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Welcome to Pack 922 Cubmaster’s Blog.  Each week I will be posting a new blog about what Pack 922 is up to.  Please check back each week to keep up to date on any exciting Pack 922 news!  Comments are always welcome.

Pack 922 Updates October 27, 2010

Hey Parents:

I hope everyone enjoyed our Pack Meeting last night. I know that Belsis
and I had fun. Here are some reminders:

Scouting for Food is November 6th, and 13th. We will meet at Ocoee Oaks
Church at 10:00 am, on both days, for donuts, and juice. We will, then,
head out and place bags, on the doors of people in the neighborhood, on
the 6th, and then pick up the donated food on the 13th. We have to
distribute 3,000 bags, so we need all the help we can get. Please have
your Scout in uniform. If you do not have a uniform, that is okay.

Ocoee Oaks Church, is having a Welcome Back Picnic, for us on November
14th, at 11:00 am. We will be leading the Congregation, in the Pledge
of Allegiance, and the Church, will have food for us, after the service.
This is an excellent event that the Church has planned for us, and I
hope everyone can make it. Please have your Scout in uniform. If you
do not have a uniform, that is okay.

I mentioned, last night, that we have a Facebook Fan Site. We used to
have a Facebook Group, but we are in the process of deleting it, and
moving everything to our Facebook Fan Site.

Don’t forget that Popcorn Orders, and money are due next Tuesday. WE
CAN NOT ACCEPT ORDERS, OR MONEY, AFTER THIS DATE. If you can not make
next week’s meeting, please make arrangements with Belsis, to get the
orders to her.

Good News!

We signed up 38 new Scouts over the last two weeks. These Scouts came from both Citrus and Clarcona. We are excited that we had such a good turn out at our School Nights!

Scouts is Starting Again

It has been awhile since I have written. I have been so busy with other things, that I have kind of had Scouts on the back burner. So many things have happened with Scouting over the summer and I want to share everything with you.

First of all, we had a great summer. Busy, but fun. Over the summer we went through your comment cards with a fine tooth comb, and planned for the year with those in mind.

Our School Nights are September 16th for Citrus, and September 21st for Claracona. You will probably hear a lot from your boys telling you that you need to go to one of the School Nights and sign up again. However, if you are a returning Scout, you do not need to sign up again.

I am happy to report that we will be starting Scouts on September 28th. This will be a den meeting, and parent orientation for the new Scouts. We have a great year planned, and hope to see all of you at the meeting.

Our second meeting will be October 6th and will be our popcorn kickoff. Remember to be ready to have some fun as we kick off our biggest fundraiser of the year. Last year we sold over $10,000 in popcorn, can we beat that this year?

Our first camping trip will be October 15 – 17 at Camp La No Che. It will be the Halloween Campout and most boys say it is their favorite of the year.

Just a quick note to let you know what is going on with the Pack, and we hope to see you on the 28th.

Family Fest/Scout Show

Family Fest has been changed this year to be a Scout Show. It is Council wide this year and is at UCF’s Bright House Stadium.

This year we will have a booth. We are launching paper rockets again this year. It should be a lot of fun for everyone. We will see you there

Busy Year

My gosh it is already April. This year has gone by so quick. We have been so busy I have not been able to post in a long time.

Here is what’s coming up:

Scout Show we will have a booth at the Scout Show. We will be shooting paper rockets in the air.

Discount Card Show and Sells we will have a Discount Card Show and Sell on April 24th and 25th at the Publix in Winter Garden.

Summer Time activities we are going to see Toy Story 3 at the West Orange 5.

January Article

Hard to believe it is 2010! It is going to be a great year in Scouting.

Pinewood Derby

The 3rd Annual Pack 922 Pinewood Derby is January 19th. Check your email for specifications for the cars. You should have received a Pinewood Derby Kit at the December Pack Meeting. If you did not please see me and I will get one to you.

Happy Birthday

Did you know this is the 100th year of Scouting? That’s right Scouting started in the US in 1910. The program has gone mostly unchanged since then. Isn’t good to see something so great for our kids flourish, even in these times?

Camping

We were disappointed that our Zoo Campout was pushed to February, but we will be camping at Turkey Lake instead on January 8th and 9th. We will have lots of fun for you to participate in. It will be cold so make sure you bundle up!

Coming Next Month

Blue and Gold Banquet. Webelos II Crossover

Scouting for Change

Part of being a Scout is doing a good turn. A good turn can be something as simple as taking out the trash, or something as intricate as Scouting fo Food. To celebrate our 100th year in Scouting, the National Service Project is Scouting for Change.

Scouting for Change is where Scouts collect quarters, and deposit them into a bank account for Scouts. These quarters will help build a School in Africa. Why Africa? Well that is where Badin Powell (the founder of Scouting) is buried.

Make sure you attend our December Pack Meeting for more information

Scouting for Food

Today was Part II of Scouting for Food. We collected 146 bags of food, and 45 of our Scouts participated.

Scouting for Food is a Service Project where on November 7th the Scouts hung a bag on the doors of people in the neighborhood. The bag instructed the resident to fill it up with food and put it on the doorstep next week so the Scouts could pick it up.

Sometimes, the Scouts don’t know why we are doing this. Today, I had a Scout that was complaining about Scouting for Food taking so long. Scouting for Food is something dear to my heart. I grew up very poor, and a lot of times we ate, was when we got food from the Food Bank. I heard this Scout complaining and I took him to the side. I told him: “Do you know how many people you helped today?” He said no he didn’t. He said he wanted to go home and play. I asked him: “Have you ever been hungry?” He said yes. I asked him: “What did you do about that hunger?” He said he would tell his mom and she would give him food. I asked: “What if there was no food to give?” He looked at me like I was crazy. I told him that some children do not have any food. I told him that we were fortunate because we did have food. I told him that because he spent 2 hours today, a lot of people could eat. He thought about this for a minute. He looked up at me and said: “Mr. Smalley, we have really helped a lot of people today haven’t we?” This made me feel good.

Great News!

For the 3rd year in a row, Pack 922 is a Quality Unit. I am proud, because before Belsis and I took over, we were never a Quality Unit. The Pack has been around since 2001.

To become a Quality Unit you must reach certain goals. The Council asks that you retain 50% of your Scouts. We retained 75%. The Council asks that you advance 60% of your Scouts. We advanced 95%. The Council asks that you have 60% of your unit participate in your outdoor program. We had 75%.

I am so happy that we exceeded each goal.

Busting at the Seams!!!!

We have a total of 102 Scouts registered in our Pack. Of those, about 75 show up. So we have 75 active Scouts. We are busting at the seams.

Last year we served 35 boys. Of those 35 from last year, 25 came back. We added the additional from School Nights. It has been chaotic, but we have managed it so far.

When I took over the pack in 2007, we had five returning Scouts. We added an additional 15 Scouts that year. We lost some Scouts, and then added 24 the following year. This year, we added 25 from Citrus, 17 from Clarcona, and 23 from Frangus. That is a lot of Scouts. How did we get so big?

Normally we only recruit from Citrus Elementary. However, we were asked to take on Clarcona this year because the Pack that handled them was defunct. So we added Clarcona. After we did the School nights for both Citrus and Clarcona, we had a Parent Orientation for them. Everything was going well, and then I got a phone call from our District Executive. Turns out the Pack that handled Frangus Elementary was defunct, so he asked us to take them on. We did. That is how we got so big.

At a Committee Meeting over the summer we talked about getting bigger. The Committee said that two years ago we were begging people to join, so anyone that wants to join is welcome. That is why we took on so many Scouts.

The good thing is every Den has at least two leaders. Some have as many as four. So we are managing it well.

This explains why we are busting at the seams. I know things seem chaotic, but we are working on them.