Boy Scout Troop 648 Scottsdale, Arizona

Good morning!

The troop 648 backpackers are back from an exhilarating weekend under the bright moon and glorious stars in the crisp air outside of Camp Verde.  We clambered over rocks and through bushes on an unmaintained Towel Creek trail to get to our destination of Towel Springs – gorgeous canopy trees covering a babbling brook coming from the spring.  Along the trail, as usual, the adults were the ones often learning the best lesson.  At one point, one of our younger hikers discovered that the sole had separated from his boot, completely leaving his own foot’s sole exposed to the elements, two miles in to our trip over very rough terrain.  As the adults huddled around, assessing the situation and the resources we had available to rectify the situation, we neglected some key areas.  While working our way through our inventory of items to repair the boot: straps, zipties, duct tape, etc. we were bemoaning the lack of the sailing needle that was in Mr. Turner’s office drawer back home.  Ironically, we were also literally in the shadow of Needle Rock, in our wanting of a needle.  After many minutes of analysis, the lesson learned, however, was to ask the simplest questions first – just like in performing first aid.  One of the boys casually asked our intrepid hiker if he didn’t have another pair of shoes, and our floppy booted scout acknowledged that he supposed it would be OK if he wore his tennis shoes on the trail, which just happened to be securely buried deep in his pack.  Lesson learned for Mr. Cole – if you need something specific (like another pair of shoes) – ask for it first, before searching for alternatives!

In the incredible news for the week department, hot on the heels of the Runbergs, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett are now the proud parents of a 6 lb 3 ½ ounce, 19 inch bundle of joy.  She is going to be a great camper, as she greeted her first day on earth at 4 in the morning.  Many congratulations to the Bennetts, who are looking amazingly fresh and bright eyed in the photos I saw  – if only that will continue for the foreseeable future!

Tomorrow night is the troop meeting, and Mr. Butler’s final Citizenship in the Community merit badge class ahead of it.  We also have a deadline approaching for summer camp – please be finalizing the merit badges you would like to select for Camp Alexander.  The list is due to Mr. Benyi on April 1^st.  Each patrol should also have a theme for their auction basket, and have begun planning for the items which they would like to include.  Mr. Parizek gave his sales pitch last Tuesday on how to sell 25+ pancake breakfast tickets, and then provided the additional incentive of a personally cooked steak dinner for each scout exceeding that goal.  As someone who has been a beneficiary of Mr. Parizek’s steak dinners in the past, I can guarantee you that you do not want to miss this opportunity.  Please pick up your desired amount of pancake breakfast tickets tomorrow night.  We will have just over a month before the April 27^th breakfast and auction in order to sell, sell, sell!  Keep in mind that one weekend will be our April outing as we break out the troop canoes for a Verde River float beginning April 12^th.  And this weekend is Easter weekend – so plan your sales strategy accordingly.

As we begin Holy Week, I pray that your family is truly blessed through the many gifts we have been given through our faith, and in living in this great nation which allows us to observe that faith.  Happy Easter.

See you tomorrow night!

Mr. Cole

Good morning!

I thought our seasons were generally broken into temperatures which approximated ‘sorta cool’, ‘spring’, ‘hot’, and ‘are you kidding me?!’  Somehow during Scottsdale Schools’ spring break this week we jumped directly from our winterish ‘sorta cool’ weather straight into something approaching ‘hot’.  But never fear – for those of you wanting to experience a ‘spring’ this year, please join us on next weekend’s backpacking trip up to Towel Creek near the Camp Verde area.  It appears that it will be clear and in the 70’s there next weekend, with lows down in the 40’s.  It is a perfect time of year to go exploring the old Anasazi neighborhoods around Montezuma Castle.  For those of you less experienced packers wondering if this is the trip for you, it will be a moderately difficult hike, with 5-6 miles each on both Saturday and Sunday.  Please let Mr. Turner or Mr. Murphy know if you need to borrow a backpack.  However, if interested, don’t hesitate!   ‘Are you kidding me?!‘ type Arizona weather is just around the corner – catch spring while you can!

This week we have an adult leader meeting tomorrow night, and a continuation of our emergency preparedness theme for the troop meeting on Tuesday night.  For those of you working on Eagle required merit badges with our adult mentors, please be checking in with them on your Camping, Personal Fitness and Citizenship in the Community progress.  Speaking of merit badges, Mr. Benyi handed out summer camp informational packets at our committee and parent meeting early this month, and your selection of your top 6 merit badges for summer camp is due back to the troop on April 1^st (no foolin’!).  We should have pancake breakfast tickets within the next week or two, so you all should be planning your sales strategy.  Any boy who sells 25 tickets, provides items for the auction, and works the entire morning of 4/27/13, should expect to earn $150+ for his scout account.  The more tickets he sells, and the more auction items he provides, the better the earning potential!

Mrs Traynor has compiled our latest troop newsletter with all of your terrific input – it has grown to 5 pages!  Check it out on the troop website later this week under ‘Roster’ (so it can be password protected).  Included is the latest in the honor patrol standings.  All patrols are still in the running (well, except maybe the Pirates ….), so keep participating in meetings and events, wearing your complete uniform and bringing your book to meetings – the honor patrol trip next fall is still within your grasp!  Please keep in mind that the top three individuals in honor patrol points also qualify as wild cards, so even a Pirate could still end up a winner!

See you Tuesday at the troop meeting!

Mr. Cole

With fitting brass accompaniment from a solo trumpeter, T648’s 40^th Eagle scout was welcomed into the  pantheon of the top 2% of scouting, as yesterday afternoon our troop gathered to celebrate young Mr. McFetters’ Eagle Court of Honor.  It was terrific to again see and hear from two of the ministers from the inner-city church recipient of his Eagle project.  Reliving that wonderful event, and visualizing the joy of the children who now benefit from the playground we constructed through pictures and the testimony of the Streets of Destiny ministers made for a marvelous afternoon.  Three delicious sheet cakes and an afternoon of humorous remembrances didn’t hurt, either!  Congratulations to young Mr. McFetters and his entire family on their son’s achievement, and for the beautiful afternoon created to commit it all to memory.

During last week’s troop meeting, Mr. Huston led a lively discussion on the effects and dangers of the various drugs and alcohol available in our society today.  This session qualifies as a 2^nd Class skills requirement, so if you attended the session and did not get 8a) signed off on Tuesday, please bring your book to an upcoming meeting and discuss what you learned with an adult leader.  Saturday night a dozen of us assisted the Knights of Columbus in their family Bingo Pizza night fundraiser.  From the ‘You can always teach an old dog new tricks’ category:  The Knights had paint daubers available for purchase to mark the bingo sheets. Now after all these years I finally know what a dauber is from my grandmother’s saying – ‘Don’t get your dauber down.’  Amazing the things you learn from scouting!

We also had a committee meeting and parent night last Tuesday, with a focus on summer camp.  Mr. Benyi handed out a sheet for you to begin thinking about merit badge selections for you to take at camp.  If you did not obtain one, please see or write Mr. Benyi for your copy.  It lists the almost 50 merit badges available, and any additional cost or pre-requisites to take the class.  As with any time we go out of council to camp, there are some fantastic new ones which aren’t available at Camp Geronimo, so get your sheet and start planning today!  Merit badges will need to be selected by 4/2/13, so that we can reserve your spot in the classes.  Select your top six, and we will aim to sign you up for four merit badges each.

Our season of spring breaks starts this week, with Scottsdale School district families beginning the mass exodus out of town.  For those of you remaining in town, Tuesday night at 6PM will be the next installment for those of you meeting with Mr. Butler on Citizenship in the Community.  For anyone taking Camping or Personal Fitness, remember to check in periodically with Mr. Benyi and Mr. Conrad.  Looking ahead, we have Towel Creek backpack coming up the 22^nd through the 24^th.  It is just south of the Wet Beaver Creek and West Clear Creek trails we have frequented in the Camp Verde area.  This hike will be approximately 13 miles round trip, and will include the Verde River, an active cow trail and some Anasazi ruins throughout the adventure.  Anybody like pie?

Our newsletter deadline is coming up again, so those of you in charge of the Verde River canoe trip in April, and the pancake breakfast fundraiser on April 27th – please get some informational articles in to Mrs. Traynor.  We will not be having an adult leader meeting tomorrow night, but the troop meeting on Tuesday will be on Emergency Preparedness, and such important techniques as the fireman’s carry.

Have a great week!

Mr. Cole

Good morning!

After our brief hiatus last week (it’s amazing how out of touch I feel after missing a week of scouts!) we are ready to jump back in with both feet.  Tomorrow night is chock full of activities.  PLC occurs at 6PM, along with the next rung of the Citizenship in the Community ladder with Mr. Butler, also at 6PM.  At 7PM we will have a parent information session on Summer Camp and our troop meeting.  This is a troop meeting you will not want to miss!  We all have a need to remain current in Drug and Alcohol Awareness, and we will be having an excellent session led by one of our senior leaders who has first hand knowledge of the negative effects that substance abuse can have on the body through his role in the medical profession.  There is also a Second Class requirement, which can be signed off after your participation in the program and then discussing it with your family – two benefits for the price of none!  Hope you can make it.

Next weekend, Scottsdale Schools start their spring break, but I hope that you can make the Eagle Court of Honor for young Mr. McFetters at 2PM at Horizon Community Center, 15444 N. 100th Street.  It will be fun to look back on his magnificent project transforming a hardscrabble backyard at a central Phoenix homeless church into a playground oasis for their kids and parents.  And I’m certain there will be the usual roasting and fellowship that goes along with the ceremony.  See you there!

Because of summer camp staffing interviews for a number of our scouts this past weekend, we moved the backpacking outing to 3/22-24.  That should allow for the Towel Creek area up by Camp Verde to be much warmer, as well.  If you would like to attend, but don’t have a backpack, please check with myself or Mr. Murphy, and we’ll see about getting you outfitted with a loaner backpack.

As you have noticed this year, there has not been an opportunity to provide service during the Blessed Sacrament fish fries, as the Knights have taken their own hiatus for this year as they prepare for facility remodeling, and provide instead social dinners on Saturday nights.  This coming Saturday they will be having a family night dinner from 5:30-8PM, and this is our one opportunity to help in serving and bussing tables.   It is Pizza and Bingo night!  We will have a signup tomorrow night to help with this event – all participants will receive service hours, and be provided with a meal.

Also – a quick reminder if you have not already done so to connect with Mr. Benyi for Camping and Mr. Conrad for Personal Fitness.  They are currently running a program for these merit badges, and as you know, they are both Eagle required.

See you tomorrow night at the troop meeting.

Mr. Cole

Greetings!

We will be having our quarterly Troop Committee & Parent Meeting this coming Tuesday, 3/5/13 at 7:00pm. The meeting will be held in the classroom adjacent to the troop meeting room.

This meeting is open to all interested parents, along with members of the committee. Major agenda topics for the meeting will include: Fundraising & Pancake Breakfast, Youth Training, Committee Members Updates, and Summer Camp 2013.

Summer Camp 2013: I want to take a quick moment to remind everyone about Summer Camp 2013 at Camp Alexander in Colorado Springs, CO. The dates for camp are July 20-28. The cost of camp is $450. There are still open spots if you have not yet signed up. Please take advantage of the opportunity for a great summer camp experience. Additional information about camp will be presented at the meeting on Tuesday.

Troop Newsletter, February 2013: For any who have not yet seen the February Newsletter, it is available here.

Have a great rest of the weekend and I hope to see everyone on Tuesday.

Thanks,

Mr. Benyi

Good afternoon,

In my previous post I stated that no matter what occurred this week, it could not possibly rival the events from last week.  Well – – maybe I spoke too soon!  Tuesday night’s ‘Can You Cook’ meeting was an outstanding culinary experience, and the judges had an impossible task to choose from among three delectable selections hand crafted by our scout chefs.  Additionally, we had families of 5 Webelos joining us for the fun, and the cubs jumped enthusiastically into the competition.  Late in the week, the troop held an impressive shed improvement program, led by the eldest young Mr Jeorling, leaving the shed as sparkling and organized on the inside as at any time since my association with the troop.  The Jeorlings and the Conrads were a bit delayed in getting to the shed event, as they narrowly avoided being involved in and then assisting with a bad accident at 56^th Street and Shea.  Mr. Conrad had included a first aid kit in his car in case anyone encountered a splinter, and instead, the scouts and scouters dealt with severe head injuries of a man who had not been wearing a seat belt until the police arrived.  A scout is always prepared to do a good turn daily!  After cleaning up the shed, a number of the scouts headed over to University of Phoenix stadium to help the Butler family run the Arizona Scouting Museum at the annual Scout-O-Rama event.  A gorgeous day in the sun saw almost 400 people tour the museum – and the boys became master junior curators.  If only there were a ‘Day at the Museum’ merit badge!

This week has also been (in the words of Paul Harvey) a ‘rest of the story’ week.  A number of months ago, you may recall I spoke of our terrific December backpacking trip in the Superstitions.  One of the memorable moments was witnessing the rescue of a lost hiker by a backcountry ranger, EMTs and helicopter right off the Bluff Springs Trail.  A middle-aged woman had gone for a hike on Friday, and had not returned.  She was found lost and suffering from exposure from temperatures in the 20s literally a stones throw from our position.  It made for great discussions on Search and Rescue and being prepared around that night’s small campfire before turning in for a much better sleep than the poor woman had had the night before.  Amazing what a bit of forethought and preparation can do!   It is now less than three months later, and Mr. Turner discovered a nugget in this week’s news which will provide additional learnings for our troop.  A 51 year old woman named Robyn Bird searching for Lost Dutchman’s gold was rescued this week along Bluff Springs Trail in the Superstitions.  Yep, she is the same woman we witnessed being rescued during our December hike.  This time, a helicopter searching all day Wednesday did not find her, but she was eventually found at about midnight by a volunteer rescue crew.  She was lying in semi-frozen mud and suffering from hypothermia, severe dehydration and early frostbite.  She was surprised by Tuesday afternoon’s snowstorm, and her clothes were thin and soaked.  Authorities stated she would not have survived the second night.  I suppose the words from an old Donna Summer song, ‘She Works Hard for the Money’ come to mind, but so do a number of others: probably the kindest being ‘Rescue Me’ by Aretha Franklin.  An even crueler ‘rest of the story’, is that it was later discovered that she had come across three other hikers who asked for directions, and with her answers, she also got them lost.  They were rescued from the snow and cold in the middle of the night Tuesday by a Pima County Sherriff’s rescue team.   Hopefully we have witnessed the last of Ms. Bird’s hiking exploits – I fear the third time would not be the charm….

There is much to be aware of for upcoming events:

• This week there is NO troop meeting, out of respect for Parish Lenten Mission at the church
• The church has extended a welcome for individual troop families to attend the service Tuesday night from 7-8PM, if they so desire
• If you have any remaining unsold Scout-O-Rama tickets – please get them to Mr. Jeorling for credit – they must be returned to council.
• There are three troop-led merit badges underway for First Class + (or close to) scouts.  Please participate now if you need them for your Eagle rank planning.  They include Citizenship in the Community (Mr. S. Butler), Camping (Mr. J. Benyi) and Personal Fitness (Mr. M. Conrad).
• The weekend of 3/1-3 is a backpacking outing near Towel Creek.  This may be rescheduled, however, due to a new conflict with Geronimo work interviews next weekend. Stay tuned.
• March 5^th is PLC at 6PM, as well as a committee meeting and summer camp information session at 7PM.
• March 9^th at 2PM is an Eagle Court of Honor for young Mr. McFetters at the Horizon Community Center on 100th Street, east of FLW Blvd
• March 9^th from 5-8PM is Lenten Family Social Dinner – our scouts will be providing seating and serving service for this one Saturday night instead of during the traditional six Lenten Friday fish fries, which were cancelled this year due to the church remodeling
• April 27^th from 6-11AM is our annual pancake breakfast and auction fundraiser.  Please put this on your calendar now, as it is the best way throughout the year to significantly add to your personal scout account funds.

See you over a week from now on 3/5/13 for our next scout meeting

Mr. Cole

Greetings!

I am going to be offering Camping Merit Badge over the course of the next two months. This is a key Eagle Required Merit Badge and is well suited for scouts that are at or near the First Class rank. Anyone wishing to get started on Camping should see me at a troop meeting and sign up.

I will do a brief orientation to the badge with each scout, then it will primarily be a “work at your own pace” sort of endeavor. The majority of the requirements for Camping are similar to requirements for Second and First Class; if your scout skills are strong, you should have no problem with Camping MB! (And if they are not, this is a good opportunity to practice.)

There are a few primary tools that will help you as you work on Camping MB:

1) It is best to obtain the Merit Badge book for reference. (If you are using an old book, the content should be fine, but note that the requirements have changed!) We will work from the requirements in the “color” book from the 2011 printing.

2) At minimum, I would recommend visiting: http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Camping to review the requirements for the badge.

3) It is also important for you to have a packet to work from. You are welcome to use either the default packet from meritbadge.org OR you can use this “custom” packet created by Mr Conrad the younger. (Thanks for putting this together!) I think this alternative packet is clearer and easier to use, but please note that it does not address every single requirement, so make sure that you know ALL the requirements for completing Camping.

I encourage anyone that is First Class to be sure to get Camping Merit Badge out of the way. If you have questions, you are welcome to email me or speak to me at a troop meeting.

Thanks!

Mr. Benyi

Good Morning

We have completed another extremely momentous week in the census department within T648.   Early in the day Thursday, our newest scout was added to the troop (this one a future Girl Scout), as Mrs. Runberg gave birth to a healthy baby of the female persuasion!  Congratulations!  All accounts are that even the Admiral survived the overwhelming experience, and will now begin negotiating the heretofore uncharted waters of being outnumbered by the fairer sex in his household.  Later that same day, our lair of Eagles grew to 41 as young Mr. Williams passed his District Board of Review, and received confirmation of his advancement to the highest rank in Boy Scouts.  As you recall, Mr. Williams orchestrated an effort on a fall weekend to turn a weed and mold-infested townhome into a move-in ready castle for a young family hoping to get back on their feet with a job and a place to live through Save the Family Foundation.   Congratulations to Mr. Williams, and our best wishes to the growing Runberg family!  No matter what we do as a troop this week, it will come in second to this boatload of wonderful news!

But, we do have a multitude of things to accomplish and will soldier on in good scout fashion.  Tuesday night is a very important night for a number of reasons.  We have a ‘Can you Cook?’ session planned, so please come on schedule and remember to bring the food preparations to which you have been assigned by your patrol leader.  We also have a number of Webelos from Pack 426 who will be visiting our troop as part of their Arrow of Light requirements, and to better get to know us as a possible troop home.  Be sure to plan to incorporate them into your meal and competition planning, and give them a T648 welcome.  This coming weekend will also be a busy one.  The elder young Mr. Jeorling has planned a shake-down of all patrol equipment and a general shed cleaning exercise for Saturday morning at 8AM.  All patrol leaders, assistant patrol leaders are required, and as many members of each patrol as can attend.  The quicker we get to it, the quicker we can get done – and then head over to the west side of town, and the Scout-O-Rama combined with the Sportsman’s Expo at University of Phoenix Stadium.  The PLC has decided not to staff a booth this year, but there will be a wealth of amazing events and activities – including our own Mr. Butler and the Arizona Scouting Museum.  Back at the church, we will also be looking for two older scouts to work the Knights of Columbus Social dinner Saturday night.

Many of you have begun working on your Citizenship in the Community merit badge – that will continue this week on Tuesday night with young Mr. Butler.  Mrs. Traynor has also sent out a final request for Newsletter articles, due by end of day today.  Looking ahead, we have a backpack to Towel Creek the first weekend in March, and a celebration and Court of Honor for young Mr. McFetters’ Eagle on March 9^th at 2PM.   We have also begun planning for our biggest fundraiser of the year – our pancake breakfast on the 27^th of April.  Please put that on your calendar for 6AM-11AM (doors open from 7-10) at the Scottsdale Worship Center at 65^th Street and Cactus.  You will have three ways to earn money – selling tickets, providing quality silent auction items, and working the event itself.

And it is never too early to look ahead to summer camp – a mere 5 months away!  For those of you planning to attend our Rocky Mountain adventure, we should each have $150 per scout in for deposit money.  Stay tuned for an upcoming information night early in March with Mr. Benyi on merit badges and other details.

As we transition into Arrow of Light season, and with Scout Sunday not far behind us, now is also an excellent time for recruitment.  Evaluate your friends at school or in your neighborhood – would any of them enjoy the outdoors as much as you?  Enjoy cooking, or working with younger boys, or developing leadership skills?  Think about bringing a friend to scouts – they’ll have a great evening hanging out with you, and who knows?  You may be responsible for inviting the future 55^th Eagle to come out of T648!

See you Tuesday night!  Bring your allotted food!

Mr. Cole

Good evening T648!

This has been an amazing week of leadership, and recognition for it, for the troop.  We held our Winter Court of Honor Tuesday night, and almost a dozen of our scouts advanced in rank, while a number of merit badges and other awards were acknowledged and received.   We also had a visual review of our last four months’ worth of events prepared by our very capable historian, and a wealth of treats and snacks prepared by you!  But the most excellent items for me were the terrific contributions from our scouts in leading the ceremony itself.  Mr. Benyi decided to retire the Mr. McFetters and Mr. Cole presentations for this COH, and leverage our boy leaders in our boy-led troop to marvelous results!  Many thanks for his coordination of this new way to leverage the creativity of our scouts, and for all of your execution resulting in a memorable night.

Continuing deeper into scouting’s red carpet week, over 20 of our troop’s adult leaders attended the annual awards ceremony for the BSA Four Peaks District on Thursday – the largest of any district troop there by far.  The highlight of the evening was the awarding of the Four Peaks Amethyst Award (the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award in scouting) to our own Mr. Butler.  It was for his many years of service in various roles within the troop, district and council levels, but also an acknowledgement of his tremendous support for the last few National Jamborees, and the incredible work he has done over time to create and develop the Arizona Scouting Museum.  Mr. Butler shared the spotlight with his scouting brother, son and wife – a truly family affair, to a standing-O and much fanfare.  But there was more!  Mr. Benyi was also recognized with a District Award of Merit for the countless hours that he puts into scouting support at the troop and district level in a multitude of capacities, and Mr. Cole was awarded Scoutmaster of the Year for the district.  Now, we all know that scouting is all about the boys.  And the tremendous support for the boys in our troop is evidenced by the countless hours invested by our dozens of excellent T648 adults supporting our boy leaders, and the respect BSA has for our program.  But the bottom line is that the program is YOU!  Congratulations!

This past weekend we have had 21 troop scouts and scouters blasting down the slopes at Sunrise Ski Resort in the White Mountains.  There was an additional 14 inches of the white stuff yesterday, so it has been a snow-filled weekend for our intrepid hill-toppers.  There was so much snow that it may have been a bit challenging for some of the new skiers, but for the more experienced – it was some of the best skiing ever in Arizona.  After the traditional thorns and roses (with mostly roses), they arrived back in the valley very early afternoon cold and tired from a most excellent outing on the slopes.

This week we will have an adult leader meeting at SWC tomorrow night at 7PM, and will make up our PLC from last week on Tuesday night at 6PM, followed by our normal troop meeting.   Be thinking of your input to the 2^nd Newsletter – I’m anticipating that a number of you will have content either before, during, or after PLC this week! (outings, fundraising, service projects, meeting minutes, historian, librarian, etc – you can all contribute!).  Please also remember to bring the February installment of $100 toward summer camp, or designate it to come out of your scout account.  Bring your SOR ticket sales money sold to date to the troop meeting this week, and get the full amount due to you.  You can continue to sell, but bring what you have so far.  Please remember as well that although the calendar shows the fish fries beginning this week, due to the remodeling at the church they are not occuring this year.  Instead, we will have a service project later this month to completely redo the inside of our shed – led by the elder young Mr. Jeorling.

See you Tuesday night at the troop meeting!

Mr. Cole

Good morning

Yesterday a hearty crew from T648 headed out before dawn and ‘camped’ in the Blessed Sacrament courtyard during all three morning services in celebration of Scout Sunday.  Scouts opening doors, greeting parishioners, demonstrating scout skills and discussing outdoor topics was a great way to introduce ourselves to a wider population of our charter organization.  We had interest from a number of families with scout-aged boys, as well, so it was a Super Sunday in more ways than one.  Many thanks for all who braved the sprinkles to join us in this worthy endeavor.  Bonus honor patrol points await each of you!

This event also serves as a reminder.  This is recruiting season, as also evidenced by our Webelos weekend in January, and the upcoming Arrow of Light ceremonies in our surrounding cub scout packs.  We have had a number of parents and scout leaders contact us about our troop over the past few weeks, and members from Packs at least 426 and 818 will be joining us on upcoming Tuesday nights to get a feel for our troop.  Thus, if you are in charge of an upcoming meeting, it is very important that you continue to plan with your assigned partner to put together productive agendas.  Also, if you have a friend you have been thinking about bringing to a meeting, there is no better time than this time of year, as additional scouts join.  Your buddy will now have the ability to participate in all the fun things we do, and you will just have made it even more fun for yourself, by expanding your circle of friends within T648.

Tomorrow night is our Winter Court of Honor – please remember to bring a dessert or snack to share, utilizing the amazing Sign-up-Genius.  In the spirit of our being a boy-led troop, Mr. Benyi has arranged for a very interesting remodel of the format, with the scouts being the majority of the content.  It will be a very fun and festive evening celebrating scouting in our troop.  Please remember that as a result, Patrol Leaders’ Council will be moved to 6AM on the 12^th.  It is also early February, so that means this coming weekend is our annual ski outing to Sunrise Park Resort in the White Mountains.  It looks like it will be in the 30’s with a chance of precipitation this weekend – perfect skiing weather.

Looking ahead – keep it up with your Scout-O-Rama ticket sales – hopefully you have been having good success in your neighborhoods, or at the stores coordinated through Mr. Jeorling.  We will have an adult leader meeting on February 11^th, as well as a committee meeting to be scheduled in early March.  Please bring your second payment of $100 for summer camp to an upcoming meeting – it is due 2/1/13.  Please also provide an article or update for your area of responsibility for our second monthly Newsletter – details can be brought to a meeting, or sent to Mrs. Traynor or Mr. Cole.  We also have a date and location for our annual Pancake Breakfast and Silent Auction – at Scottsdale Worship Center on 65^th Street and Cactus on 4/27/13.  Please mark your calendars, and stay tuned for more details on our largest fundraiser of the year.

See you tomorrow night for the festivities!

Mr. Cole