Boy Scout Troop 648 Scottsdale, Arizona

It has been a very active week yet again in the troop, even with no outings or events scheduled during the week.  On Tuesday night during the troop meeting we had four successful Scoutmasters conferences and three boards of review, with a number of scouts making rank advancement right under the wire for the upcoming Court of Honor.  Many thanks to all the practicing, mentoring, and adult leaders in attendance to accomplish such a feat!  In addition, there was the First Class water rescue skills advancement this afternoon in the McFetters’ swimming pool attended by a half dozen scouts, and assisted by some of the more advanced scouts and adult leaders.  What a terrific way to take advantage of the last 100 degree days of the season!  We might have to take all our newfound skills and try them out on an outing, or something.  Although, stay tuned for further details on that as the scouts in charge do further analysis of our October trip.  It is appearing that our backpacking outing on the Algonquin trail may be moved to an alternate location due to a number of very recent fires in the vicinity.

This week marks the highlight in rank advancement for 2012 – the post-summer camp Court of Honor and troop pot luck.  Please come Tuesday night the 2nd of October for the troop’s version of the red carpet treatment – a night of awards, reflection on accomplishments, meeting old and new friends, and fine dining.  I note on the very creative ‘signupgenius’ process initiated by Mrs. McFetters this year that we have almost 70 attendees already confirmed, but that only represents 22 of our scouts.  Please confirm your attendance through the tool, and if you can, please sign up to bring something to share.  Knowing how many of you can attend helps us somewhat determine whether we have the right amount of food planned for the evening.  And now that we are tracking it, for those of you bringing food – perhaps bring a bit extra over and above what you had planned.  We had planned for 75 attending, and it now could be possible that we approach 100.  Also included will be a small fundraiser / silent auction organized by young Mr. McFetters to support a very ambitious upcoming Eagle project.  He has asked local businesses to donate products to support his cause, and the silent auction will be an opportunity for us to possibly obtain deals on those products, as well as support a very important project coming up at Streets of Destiny in south Phoenix in early November.  Young Mr. McFetters indicates that cash and checks will gladly be accepted for all winning bids.

Recharter for 2013 has begun, and a big thanks to Mrs. Traynor for heading up this ambitious process.  $100 per scout and $17 per registered adult leader will sign you up to obtain all the rights and privileges of another amazing year with T648.  Approximately $30 of a recharter goes toward national and council programs and to support camp facilities, while $70 provides the support for the operation of our troop itself – equipment, expenses, etc.  We will have information on your individual scout accounts at the Court of Honor if that is an option you are interested in using for the recharter funding.

Submissions for the inaugural newsletter have been underwhelming, and we will talk further about it at the upcoming Patrol Leader’s Council on the 9th.  What we will be looking for on a monthly basis is input from each of the program owners – from Outings and Fundraising ASPLs to the Scribe, Historian and Librarian.  Each of you have information you need to periodically get out to the troop, and this will be an exceptional new vehicle to do so.  I will also begin to scale back on these epistles, so the best future way to get information out to the troop will be through the scout in charge doing updates through the newsletter on the website.

See you on Tuesday night for the festivities!

Mr. Cole