Last week all the scouts in attendance were able to wrap up the 1st aid merit badge. This week we are going to be doing something a little more light and less stressful.
Please remember the bathrooms are closed at this time, so go before you come.
Monday Meeting 6 - 22
Tomorrow evening the weather reports are calling for the possibility of rain. If the weather man is correct and it does rain instead of meeting in the back by the kitchen building we will be meeting in the front underneath the big pavilion.
The main topic for tomorrow will be a few light and fun team building games. Simple things such as Frisbee golf, Baseball and knot challenges. A light and easy night.
Flag retirement ceremony
Monday June 29th we will be holding a flag retirement ceremony at Good Templar Park. This will be a special 2 hour meeting as we have a large amount of flags to retire. We will have five time slots to choose from. Each time slot is broken into 30 minute intervals. The time slots are from 6 - 6:30, 6:30 - 7, 7 - 7:30, 7:30 - 8, 8 - 8:30. We will stop retiring flags at 8 o'clock so that the flags have a chance to completely burn. I will have the sign-up list this Monday.
As the title says we have a big mid-week program update that everyone needs to know about. We all know that because of the virus most of our summer was turned upside down and kicked around a bit. Now that we can get back to business we need to at least try to give the kids a good summer program. There will be a few summer time program updates coming out over the next few days so please stay tuned to the mail.
Now that we're finally back in action after a long forced hiatus there is a lot to go over and little time to do it. A quick turnaround in our program schedule could mean the boys have a resurrected summer activity lineup with not a lot of stagnation.
Good Templar Park update
This past Thursday I spoke to Heather Snyder the caretaker of Good Temper Park. She was able to give me a few updates on what is happening at the park at this time. For the time being the members side of the park is going to be specifically for the members of the park. The members have requested that no outside guests use that side of the park for the time being.
The soccer groups that normally use the park throughout the spring and summer will be there using the fields but not in any great quantity. They will be holding minor practice's and skirmishes but nothing big for the time being. Our troop still has almost sole usage of the park as we have been associated with them for more than a decade now.
We have the ability to hold merit badges, camp-outs and other service projects and day outings. We also have been given the green light to use the better bathrooms inside the kitchen building versus the large bathrooms.
Monday 6 - 8, Patrol Leaders Council and Committee meeting
We will be holding our monthly P.L.C. (6pm - 7pm) and C.M. (7pm - 8:30pm ish) IN PERSON over at Good Temper Park on the park side of the park. Weather reports say that it's going to be sunny Monday evening so we will be back by the kitchen building. If for whatever reason rain comes up we will be meeting by the front pavilion. We have been using WebEx over the past few weeks to some success and I don't think we will be stopping any time soon. If you cannot make it to our in person P.L.C. or C.M. meetings You can tune in to our Webex broadcast starting at 6pm. There will be some big topics and big issues to go over so please attend or tune in.
As of right now a majority of our 1st and 2nd years have participated in the 1st portion of the First Aid merit badge. The book learning and discussion portions of the badge are fairly easy to complete anywhere at any time. The portion we still have to finish is the hands on portion. I am waiting to hear back from the park as to what is going on over there the next few weekends. As soon as I know we can set up a few times to do the hands on stuff.
The Back to Basics camp-out
On the last weekend of June we will be having a Back to Basics camp-out at Good Templar Park. This camp out will be a good way for all scouts to be able to bone up on the skills that they have not had a chance to practice or have lost entirely over the past few months. Camping just like riding a bike requires constant practice and if we fall out of practice the best thing that can be done is get right back on and start pedaling hard. I will have more info on it Monday evening.
Just so you know
We all know that nothing is going to be perfect at this time. There will be worries and problems come up over the next months. I just want to let everyone know that Joyce and I will be doing everything we can to get the troop back to normal.
Writing this weekly summary is like writing a new chapter in a book. In a sense you have the outline of the story but don't necessarily know where it's going to take you. Not in living memory has this country, state or Troop been through anything like what we have just experienced. Most of what we do over these coming weeks will be like learning to walk again. Starting off small taking little steps and seeing how things work. I don't expect everyone to be ready to jump in feet first . I know there will be a lot of hesitation and caution in doing anything or going any place. We will be continuing to use the online platforms for the foreseeable future and especially when we hold our PLC and committee meetings. Now that we have started to use them I don't think they will ever go away. Whether you attend the meetings in person for the first few weeks or not we will do everything we can to keep you in the loop and make sure you know what's going on.
Where and when is Monday's meeting?
We will be holding our summer meetings over at Good Templar Park back by the kitchen building. The park is located at
528 East Side Dr, Geneva, IL 60134
Just in case you have forgotten or if you have never been there before. You will enter through the main gates and follow the path to the far building with the green roof. We will be starting at 6:30 so get there a few minutes early. Please remember to bring your choice of face covering or mask to the meeting as well as a camp chair if you have one.
Monday meeting 6 - 1 (from last weeks S.M.S)
National BSA and Three Fires Council has recommended that troops meet outside, in smaller groups and with proper precautions. As I have said in the past the inherent blessing of Boy Scouts is smaller groups working together.
