Troop/Crew Committee Meeting, 1/31/12

Attending: Michelle Holmes, Peter Desnoyers, Karuppiah Kannan , Helen O’Rourke, Ed Rice, Karene-Sean Hines, Mary Ellen Galante, Michael Payne, Colin Zick, Robin Bonner, Richard Klibaner, Chuck Henebry, David English, Derrick Jackson, Kate Elliot Smith, Jared Seaquist

Feb Ski trip to Stratton Mountain: ski trip (helen) – looks like good group of kids, excited. bad – need more 1 more driver (currently Brian O’R, Colin Z  and Karene driving). Helen O’R will contact the parents of youth attending looking for a driver/parent leader. Richard needs the driver info asap, so he can get the tour permit in.

Total of 14 kids going on the trip, though several kids haven’t paid dues yet. (Dues letters sent jan 17th, and michelle confirms that dues must be paid before ski trip.)

Michael P on the Wilderness First Aid trip in March (Trip O’R the youth leader): the sessions start 8AM on Saturday, 9 on Sunday. Decision to depart Sat 7:00 AM.

Richard K on the Need trip in April: youth will do a survey of the coastline, in prep for a future disaster (oil spill, etc.).

Colin Z on the Orienteering Event on April 14: happening on the Hale reservation (where we did the Turkey roast). Lasts 9-3 on Saturday (not an overnight)

Peter D on the bike trip in May: Planning to bike out the Minuteman trail, camp. Possibly looking to bring Webelos along.

Michelle H on the June canoe trip: Need to firm up trip details. Also need to plan for doing swim tests, perhaps using Hannah as lifeguard.

Philmont: Britt reports via Michelle that he’s still working on finding kids for the trip, though it looks like the council’s also trying to drum up participants for its motley crew.

Karene will be leading our summer camp group: planning on July 8-14. Peter D and Brian O’R will both do a half-week. Some older scouts will probably do Eagle Week (Chris D, Trip, …). Deposits on the troop’s camp application are due 8/15, so Helen will get it it immediately.

Chuck on website: trying to encourage use of the website. Resolved to send out emails that direct people to info that’s up on the website.

Kate on Advancement: Ricky has board of review coming up very soon (great job Ricky!), and Michael will help in coordinating the Eagle ceremony; Eddie is nearly done with his final workbook, and will likely receive the award next fall.

Merit Badge University: Registration is now live. Register on the Council Website by 2/12.

Scholarship Request on behalf of youth hoping to serve as National Jamboree staff. He can pay $100 of the registration fee, but needs roughly $50 to pay for remainder. Michelle hopes to cover the rest of the cost (another $150) using a grant from the Council Trust. This amount moved and approved by the committee.

The same youth is interested in attending Philmont, but the cost is much higher: $1400. Some brainstorming on how to raise this amount from local charities. Michelle will coordinate the effort to raise this amount. Derrick J suggests opportunity to get matching funds during the Spring fundraiser. Karene will talk to Paula Malady about doing outreach with local business associations.

Michael P on Charter Organization: We need to meet with David E’s church. Peter suggests that his church in Harvard Sq might house us temporarily (a year or so) but may not have basement storage space.

Spring Fundraiser: the youth did brainstorming and came up with several options: lemonade, flowers, bake sale, recipe book, pet services, 4th July flags, car wash. Flowers the most promising of these ideas. Colin Z thinks that selling plants is likely to yield $$ on the order of what we raise from wreath sales (i.e. not including what we make on trees). David remembers a similar sale for his Church: they assembled bouquets (100 in an hour) and made good money (cost $7, sold for $15).

Order of the Arrow: nominating Robin Bonner as adult. (Go Robin!)

Colin Zick: Pack 74 is being revived in Beacon Hill. This is the old pack # that the Zicks and O’Rourkes came from when then joined T/C 56. Colin plans suggest to them to send their webelos over to us at least in the short term (until such time as they have a critical mass to start a scout troop over there).

Troop/Crew 56 – Troop Committee Minutes December 20, 2011

Meeting commenced at 8:00 pm

Present:  Holmes, Klibaner, Rice, Desnoyers, Elliot-Smith, English, Bonner, McClennen, Rideout, Zick, Hines

1. Brief Reports
   • Tree/Wreath Fundraiser – Colin
     • Totals better than 2010– $2386 ($140 better than last year) for Troop/Crew, $1160 for Cubs ($143 better than last year)  Discussion of factors that led to increased sales.
     • David reports that 25 wreaths of Ed Henley’s order should be credited to Beau (once paid) and 30 to Eddie.  Other Ed Henley orders go to the general fund.
     • Colin looking for assistant for next year.
   • Activities/Schedule – Richard
     • December Museum (Jared): Richard reported that the trip was fine but not hugely attended (5 scouts).
     • February Ski  (Brian): No report
     • January Snowshoe (Robin/David): MLK Weekend.  Trip is maxed out.  Hugo/Ricky co-leading trip.
     • March WFA (Mike): Mike will sign everyone up; sign-up is not available yet.  To be held at Camp Sayre, March 3-4?
     • April – NEED Cape Cod trip (Richard): Application all set.  April 27-29.
     • Orienteering (Colin): PLC has approved; Committee supports.  Colin to sign up interested scouts in January.
     • Philmont preparations – Britt: No news to report.
     • Summer camp- Michele: Thinking about which of the 4 available weeks to attend, and discussion of which scouts and  adults will attend.  Discussion of who would be good candidates for NYLT.
   • Website – Chuck: No progress.
   • Treasurers – Helen/Brian, regarding Spring term billing and Scout accounts after fundraiser: No report
   • Scoutmaster/Advisor – David/Robin: Younger scouts asked about second trip in March since they are not doing wilderness first aid; orienteering may take care of that.  Youth suggested rock climbing, perhaps March 11-12 with David and Peter as adults, perhaps Anita. Snow czar is away for Christmas; Abenezer volunteered to fill in.
   • Snow czar advisor will be away 12/26-12/31.  Michelle will serve as fill-in advisor to Abenezer.
2. Charter Organizationupdate – Brian on Presentation to St. James:  Kate reports that Maddie and Adam were effective presenters, as were Mike and Kate.  The church had several questions but seemed very interested in us. They asked for written materials from the troop/crew, and Robin’s handbook and the FAQs will be provided in a week from the meeting (12/20/12).  It may be discussed at the church’s next vestry meeting. Ed reports that Grace Church might be moving to Watertown in July.
   David and Peter will follow up with their respective churches.
3. Rechartering – (Training Audit) – Michelle: Update on training and need to keep current, based on chart that has been circulated.
4. Richard calls attention to new Troop/Crew calendar URL:  tiny.cc/yb82n

Meeting concluded at 9:05pm

Thanks to the Harvard Square Business Association: Paula Malady reports that they helped us obtain a license for the Winthrop St. site that we’ve used in Fall fundraising. Trip will mail a thank-you letter to Denise Jillson of the Bus Assn. Note also that we owe a fee of $75 to the City of Cambridge.