Sponsored by Killearn United Methodist Church

Gary VanLandingham, Scoutmaster [386-3484(h)/487-0578(w)]

The Trooper
January 2001

 

 


 

Scoutmaster’s Corner

Happy New Year!  Looking back, we had a great year in 2000.  During the year, our scouts went on 12 camping trips and 3 long cycling trips, earned 137 merit badges, and achieved 48 rank advancements.  We are about to have four new eagle scouts – Alan Johnson, Chris Rivers, Danny Pellegrino, and James VanLandingham, all of whom should receive final Council approval this month.  Great job, guys!  And thanks to all the adults who helped make these good things happen by supporting the troop and your sons.

 

We will go on a campout next weekend (January 13-15) over the MLK holiday.  We will leave from the church Saturday at 8 AM to go to Pine Mountain in Georgia.  The park is right across from Calloway Gardens.  We will camp Saturday and Sunday, do some backpacking, and return on Monday (a school holiday).   It will probably be pretty cold, so scouts need to bring warm clothes (including gloves and hats) and sleeping bags that are rated for cold weather (15 degrees).  This is always a fun trip, and we rarely have a chance to do cold-weather camping. 

 

The Christmas tree sale was a huge success!  We completely sold out of trees, including 130 additional trees that we received from another site that wasn’t selling well.  The final figures aren’t in yet, but it looks like we should net around $15,000, which will fully cover the troop’s operations for the year, allow us to put some money away in a rainy day fund, and enable us to continue our scout summer camp scholarships.  Thanks to all the folks who put in time at the tree lot to make this happen.  Special thanks go to Alan Null and Jim Griner for chairing the event. 

 

Service Hours

As you know, scouts must earn service hours for most rank advancements, and the number of hours worked helps determine the amount of scholarship money they earn each year.  I now have a notebook that service hours MUST be recorded in order to be counted for scholarship points.  This notebook will be at meetings.  This is the only way we can keep track of service hours; otherwise we run into debates on what someone did months ago.  Scouts need to record their hours from last year in the book ASAP.  I will add the hours earned from the Christmas tree lot.

 

 

Troop Schedule

January 8 – regular meeting

January 13-15 – camping, Pine Mountain

January 22 – regular meeting (we will do a PLC on the camping trip)

January 29 – regular meeting

February 1 – Troop Committee meeting

February 5 – regular meeting

February 12 – regular meeting

February 16-18 camping, Olustee Battlefield Re-enactment

February 19 – PLC

February 26 – regular meeting