Leaders' Planning Meeting update

1. Finances—we have a positive balance of $4,594.72. This comes from the Spring fundraiser (car wash raised $1000) and the recent sale of our kayaks ($2000) plus a balance of $1500 from 2009. We must decide what our spending priorities are. We appointed a committee to report back by Sept 1 for using funds to develop Legacy and buy gear. Wil and Al Presnell, David and Kyle Phillips, Andrew Moore, Jeff and Hunter Kruse will do this.

2. Purchase of uniforms—both class A and B plus scout handbook are parent responsibility—but new families might want to wait a few weeks to learn the ropes and where to buy these.

3. Leadership this Fall—We discussed the model of Patrols in which learning is boy led and parent guided. We will have an election on our first night together to choose leadership positions. Patrol leaders are elected and we will likely need 3 patrol leaders and 3 Assistant Patrol leaders, Chaplain, historian and other positions available—some are simply appointed by the Patrol leaders rather than elected positions.

4. Fall Schedule—we reviewed and revised the calendar (see attachment) First gathering is at Rockmont on Thursday the 26th of August at 5:30. First meeting at Legacy Campsite on Monday the 30th at 6:30 pm.

5. Parent Volunteers Needed—Hiking Trip led by Eagle Boys on Saturday October 16 (route to be chosen by them), Swimming Certification at Cheshire one Sunday (Greg Stiles will head this up), Fundraiser in the Fall will be Chicken and Dumplings--organizing committee is Gerda Teo, Luanne Bryan and Marcus Duarte. Edward will contact White Horse about venue possibly on Saturday November 6th. We decided NOT to do Popcorn this year so as to focus our fundraising efforts on other things and not compete with Pack 50 for local supporters.

6. Summer Camp—we have signed up for Camp Grimes (Marion) for the second week of camp June 26-July 2 2011. If you can’t attend that week please talk to Luanne and arrange to go individually on a different week.

7. Leaders Training—John Gibson will talk with District leadership to arrange training this Fall.

Fall Plans

Troop 50 Leadership Meeting Oct 5, 2009

Present: Alan, Edward, Jerry, Jim, Jeff, LuAnn, Marshall, Marybeth, Marcus & Shawn Swartz

Jeff and Jay are the Assistant Scout Masters. Please contact them with suggestions and questions about the troop if you can’t reach Edward.

David, Jerry and Marcus held a successful campout Oct. 2 & 3 at Legacy Camp. It was enjoyed by all who attended.

Oct. 5: Tonight Lee Kruse taught part of the Citizenship and Community merit badge.

Oct. 24-25 – Backpack trip with Marcus and Jay. Scouts will have orange vests to wear as this is hunting season (bow only) if trip goes to Shining Rock

Nov. 6 & 7: We will complete the community service in Brevard with the Transylvania County Sheriff‘s office and camp that Friday night. Officer Kruse’ training tonight is in preparation for this.

Nov. 1: 2 pm at Legacy Camp Jim and Shawn will assist those scouts who did not complete their merit badge at camp for Environmental Science with the two remaining requirements. This meeting will be for the plot transect, will take about 2 hours.

Need to plan for a winter campout at Legacy (take this up at next meeting).

Beaver patrol Curriculum: (For Tenderfoot, 2nd Class and 1st Class requirements)

Oct. 12 & 19 First Aid Requirements

Oct. 19: Fitness & remaining First Aid

Oct. 19th: Board of Review for those boys ready to advance rank only

Nov. 2nd: Poisonous Plants and animals

Nov. 2nd: Begin work merit badges for those who have advanced to 1st Class

Other important dates for entire troop:

Oct. 19th: Bring you packed bag for inspection for campout weekend

Nov. 2nd: Leadership meeting at 7 pm Location will be somewhere in Gaither Chapel area.

December 5th Black Mountain Christmas Parade

Dec. 7th Christmas Caroling with MPC

Dec. 14th Court of Honor with Board of Review Nov. 30th

Voted: Wear Class A uniform to meetings and Class B on campouts and other outings

Needed: a Crossover Ceremony for David Teo and Zander Shores. When, Where, How?

This needs to be determined

Finances: We have spent $8000 in 2009, half on property improvements of Legacy Camp. Fundraising is critical need for us this year. Edward will provide a financial report to the parents and send this out via email.

Jeff has a plan for a tent platform. We’d like to have all tent platforms are built to the same specifications.

Potential for terracing with native rocks on the site to assist in having tent pads in level spots. Mike has agreed to let us cut trees as needed. There are many straight and dead locust trees on the property that would be perfect for construction of pads.

We still want a pavilion to meet in: the old trailer has been moved up there to be used for now.

Meeting adjourned

Respectfully submitted,

LuAnn Bryan

Fall Plans

Upcoming Events:
Jay Guffey will lead – limited # on participants per day
Aug. 21 – 2:30 – 7 pm beginners
Aug. 28 - 2:30 – 7 pm intermediate

Oct. 16-18 VA Creeper Trail with Montreat Presbyterian Church or 2 night campout

All Friday evenings after Sept 14 we will have camping at Legacy Camp. A sign-up sheet will be sent out by Edward for parents to fill in for evenings they will stay at camp with the boys.

Legacy Camp (our camp) has just been completed grading, with a $5000 cost. This included parking, gravel and an area for camping. A sub-committee was formed to create a timeline and costs to complete Legacy Camp. Jeff, David and LuAnn are on this committee. The boys who have not completed personal management with David will also serve on this committee. We have approximately $3000 left in our Scout account. Structures discussed were a shelter, barn, outhouse, tent platforms and water storage.

Scout meetings will begin on Monday Sept. 14. We will not cancel meetings for non-school days, except for major holidays.

Troop 50 will sell popcorn this year. LuAnn will be the popcorn kernel for Troop 50 again. She also will be attending Roundtable on the first Monday of each month with Daniel Boone Council.

LuAnn will work with Marshall Angle on researching different scout camps for next summer.

Leadership Planning Meeting

Scout Leadership Meeting
March 17, 2009
Dynamite Roasting Company

Present:
Michael Barker, Edward Brouwer, LuAnn Bryan, Caleb Guffey, Jay Guffey, Jeff Kruse, David Phillips, Maribeth Sabo, Matt Sabo, Mike Sonnenberg,

Campouts:
April 4 & 5 Our Scout Land
Saturday night campout on Scout Land. Rifle, ax and lashing skills. Need 6 parents to attend to make this happen. Sunday Morning church service at the camp. This will be a great campout on our Land! Plan to attend.

April 24 & 25 & return on 26 Rock Climbing
Weather dependent, but plan for Linville area
Lots of parents needed on this campout also. Jay Guffey will lead this campout.
It will be a cool time on the Rocks!

May 2 & 3 Crossover campout
Need older boys to lead this. Working on tenderfoot requirements with the new scouts on this weekend. Everyone who can needs to attend this weekend. Scouts will be assigned scouts for our Boy Mentoring Program.

Memorial Day Monday May 25th: Troop 50 Court of Honor & picnic
More details forthcoming.

July 24 & 25 Emergency Preparedness campout
We must have another Troop to work with us. Alan Presnell is checking with Troop 43 in Oteen. More info to come.

TBD: We do need to plan a time and date to go to Cheshire for the swimming requirements, and water rescue. Boys, bring your calendars to the meeting on Monday to set this time and date. If you don’t have a calendar, make one this weekend with your parents.

Summer 2009:
Plan the annual calendar for Troop 50.

Discussion: Considering advertising in the Black Mtn News that Troop 50 is in Montreat and parents who have boys interested in boy scouts contact Edward Brouwer. No final decision made, but if we do, emphasize the fact that parents must be involved and boys must truly be interested in Scouting and believe its principles.

Crossover 2010: Edward to talk with Eric Howie about possibly having crossover earlier next year, around February, to give the new scouts time with the Troop before Summer Camp.

Beaver Patrol Update:
For the remainder of the spring, Jeff Kruse will assist Mr. Angle with the Beaver Patrol. Mike Sonnenberg will speak to the patrol on Monday night. Be there and be prepared to plan your next meetings.

Bring your scout book and your merit badge information in your three ring binder so we will know what items need to be completed. Read Mr. Kruse’s email from March 17th and bring what he has listed. This is critical for this meeting.

Troop 50's leadership team will meet TU 3/17 at 445PM. Here is the initial call for the meeting and the resulting dialogue. It's exciting stuff!

From Scoutmast Edward Brouwer:
Let’s all meet at the new Roasting Coffee place at 4:45 for a leadership ,meeting—finished within an hour. The agenda will be discussion of program strengths and areas for improvement with a goal to have a plan to solve them. We will also look at our financial situation, our equipment needs, summer camp expectations, and schedule for the remainder of the year.

From parent Michael Sonnenberg:
It might move things along by all of us e-mailing some of the talking points in a more fleshed out manner i.e. strengths, improvements, equipment needs, camp expectations, schedule for year
Just an idea...

From parent Marshall Angle:
Strengths: active adult leadership that promotes high adventure and travel opportunities for boys. Commitment to Advancement.

To Improve: continue planning weekly meetings that increasingly promote boy leadership and active engagement with scout skills. Continue teaching guys how to efficiently plan and implement their meeting agendas. Streamline announcements; optimize time spent doing things (this is not to say that we don’t already conduct such meetings—it is to say, though, that the path we are on is a good one and that we should continue in that direction with continued emphases placed on boy leadership and active application of skills).

I like the leadership meetings in which we devote at least some time for planning and scheduling. Long-term scheduling is good, but I think it also helps to devote time to short-term agenda preparation (e.g., opening & closing ceremonies, patrol activities, and troop activities for the next month). Even if this does not happen at our next leadership meeting, such planning, it seems to me, helps us accomplish our goals of nurturing boy leadership. Over the next few months, I would like for the Beavers to spend Patrol time focusing on Orienteering/ Hiking; Knife and Ax skills; Lashing/ Pioneering; and First Aid. It would be cool if we could gain use of a pool—there are some swimming requirements for those ranks as well.

For Advancement, ranks beyond Tenderfoot require service projects-so that might be on our agenda.

I hope we might spend some time this spring at the land that has been offered for scouts’ use. Perhaps have a Pioneering weekend in which we clear space for use but also learn lashing and camp skills that will help the Beavers reach Second and First Class ranks. Such work could also be applied to Pioneering merit badge for the Hawks. Perhaps we could also make an Orienteering course for the guys on the site? There were three scouts who have earned a partial for Orienteering.

And finally from Edward Brouwer again:
Marshall I like your thinking on this. I agree that a weekend on the land would be amazing AND you could probably knock out a lot of the ax/knife skills, lashing etc that weekend as we clear the land and create campsites.

Thanks for this flow of conversation in anticipation of our meeting next Tuesday

It promises to be a great meeting. We hope all the parents can attend!

Leadership Meeting October 20 addendum

Purpose of the meeting discussed: This meeting was called to discuss the leadership of the first year scouts. Also discussed were the challenges for the adult leaders and the evolving transition from an adult led troop to a scout led troop. Identified were the challenges with leadership thus far and solutions to make the first year scouts more productive and goal-directed.

First year leadership structure: This established to be Matthew Sabo (Patrol leader) followed by Andrew Moore and Joe Morris. Matthew stated that he wants the co-leaders to have an active role in achieving the goals of the troop and helping the first year's progress. Joe Morris has asked to be changed from scribe to alternate duty. Edward discussed the desire by adult leaders to transition the active leadership, including weekly meetings, to the boys. Ways to facilitate this goal were discussed. Edward Brouwer asked that Matthew Sabo clarify who is the assistant patrol leader and report that to the scoutmaster. It was decided that the first years need assistance with organization of their time and activities. Part of this problem was that the assistant (Mandy?) has not been at the meetings to help. It was decided that the first years and leaders would meet every Monday, regardless of if there is a troop wide meeting to ensure progress and discuss leadership steps. This is likely to include extra meetings for the first years. This approved by those present. Marshall Angle will also assist the boys due to his background.

Troop Meeting agendas: Problems were identified with the lack of clear expectations for the first years and the lack of clear time available on Mondays. Matthew Sabo presented that he had agendas for the meetings, but these could not be accomplished due to other activities with the troop. It was decided that the first years should map out the requirements for Tenderfoot rank and ensure that all steps could be accomplished by December Court of Honor. This will require time needed for whole troop activities on Mondays and other needed time for projects. Matthew was in agreement to review the handbook to ensure all first years had the needed requirements completed and signed off.

Along these lines, Matthew was aware of the redundancy of projects between ranks and that multiple steps can be achieved easily.

Monday Meeting Structure: The anatomy of the Monday meetings was discussed in effort to make these more productive and enjoyable. To achieve the goal above, the meeting activity timeline between 6:30 -8:00 pm was discussed. The adult leaders were tasked with blocking out the time needed for all troop members and to communicate what time the first years would have to achieve their specific requirements. Marshall Angle expressed his strong desire to have the boys complete the opening and closing outdoors by the flagpole and to add songs and the oath/motto to help make the meeting better.

Scout involvement: Edward Brouwer discussed the need for the patrol leader or the delegated scout to contact scouts not at meetings to review missing material and assist with keeping on tract. Discussion about the best way to contact the adult leaders and the other scouts assisted in the leaders knowing who to call. Also, Matthew is to seek out who is interested in being the first year scribe and letting Edward Brouwer know who this is.

Closing: Edward Brouwer emphasized that he has a goal for all boys to be Eagle scouts by the age of 15. He also thanked the parents for support and the boys that wanted to be leaders or have been for their work.

Next Meeting to be determined. Meeting adjourned.

Leadership Meeting October 20

Attendance: Matt Sabo, Wil Presnell, Marshall Angle, Al Presnell, Edward Brouwer (Andrew Moore was excused for sickness)

We discussed the schedule up until December 8^th when we will have the Court of Honor. December 1 will be Board of Review (this is the same evening when the Montreat Presbyterian Church goes out caroling but we will not join them this year)

Beaver patrol will lead the Flag Ceremony on Oct 27^th, Nov 10 and 24^th. Court of Honor Flag Ceremony will be organized from both Patrols with a few from each. We have no name yet for the 2/3 year Patrol.

WE discussed November 21-23 campout. A; Presnell is working that Saturday, which means he can still organize the events of Emergency Pre but not execute them. Al will call another Troop to be involved with this. The best venue for this is Rockmont and Edward will ask Jon if we can use camp that weekend. We will have time on Sunday to do rifelry if Jeff is up for it and we are able.

WE discussed meal prep for the Bike trip. Matt and Marshall discussed specific plans related to rank requirements that need to get done so all our boys can achieve at least Tenderfoot by December 8^th. Our goal for the Beaver patrol is to have them at First Class by Memorial Day.