Winter Sports Weekend

The annual NH Winter Sports Weekend is almost upon us. The Lanciano’s have once again graciously invited the troop to their mountainside “cabin” in Alexandria NH. Venture scouts (high school) are eligible to depart with the advance party on Friday. Ventures will meet and depart at the St. Mary’s Parish Center on Friday February 11th at 6pm.

The Adventure Patrol (8th graders) are also eligible to depart Friday if they work extra hard on the pancake breakfast fundraiser, by selling at least $200 worth of tickets.

All other scouts will meet and depart from the Parish Center on Saturday February 12th at 8 am. Scouts will return from the event for pickup at the Parish Center at 3 pm on Sunday. All scouts should eat a meal before they arrive, as there will be no meal stop on the ride up north.

The weekend will be filled with winter activities such as snowshoeing, cross country skiing, shelter building, and other activities. This year’s competitive event will be a Team Luge competition. The event is a high-speed team sledding challenge down the 1 mile long mountain trail. Best cumulative team time wins. Scouts must navigate course challenges along the way, including the “gauntlet”, “snowball tsunami”, “avalanche” and other ominous obstacles. The winning sled team gets bragging rights, and a snowmobile tow back to camp. Losers have to walk back up the mountain! Scouts will design the course, and assign leaders to man the obscure corners for safety, and to catch short-cutters. Don’t forget your sled on this trip.

Ventures (and qualified Adventure scouts) 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 Feb 3rd troop meeting. Meals will be cooked by patrols outdoors over their wood fire.

BACK THIS YEAR! – Your Saturday night patrol meal will be part of the 2nd annual Troop 4 Outdoor Cooking contest. A fabulous patrol prize will be awarded to the winning patrol (deluxe BSA emblazoned BBQ cook kit). And a bonus prize if you can top the adult Pedro Patrol’s dinner (good luck on that!). Details will be discussed in a special contest meeting scheduled for the Jan 27th 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.

A permission slip (attached at the end of this newsletter) for this event is due at the beginning of the Feb 3rd Troop Meeting. 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.

NOTE – If you can’t go to the Feb 3rd meeting, and want to go on the trip, you must email Phil Bedard before Feb 3rd so that your patrol leader can include you in the plan. We need to enforce this rule for this camping trip. Late permission slips have been making for difficult patrol meal planning, and difficult transportation planning. Scouts that do not meet this deadline cannot attend. Play it safe and turn in your slip early.

Pancake Breakfast Update:

It’s almost here. The breakfast is scheduled for Feb 6th. Tell all your friends and relatives. Thanks to all the scouts who are working hard to sell tickets and advertisements. All scouts have picked up their initial 20 tickets to sell for the breakfast. Nearly $2000 worth of tickets, and $1000 worth of advertising, has been sold so far. Several scouts have sold several hundred dollars of tickets each. Great job! It’s not too late to get more tickets, and to cash in on the outstanding prizes to be given out to the top salesmen. See Wyatt or Sam at the next troop meeting if you need more tickets. Prizes will be based on tickets sold and money turned in no later than the Feb 3rd Troop Meeting.

The pancake breakfast is one of more important troop events of the year. All scouts (not parents) are expected to sell their initial $100 allotment of tickets and to participate at the event. The SPL has put together a plan with roles for all scouts at the pancake breakfast. Plans will be finalized at the Feb 3rd troop meeting. If you can’t attend the breakfast because of a serious schedule conflict, you MUST contact the SPL. The venture kitchen staff should report for KP no later than 630 AM sharp. Scouts in charge of a station (ticket booth, camp display, troop store, etc) should arrive no later than 7AM. The wait staff (all other scouts) should arrive between 700 – 715AM for set-up and waiter training, and must be in regular Class A uniform. Cooks should wear a Troop 4 T-Shirt. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Uniforms: Reminder

Wearing the scout uniform (tucked in and buttoned up) at troop meetings is a requirement for scout spirit, and scout spirit is a requirement for advancement to any rank, including Eagle. Wearing a jacket over the uniform throughout the meeting (in a well heated building) sets a bad example to the younger scouts, and for the purposes of scout spirit, is equivalent to not wearing the uniform at all.

Cooking Contests:

The Troop is bringing back periodic patrol food contests to our troop meetings. The most recent featured a Pizza Cooking Contest, where Judge Danny survived the sampling, and awarded the top prize to the Adventure Patrol. Keep your ears open for more contests coming soon.

June Whitewater Trip Deposits:

The Troop is planning a return to Maine for a 3day White Water Rafting and camping trip on June 24-26. We are using the same outfitter (Adventure Bound) as two years ago. This trip is a traditional troop favorite conducted every 2 years. Scouts will have the opportunity to earn the Whitewater Merit Badge on this trip. This notice is a “heads-up” that a $20 deposit (check payable to Troop 4) per person is required by the February 17th Troop Meeting. Most scouts and parents are already familiar with this trip, however, we will offer an information session at the Feb 10th troop meeting for those that are unfamiliar with the trip, or would like more information. While we may be able to take additional deposits after Feb 17th, only those deposits received by Feb 17th will be guaranteed a spot on our reservation. Adults are welcome to join their scout on this exciting trip. The Adventure Bound facility provides us with nice tent camping accommodations, a swimming pool, hot tub, and an entertainment hall for movies, card games, etc. Our rafting will be down the challenging Kennebec River. The total prices for the trip will be $85 per person.

Eagle Scout Reunion:

A big thanks to Troop Historian Brian for organizing the Troop’s first Eagle Scout Reunion in January. Thirteen of the Troop’s 22 Eagle Scouts, and several retired leaders, joined us for an outstanding night of fellowship and discussions on the path to Eagle. Sam gave an outstanding “State of the Troop” address to summarize the troop’s activities over the past year.

Advancement:

Keep your eyes on your email for announcement of your scheduled Scoutmaster Conference and Board of Review. Come prepared. Many scouts are advancing this winter, so you may have just one opportunity to conduct your required conference and board of review prior to the March 3rd Court of Honor. Life Scouts that are ready to discuss eagle projects should contact the Scoutmaster, or their assigned Eagle Scout Mentor, to schedule a discussion on the proposal process. Any scout that has a question on their advancement status should contact the Scoutmaster early so as to avoid surprises.

Christmas Tree Pick Up:

Thanks to Mr. Matondi, Mike Mahoney, and other scouts who led and participated in this year’s Christmas Tree Pickup. This annual service event and fundraiser was very successful. The troop raised approximately $325.

Venture Outdoor Activities: Mr. Hobart has offered several outdoor and camping activities “for ventures only” this year. Unfortunately, there has been insufficient response on many events, so some had to be cancelled. The troop will continue to offer venture scout activities if the interest is there. Ventures should talk to the Scoutmaster or Mr. Hobart if they have a particular activity of interest. As you know, scouting is a boy-led program – so take charge, and let us know what you want to do. The adult leadership is prepared to guide and facilitate the activities you want, but we need your interest and leadership to make it happen.

Carpentry Merit Badge – Must be Complete by 12/31/10:

Scouts working on the historical Carpentry Merit Badge must finish up by 12/31/2010.  The badge can only be earned in this 100^th anniversary BSA year.  Contact Mr. Matondi to close out your work before this due date.  Don’t forget to bring the piece of furniture you made to the Jan 6 troop meeting.  The best piece wins the mystery prize in the black case.

Eagle Scout Re-Union:

The troop is holding its first Eagle Scout re-union on Jan 6^th, at 7pm, during normal troop meeting hours.  We hope many of our 20+ eagles can join us for a night of fellowship, and inspiration to our younger scouts.  All are welcome to come and meet the elite scouts of Troop 4 who have made it to Scouting’s highest rank, and who are now active leaders at college, in their community, or in their profession.

Merit Badges:

Several are in process; including carpentry, personal fitness, communications, environmental science, CIT Community.  For scouts that are committed to advancing to the highest ranks, do not wait for troop meetings to make progress on badges.  Many badges can and should be worked at home.  See a merit badge councilor if you want to start any of the badges that are the troop has councilors for.  Also – the troop could use more merit badge books.  If you have unused books at home please consider donating them to the troop.  MB book donations save the troop a lot of money.  Thanks!

January Winter Camping Trip:

Last chance to sign-up! This trip will be Saturday January 22, 2010 through Sunday January 23.  We will be camping in the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park in nearby Uxbridge MA.  Blackstone Canal State Park has a large forest with lots of trails and a secluded and sheltered pine grove camping spot that is perfect for winter camping. Planned activities include sledding, hiking, animal tracking, snowshoeing, and perhaps a visit to King Philips Cave and Lookout, and other adventures.  At this winter camping trip we will be doing some aluminum foil cooking (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, too!

The Troop 4 Website has a list of gear needed for a one night winter campout. Most scouts already have most of the gear and anything else is usually around in the scouts homes.  Read the list carefully.  Winter camping can be comfortable and fun, but only if you come prepared.

We will be patrol cooking for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast.  Scouts should bring a bag lunch for Saturday (no soda). A plastic sled comes in handy on this trip, for both sledding and for hauling in your gear.  If you have one, please bring it.

We will meet at St. Mary’s parish center at 9:00 AM on Saturday January 22.  Patrols will have an opportunity to assemble their ingredients into tin-foil cooking packets using the parish center kitchen before we depart.  We will need a few parents to drive to/from the site.  We will return for pick up on Sunday, January 23 by noon.

We will be planning the trip at the January 13 troop meeting.  If your son is planning to attend, please return the attached permission slip by the January 13 troop meeting.  If your son can’t make the January 13 troop meeting but wants to attend, please call or email Phil Bedard before that date so we can include him in planning for the event.

Winter camping is fun and a great outdoor experience – and not that difficult.  The adult leaders and troop have many years of winter camping experience and all of our trips have been a great time.  Hope for lots of snow cover!

Town Christmas Tree Pick Up:

Sunday, January 2.    This is a fun combination fund raiser and service project that we participate in with other scout units in town.  We are looking for one or two 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. Our trucks leave the parish center at 8:30 AM sharp, and we will not return to the parish center until the end of the event, so please be on time.  The event ends at noon.  Please call or email Ken Matondi at kenmatondi@comcast.net if you can participate.

Advancement Reminders:

Be aware that there are several requirements for Scout, Tenderfoot, and 2^nd Class that can’t be finished at troop meetings.  Scouts must work these at home and/or at campouts.  These are requirements that frequently hold scouts up from advancing in rank.  If applicable, please encourage your scout to make progress on these requirements.

For Scout Badge: Complete the youth protection exercises in the pamphlet attached to the inside cover of the scout handbook.  Parents must email the scoutmaster when complete.

For Tenderfoot: Camp overnight in a tent that the scout set up himself.  This requirement is completed on the scout’s first overnight campout.

For Tenderfoot: 30 day fitness requirement.  Scout must exercise for 30 days, and turn in the exercise log form to the scoutmaster when done.  Scouts should ask an adult leader if they need a new form.

For 2^nd Class: 30 day money management requirement.  Scout must track saving and spending for 30 days, and turn in the form to the scoutmaster when done. Scouts should ask an adult leader if they need a new form.

OA Election:

Re-scheduled for Thursday, Jan 13^th at the regular troop meeting.  A separate mailing has been sent directly to those scouts who meet the eligibility requirements for this BSA honor society.   Questions can be directed to the Scoutmaster, or the Troops OA Rep, Richard.

Pancake Breakfast:

Is coming soon on Feb 6^th.  Ticket sales for the breakfast have begun, and should be in high gear over this holiday break.  20 tickets were distributed to all scouts already.  If you’ve run out…get more!  The ticket package included a list of all the rules and incentives for this year’s ticket selling.  There are lots of great prizes for the top sellers this year.  Scouts are expected to sell a minimum of 20 tickets.  This breakfast is a very important fundraiser.  Without good sales, our bi-annual high adventure trips (e.g., Colorado, Canoe Trips, etc) would be prohibitively expensive.  Please sell hard, and turn in money to the Troop scribe as you sell tickets.  The scribe will be tracking sales weekly and reporting on progress for both total troop ticket sales and the patrol ticket sales contest.  This year’s pancake breakfast advertising sales has also kicked off.  The Biohazard Patrol is in charge of this year’s ad sales effort.  Final ad salesman training is complete.  Please contact Mark Stiles or Bruce Hastings for upcoming ad sales events.  Other logistical questions regarding this year’s Pancake Breakfast can be directed to Amy Croteau at Amy.Croteau@comcast.net.

Troop Four Website:

Have you seen the recent improvements to the Troop Web-Site?  Troop web-master Bob Garber recently added an attractive “Troop History” tab that is very cool, and chronicles the major accomplishments and milestones of the troop over the years.  Thanks Bob!

Checkout the Troop 4 website at: www.troop4milford.org.

It contains lots of current schedule and other useful information.  Pictures, too.

Please call the Phil Bedard at 508-478-5773 or email at pbedard1@gmail.com if you have any questions.