Webelos Den Weekly Update

Dear Webelos Den Parents:

Based on some of our upcoming activities, I wanted to give some advance notice for our den meetings, as we will have some adjustments to our normal routine.

5 February, 6:30 PM (Tuesday): Den Meeting at the King's house. We will complete our bridges and some of the remaining activities for the Engineering Activity Badge.

11 February, 6:30 PM (Monday). Visit to Boy Scout Troop 14. This will be our second visit to a Boy Scout troop. We will meet at the King's house at 6:40 and depart at 6:45 for our meeting with the members of Troop 14. I will, of course, drive--but a second driver would be helpful, to get all the boys there safely.

Boy Scout troops, like cub scout packs, all have a different "personality," even though they all make the same scouting program available. My hope is that visiting a number of troops will help you and your sons make an informed decision as to how to best continue the scouting experience.

A few words about Troop 14:

Troop 14 is sponsored by Baker Methodist Church in downtown St. Charles. Most of our Scouts came from Cub Scout Packs in St. Charles (Munhall 154 and Lincoln 113), but we also have boys from West Chicago and Elburn. Our Troop is relatively small (average ~20 Boy Scouts) and we are very active in our monthly camping, rank advancement and merit badge activities. We currently have 6 boys who are Life Scouts and we hope that each of them will become Eagle Scouts in 2008 or 2009. This is a great accomplishment for each of these young men.

[W]e would like to invite you to our Troop Meeting on Monday February 11^th. Attending the Troop Meeting will allow for you and your Cub Scouts to experience what it is like during our weekly Troop Meetings. All of our Troop Meetings are on Mondays from 7:00pm to ~8:15pm and are held in the basement of the Baker Methodist Church. During our Troop Meeting on February 11^th we will have informal meeting with the parents of the Cub Scouts to provide you with a better understanding of our Troop leadership and to answer any of your questions.

12 February, 3:15 PM (Tuesday). We will take a field trip to a construction site as part of our work on the Engineering Activity Badge. The school is located at the corner of Ketchum and Big Timber road in Hampshire (1/2 mile west of Route 20, on Big Timber Road). We will meet at the King's house and depart from there at 3:30 PM. As with the Monday visit, help with transportation is appreciated. In preparation for the visit, I received this from our host, Mr. Kerner, emphasizing the very serious nature of this visit:

My Disclaimer:

I must tell you this is an active job site and safety is the utmost concern. The Scouts must wear proper foot protection (no sandals) and need to be on their best behavior. We typically travel in a pack as we tour so different elements, systems and materials can be discussed. I don't mean to be harsh, but if there is any Scout who will not be able to behave, I would suggest they not take the tour.

While the boys' behavior is consistently good, please speak to them about this in advance: no running, no shoving, no inappropriate talking, etc. as safety is critical here.

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If you can help with transportation on either the 11th or 12th, please let me know.

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Please look for contact soon from Jane Siarny, regarding a pack swim event at the Norris Center on 16 February. Members of the Webelos Den will be able to work on the Aquanaut swimming award.

Best regards,

Ken