Well, this is the first post for this blog, actually my first post for any blog. I have no idea what I'm doing so it will not only document the start of our new troop....but hopefully will improve my blogging skills at the same time. (We can only hope)
I have been the Committee Chair for our Cub Pack for the last 4 years, my son right now is a first year Webelos. I started out as a Tiger Den leader, but that didn't last long. As recharter time rolled around some guy I'd never met showed up at one of our meetings, told us he was the District Director and proceeded to tell us if we didn't change some things the pack would not be able to recharter. So, long story short.... we were volun-told to take over the pack and straighten it out or find another pack to meet with.
Four years later, having learned a lot about Cub Scouts and how council works, we've grown from 13 to over 60 scouts. Which brings us to the big question, "We want a new Boy Scout Troop. Can you start one up?"
I tried to explain that I know Cub Scouts.... Cub Scouts are not Boy Scouts....I know nothing about how the Boy Scout program runs....NOTHING! Two totally different animals. And, while I love the program and know the ins and outs of council.....I'm not a good front man... I would be a terrible Scout Master! These people will not accept no as an answer. About a week later I get a call from the DE wanting to sit down and talk. Figuring we did something else council didn't like, I went to the meeting. Not only did we not do anything wrong... He said he's had calls about a new troop and they pointed at me and that he'd like to add his finger to the pointin'.
So... We're starting a new Troop. I can't be the Scout Master so there was only one logical choice.. Matt!
He is our newly appointed Cub Master. He's great with the kids, and runs the local 5 star mentoring program.
When I asked him what he thought about starting up a new troop he was all for it as long as we did things different from the way the other troop operates. Like me, he also had one major problem... Boy Scouts are different than Cub Scouts. Together we know absolutely nothing about running a Boy Scout Troop!
After several meetings with council, the help of four other local Scout Masters, and a lot of lurking on the PTC Media web site (thanks Jerry, Steve, Shawn, and many people on the forums), we've come up with a battle plan. Its taken us a little over half the year, but we finally got here.
We presented our plan to the people that brought this whole thing about in the first place, and they not only loved it, but argued about who gets to charter it. They wanted it chartered through the Methodist Church, while at the same time they thought it would be great going through the American Legion. (Most of them being members of both).
We are using the old troop numbers, Troop 548 (which went under back in the late 70's), and we are chartering through the American Legion AND the Methodist Church.
Whats left to be seen is whether the kids or us will learn more !!!!
