Winter Sports Weekend

(permission slip)

Troop 4 is pleased to announce the return of the NH Winter Sports Weekend. The Lanciano’s have graciously invited the troop to their mountainside cabin in Alexandria NH. Venture scouts are eligible for the early departure with the advance party, and will meet at the St. Mary’s Parish Center on Friday February 6th at 6pm, for a departure no later than 630pm. All other scouts will meet at the Parish Center on Saturday February 7th 830am, for a 900am departure. Scouts will return from the event for pickup at the Parish Center at 3pm on Sunday.

The weekend will be filled with winter activities such as snowshoeing, cross country skiing, shelter building, and other activities, including the Troop’s first annual Eskimo Relay; a more frigid version of the Apache relay. Scouts will design a challenging relay course through the area’s snow fields and forest using skis, snowshoes, sleds and other implements of snow travel.

The ventures should eat dinner prior to arrival, and plan for an outdoor patrol breakfast on Saturday. All scouts should bring a bag lunch on Saturday, and will cook patrol style meals for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. We’ll stop for a fast food lunch on the ride home. Meal planning will be done by scouts at the 1/22 troop meeting.

Scouts will be sleeping in the heated luxury of the Lanciano cabin ground level (aka basement). While no tents are required, scouts should bring their full complement of winter camping gear (see website checklist), including sleeping pad and sleeping bag. If you have a plastic sled, bring it along.

A permission slip for this event is due at the beginning of the 1/22 Troop Meeting, in order to allow meal planning. Remember, as with all camping trips, if you sign up to go, and something comes up at the last minute, you must make arrangements to provide your assigned food items to your patrol leader. If you can’t go to the 1/22 meeting, and want to go on the trip, you must call/email Phil Bedard before 1/22 so that your patrol leader includes you in the plan.

Presidential Range Backpacking Adventure

The Troop is planning our first ascent of the Northeast’s highest peaks, the Presidential Range. The 3 night trip is scheduled for August 7th. Advance notice is being given to allow scouts time to earn the Personal Fitness Merit Badge, which is a pre-requisite for this trip. This should be an exciting trip into alpine territory, with fine views, wildlife sightings, and waterfalls. We plan to put to practice the “travel light” skills recently learned on our Colorado trip. More information to be released late this spring, but get started on the fitness badge now! See Mr. Croteau if you are interested in signing up for this pre-requisite badge.

Advancement

Many scouts have been notified of their Board of Review scheduled for next Thursday (1/22). You can not attend your BOR unless you come with your book, and in full uniform. Don’t forget!

Court of Honor

The next Troop Four Court of Honor is scheduled for Thursday February 5th at the St. Mary’s Parish Center. We expect to award many merit badges, badges of rank, and other awards. The evening will begin with dinner at 630pm, and will conclude around 830pm. Scouts should arrive on time and in full uniform. The dinner menu is the popular Troop 4 “pot-luck” dinner. Committee members will be contacting parents with a request to bring a dinner item or dessert, and a 2 liter bottle of soft drink.

Merit Badges

Several merit badges classes are in the process of kickoff (or wrap-up). Mr. Croteau has a Personal Fitness crew wrapping up very soon. There are also plans to kick off another round of Fitness merit badge activity at the Midtown Health Club event on 2/12. Remember that the Fitness badge is mandatory for the summer Presidential Range Expedition. The Communications merit badge crew has been making progress working with Mr.Brundrett. See Mr.Bedard or Mr.Brundrett for guidance on remaining Comm. Merit Badge requirements that are unrelated to the pancake sales drive. Thanks to Pat Bedard for recently re-starting the classes for the Computer Merit Badge. The Fingerprinting Merit Badge held two weeks ago drew a big crowd and was a big success. Lastly, and most importantly for many Life Scouts, the Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge class is about to begin. Mr. Tusino has volunteered to teach classes that will help scouts earn this badge. Sessions start at the 1/22 Troop Meeting. Note that completed blue badge cards must be signed off by your counselor and turned into the Scoutmaster no later than1/29 in order to be awarded at the 2/5 Court of Honor. Also, remember that you can not start merit badge activity without first obtaining a signed blue card from the scoutmaster, and permission from your counselor.

Scout Sunday

Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Milford, will celebrate Scout Sunday on February 8, 2009, at the 10:30 a.m. Mass. All scouts and leaders are invited to participate and to join in the procession in uniform. Attendees should gather in the chapel (lower church) by 10:00 a.m. Boy Scout Troop 2, chartered by Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, cordially invites all scouts and leaders and their families who participate in Scout Sunday to join them in the Bell Tower Room for light refreshments immediately following the Mass. Please inform Phil Bedard if you plan to attend (note: this is the same weekend as the NH Winter Sports Weekend).

Midtown Fitness Madness

As many of you may have heard, the Parish Center is closing for one week in February. This affects our February 12th Troop Meeting. Mrs. Croteau is finalizing arrangements with the Midtown Fitness Center for an exciting troop meeting alternative, with possible court games, equipment demonstrations, and for those interested, an indoor kickoff of the Personal Fitness Merit Badge, including a 1mile treadmill run. More details to be announced soon on the troop website, and at upcoming troop meetings.

Town Christmas Tree Pick Up

Thanks to Mr. Garber and the Mahoney family for single-handedly wrestling more than $300 of Christmas Trees into their trucks as part of the towns annual Christmas Tree Pickup fundraiser. Please keep this event in mind next year. The troop will need more volunteers if we are to participate in next year’s event. The funds from this event help support troop activities, and it really is a lot of fun.

Outstanding Leader Support

Thanks! Several leaders have recently been tied up on business travel. As a result, many leaders have consistently answered last minute requests to provide leadership at our various meetings, events and campouts. Thanks!

Pancake Breakfast Update

It’s almost here. Thanks to all the scouts who are working hard to sell tickets and advertisements. All scouts should have picked up an initial 20 tickets to sell for the breakfast. It’s not too late to get more tickets, and cash in on the outstanding prizes to be given out to the top salesmen. See Mr.Bedard or Mr.Brundrett if you need more tickets. Cash/checks (payable to Troop 4) from ticket sales must be turned in at either the 2/22 or 2/29 troop meetings.

The pancake breakfast is one of more important troop events of the year. All scouts are expected to participate. The venture kitchen staff should report for KP at 630 AM sharp. Please wear a Troop 4 T-Shirt. The wait staff (all other scouts) should arrive no later than 730AM and must be in regular Class A uniform. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Upcoming Event Dates & Reminders

• – January 22nd and 29th are regular troop meetings
• – February 1 is the pancake breakfast
• – February 5th is the Troop Court of Honor
• – February 6th – 8th is New Hampshire Winter Sports Weekend at the Lanciano Cabin.
• – February 8th – Scout Sunday, Sacred Heart Church

Questions?

Call Phil Bedard at 508-282-0283 or email at bedard18@verizon.net

Happy New Year! There is much news and events to announce to kick off the New Year.

Thanks to Troop 4 and Jennifer Dundon’s Girl Scout Troop for Soldier Donations

The Troop has just received an email of thanks from SPC Charles Roesch on behalf of the members of the 201st Base Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, currently deployed in Afghanistan. Over 200 pounds of personal goods was donated and shipped to his unit. While the Army keeps these troops well clothed and fed, they often lack some of the comforts of home that we sometimes take for granted. Troop 4 and the Girl Scouts donated over 200 pounds of snacks, stationary, books, and personal hygiene supplies and other items, to provide a much needed morale boost to these soldiers. The following is the note we just received from SPC Roesch.

“Hey there! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! Sorry I have not gotten back to you sooner. For some reason my email hasn’t been working much the last few weeks. But I did get all the boxes you sent. Everything in there was great and all the guys in my unit loved everything. We are all very grateful for everyone’s generosity for all of that stuff. I have some pictures to send but the computers here are so slow that it takes forever to send them. I only get 20 minutes on the computer at a time so I will have to come in the middle of the night sometime soon so I can send them to you. But just wanted to say thanks for everything! Hope everything is going good over there. Cant wait to get back!”

For those interested in learning about Charlie’s unit, please visit: http://www.1id.army.mil/units/3ibct/history/201bsb.aspx

Change of Venue for Next Troop Meeting

St. Mary’s parish center will be closed for our next scheduled troop meeting on January 8th. However, the troop has lined up an alternate merit badge activity at the Milford Police Station at the normal troop meeting time. Officer Jay Ball will be conducting a fingerprinting merit badge class. This is a great opportunity to earn a merit badge in just ONE meeting. All you need to do is print out the worksheet that can be found at http://www.usscouts.org/mb/worksheets/Fingerprinting.pdf, and do a bit of on-line homework to complete the “history of fingerprinting” requirement #1. Bring the partially completed worksheet to the Jan 8th meeting, where Officer Ball will then work with all scouts that attend to complete the remaining requirements. Due to space constraints at the police station, this meeting is recommended only for those scouts who have not yet completed the fingerprinting merit badge. Attending scouts should meet the troop’s adult leaders in the Police Station front lobby at 7pm. It is very important that scouts arrive on-time for this meeting (a few minutes early is even better) in order to fill out some preliminary paperwork. Pickup will be at 8:30 in the same location. Older venture scouts that have already earned this badge may take the week off, though there is rumor that your SPL may arrange a venture-only activity. Stay tuned for a possible note from Brad.

National Jamboree 2010

The Council is accepting Scout applications to attend the BSA National Jamboree in the summer of 2010. Registered adult leaders are also invited to apply. The Council will be sending three provisional troops that are made up of scouts/leaders from troops throughout our Council. The approximate cost per scout will be $1700 – $1900. Those interested in applying to attend should visit http://www.ktc-bsa.org/jamboree.htm for more detail.

While the national jamboree will be a memorable adventure, be aware that Troop 4 will be conducting our own High Adventure trip that same summer at considerably less expense.

Whitewater Update

Thanks to all for the great response to the last round of whitewater surveys. There is plenty of interest to go forward with our plans. We are in the process of reserving the previously announced adventure down Maine’s Kennebec River on June 20-22. Additional news and payment information will be announced in the spring.

Hazardous Weather Training

The BSA now requires that at least one registered adult leader on an outing (e.g., camping trip) be trained in Hazardous Weather. All registered adult leaders should go to the Knox Trail Website to take this online training (http://www.ktc-bsa.org/). The course is easy, informative and only takes about 30 minutes. Please send a copy of your completion certificate to Phil Bedard when complete so we can update the troop training records. Thanks.

January Winter Camping Trip

9 rugged scouts have registered for the upcoming winter campout on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 through Sunday Jan 4th. Note that this is a revised date.

We have confirmed the site to be the Hopedale Parklands in Hopedale, MA. This is a historic site, with an old 3-sided shelter built in the days of the original park construction by the owners of the Draper Mill. The shelter is located on a small summit overlooking Milford, and is in a secluded area that’s great for sledding, hiking, animal tracking, snipe hunting and other adventures.

At the winter camping trip we will be doing some aluminum foil (no pots and pans to clean) and Dutch oven cooking. The winter is a great time to do this type of cooking because you need some good warm fires to cook – and to stay warm with! In addition, we will be doing other winter activities -depending on how much snow cover we have – making snow shelters, sledding, etc.

Scout food assignments were given at the last troop meeting, and have been confirmed via email.

The required winter camping gear is detailed on the troop website. Scouts are expected to come fully prepared. Most scouts already have most of the gear and anything else is usually around in the scouts homes. We will be patrol cooking for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. Scouts should bring a bag lunch for Saturday (no soda). For scouts that have a plastic sled, please bring that along, too. It will help haul in our gear.

We will meet at St. Mary’s parish center at 10:00 AM on Saturday January 3rd and leave about 10:30 AM for the site. We will return for pick up on Sunday, January 4th at 11am.

Town Christmas Tree Pick Up

The town Christmas tree pick up will be Sunday, January 4. This is a combination fund raiser and service project that we participate in with other scout units in town. We are still looking for a couple more parents with pick-up trucks or trailers to drive around our assigned territory in Milford to pick up the trees and transport them to the town disposal area. It starts about 8:00 am and ends about noon. We will be camping this weekend so we really need a few scouts and parents who won’t be camping to help out. Please call or email Bob Garber at bobg.home@comcast.net if you or your scout can participate. We had to schedule the January camping trip the same weekend because that was the best fit for all of our winter activities.

Advancement

The next Court of Honor is scheduled for Feb 5th. Scouts should make a final push to complete in-process merit badges. Many scouts have partial merit badge cards for Citizenship, Communications, Camping, Personal Fitness, Family Life and Wilderness Survival. If you’re not sure where you stand, see your Merit Badge Counselor. Merit Badge blue cards must be turned in by Jan 29th if you would like the badge to be awarded at the COH. Those requiring MB’s in order to advance to the next rank must complete them by the start of the Jan 15th troop meeting in order for the troop to have sufficient time to schedule and conduct the SM conference and BOR.

The Patrol Leader’s Council will soon meet to determine which merit badges to work on during winter/spring troop meetings. Scouts should give their preferences to their patrol leader.

Pancake Breakfast Update

The breakfast is scheduled for Sunday, February 1st from 8:00 AM until noon at St. Mary’s parish center. This is our big fundraiser to raise funds for our outdoor adventures. All scouts should have picked up an initial 20 tickets to sell for the breakfast.

Each scout is expected to contribute a strong effort on this sale and should sell at least 20 tickets. Scouts can get as many tickets to sell as they want. See Phil Bedard or Jim Brundrett if you need more tickets. THIS IS THE PRIMARY TROOP FUNDRAISER FOR THE YEAR… PLEASE HELP.

There will be some great ticket sale prizes for all scouts, regardless if they go on a future high adventure trip or not! There will be prizes (knives, backpacking stoves, etc) for scouts who sell the most, second and third amount of tickets. Some scouts have already reported very strong sales – great job! Aside from the top three sellers, all other scouts who sell tickets will have a chance at the drawing of 3 additional great prizes!

There is an additional effort to sell event advertising to local vendors. Scouts should see Mr. Brundrett and his team of Venture and 1st Class scouts if you would like to help. We are also in big need of parent help. Any parents that can donate a couple of late afternoon hours should contact Mr. Jim Brundrett at spidr2@comcast.net.

Upcoming Event Dates & Reminders

• January 3rd and 4th is the winter campout at the Hopedale Parklands
• January 4th is the Christmas Tree Pickup
• January 8th is a troop meeting at the Milford Police Station
• January 15th, 22nd and 29th are regular troop meetings
• February 1 is the pancake breakfast
• February 5th is the Troop Court of Honor
• February 6th – 8th is New Hampshire Winter Sports Weekend at the Lanciano Cabin. Ventures depart on Friday evening, others scouts Sat AM. More info in next newsletter.

Questions

Please call the Phil Bedard at 508-282-0283 or email at bedard18@verizon.net if you have any questions.