme. If you don’t have any, then pick a week within a theme your Scout wants to learn more about. If you need help getting started, please let me know. It is okay for the parent(s) to help mentor their Scout behind the scenes putting the meeting together.

A key to keeping our Scouts engaged and genuinely excited about Scouts are the weekly meetings. The better the weekly meetings, the more successful we are keeping our Scouts moving forward and away for other less desirable activities.

The current themes and open meeting dates are below. Please select one or two open dates and email me at dmcfetters@gmail.com. Thanks for your help.

May – Forestry

• May 2 – OPEN
• May 9 – OPEN
• May 16 – D. Achor
• May 23 – OPEN
• May 30 – OPEN

June – Camping

• June 6 – OPEN
• June 13 – E. Achor
• June 20 – Court of Honor
• June 27 – OPEN

July – Citizenship

• July 4 – No meeting
• July 11 – No meeting, Summer Camp
• July 18 – B. Bollimpalli
• July 25 – OPEN

August – Physical Fitness

• August 1 – OPEN
• August 8 – OPEN
• August 15 – OPEN
• August 22 – OPEN
• August 29 – OPEN

September – First Aid

• September 5 – N. Murphy
• September 12 – I. Achor
• September 19 – R. Bollimpalli
• September 26 – M. DeBarros

We still need someone to lead the Tuesday, May 2 meeting. If no one can, we will have a Rank and Merit Badge focused meeting. If you can lead the meeting, please let me know right away and thanks! If your Scout is part of the PLC, we will have our regularly scheduled PLC meeting next week.

See you all soon,

Scoutmaster T648

Hello Troop 648

Some final details on the backpack outing this weekend.
April Outing – 4/29-30 (Sat-Sun)
Roger’s Canyon Trail / Angel Basin BACKPACKING — In the Superstition Mountains

• Meet at the church 6:30 AM Saturday, April 29th (eat breakfast before you arrive)
• Leave the church at 7 AM
• Return on Sunday about noon
• Bring backpacking food for Sat lunch and dinner and Sun breakfast
• Bring water!!! (and warm clothing…Saturday night will be in the 40s)

Easy backpacking…have a great time exploring the Angel Basin cliff dwellings. Any questions, please call Mr. Murphy at (480) 510-0607

Thanks!

Scoutmaster 648

Hello Troop 648

Reese Galvin will be holding his Eagle Project this Saturday, April 22nd starting at 8am. We will be building gardens for the Chrysalis shelter and all help will be much appreciated. Don’t forgot gloves, shovels, rakes and any other garden tools you may have.

If you are planning to attend and would like the shelter’s address, please email me at dmcfetters@gmail.com. The project address is not the address on the website, so please contact me.

Come out and support this great cause!

See you Saturday,

Scoutmaster T648

Reese’s vision above so please join us as we have lots to do! (JK, but seriously, it’s going to be a great project for a great cause!)

Hello Troop 648

With our meeting last week offsite, we moved the PLC to tonight. We will meet at the church at the usual time.

Also, we will have Pancake Breakfast ticket books for distribution to the Scouts tonight. If you can’t make it, please let us know so arrangements can be made to get your tickets. We only have a few weeks left to sell tickets and secure donations, so keep pushing!

Finally, Mr. Parizek has put together a great document on the many ways a Scout can earn money from the Pancake Breakfast. You can read by clicking here = How a Scout Earns.

See you tonight!

Scoutmaster T648

Good Afternoon Scout Families-

I hope this finds you well and “hitting the pavement hard” soliciting donations for our Annual Pancake Breakfast Silent Auction. If you have any questions or are having difficulty soliciting donations, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are happy to provide ideas, especially to our new Scouts and families.

This is our largest and best opportunity for your Scout to build up his Scout account. Many Scouts have fully paid for summer camp and then some from funds raised during this event!

I plan to be at each of the meetings over the coming weeks approaching the Pancake Breakfast to collect any donations you may have received thus far. I have a “handy dandy” file dedicated to each Scout to ensure nothing gets lost. Also, Mr. Parizek will be handing out tickets for the event soon, so be on the lookout.

Wishing you the best for a super weekend.

Jody Achor
Pancake Breakfast-Silent Auction Chair
310-710-8020
rspmdja@aol.com

Hello Troop 648

On Saturday, April 8th, please join us at 10:00am for a tour of the new Liberty Wildlife facility! Liberty is waiving the cost of admission (!) for our Troop 648 Family & Friends. This is a great opportunity to see the new facility and learn more about three of the major biomes found in Arizona: upper Sonoran desert, riparian and wetlands. The main feature at Liberty Wildlife is the Interpretive Education Trail where guests can wander the path and see birds of all sizes, including bald eagles, great horned owls, and Swainson’s hawks. At 11:15AM, Liberty Wildlife education team members will present a live show.

Plan on arriving about 9:45am so we can gather up and meet the Liberty crew. If you have time, you can respond to our Evite by clicking – here. However, it is not necessary. Liberty Wildlife’s new facility is located at 2600 E. Elwood St. Phoenix, AZ 85040. It is just east of 24th St., west of 28th St., south of University, and north of Broadway in Phoenix. They recommend NOT using GPS only as some of the streets there are new and you might get misdirected relying solely on satellite navigation.

Here’s a bonus – if your Scout needs the 10 Plants and/or the 10 Animals requirements, have him bring his Scout Book and we can cover it off while we are there! This is a great opportunity to complete these two rank requirements!

See you Saturday!

Scoutmaster T648

Hello Troop 648

A reminder that we will be meeting offsite next Tuesday, April 4th and NOT at the Church. Our meeting will be a tour and hands on experience in the hanger at the Army Air National Guard post at 52nd Street and McDowell. This PPMR Google Map_to_Hangar shows you where to enter off McDowell and, once there, where to park and where the hanger is. Parents, grandparents and other family members are welcome to join us! If anyone needs a ride, please let me know – dmcfetters@gmail.com.

We will be meeting at 6:30pm, so plan on arriving about 5-10 minutes earlier. Remember – if you’re on time, you’re late! Also, wear your Class A uniform. The meeting will end around 8:00pm.

This is a great opportunity to see up close and in person the Blackhawk helicopter and hear more about the awesome men and women who serve in our military.

See you on Tuesday —- if not before at Cameron’s Eagle Scout Fundraiser and Rummage Set Up Pizza Party Extravaganza – tonight, Friday March 31st starting at 4Pm or at the Rummage Sale on Saturday, April 1st starting at 6:30am!

FYI – we have rescheduled PLC for April 11th, 6:00pm.

Scoutmaster T648

Greetings!

Troop 648 will be attending Camp Geronimo for Summer Camp July 8 – July 15. This will be a great opportunity to get out of the heat, earn merit badges, and have fun!

There are still a number of people who have not confirmed with me if your son is attending camp or not. If you could please let me know one way or the other, I would appreciate it. (There is still time to sign up if you want!)

Also, we are collectively behind on our payments and need to get caught up ASAP! Per the payment schedule, everyone should be paid to $200 by the end of March. (Total cost of camp is $395.) I strongly encourage everyone to get caught up, as it will start to impact our ability to sign up for Merit Badges. Please bring checks tonight if you can; you can give them to Mr. McFetters or myself. If you want to use your scout account, please let me know.

Thank you!

Mr. Benyi