July 13, 2004

Present: Phil Reece, Terry & Judi Nichols, Andrew & Ron Benoy, Eric Schmidt, Craig Louthain, Bill LeFevre, Ed & Lois Blondin, Sandy Schwartz, MaryAnn Bushaw, Bob Voll

Meeting started at 8:15 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report: (See balance sheets.)

Craig presented his monthly report. The BMX and popcorn fund raisers were held, as well as expenses included summer camp and hats. Sandy indicated that the troop will get about $600 back from summer camp. $1,183 is current net gain from the BMX fund raiser.

Past Events

Summer 2003 - Philmont: [Philmont is saying that we owe them for one other camper. Bill is waiting for the other troop to determine what they paid.] No new information.

Future Events

BMX Food Tent (June 17 – 20, 2004): The troop learned a lot from the experience. All food was way over-purchased. Left-over food was returned where possible, bought by race track, or given to the food pantry. The BMX track owner bought 15 cases of corn out of his own pocket. We still have 100’s of hot dogs in various freezers. The troop did not lose money, but our profit dropped due to the excess food. We had hoped to earn $4000. Our expenses were $2700. From our notes, we will be able to purchase better quantities next year. Another suggestion was to have bigger signs to sell the leftovers. The biggest seller was the snow cones. The current profit will have to be split with the track, so our profit will be about $500. Bill shared that there is a corn roaster in Station #3, which will be available for next year.

BMX Clean Up (June 20, 2004): The troop was paid $500. There were 19 people on Sunday afternoon, so the money was distributed to the various Scout accounts. Clean up took about 2.5 hours.

JLT (June 20 – 26, 2004): The four scouts attended and really enjoyed it. Three of the 4 would like to be on staff next year.

Summer Camp (June 27-July 3, 2004): Only 24 Scouts went, and 3 of them backed out for various reasons. There were quite a few older Scouts there, which really helped the younger Scouts and built good relationships. The troop should consider continuing camping sites that interest older Scouts. Overall, the camp seemed to be a good experience. There was a lot of advancement among the Scouts. There were no significant behavior concerns this year, possibly because of the examples of the older Scouts. Also, the older Scouts looked out for the younger ones when they were picked on by others. One note – there were no hatchets, etc. in the troop trailer. (They are out for repair and need to be returned.) Thanks to all 7 adults who went and made it a great week.

White Water Rafting (July 17-25, 2004): Nothing new at this time. Eric has identified people to buy the food. Drivers are Ed, Eric and Terry N.

Florida Sea Base (Aug. 7-14, 2005): The rough cost is $1200 per person, which includes the training locally to learn to scuba dive.

Troop Development Committee:

July 6: Hunger connection): They loved our help. Amber, our hostess, stated that her windshield was cracked while the troop was there. The boys were supervised when they were outside, and the adults feel it is unlikely the damage was done by a Scout. Pictures of the troop were printed in the quarterly newsletter of the Hunger Connection. MaryAnn suggested that the pictures may go into the Courier.

July 31: Blackhawk Regatta: It is only for older Scouts – 14 years or older.

Aug. 14: Tall ship sailing off Navy Pier. No new information. Cost is $500 minimum. Time is 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A motion was made and passed to pay the $250 deposit by May 15. The activity will cost $10 per person, and the campout will be extra, if scheduled. Webelos II scouts will be invited for the day only. Chain-O-Lakes State Park will be the campsite at $2 per person per night.

Aug 6-8: Festa Italiana Clean-Up: Sign up sheets will be handed out in the near future.

Sept 10-12: Bike Hike: Notices will be put on the Web site by Phil. This year will be at Elroy/Sparta.

Oct. 8: Climbing at Devils Lake, possibly stay at Nordic Pines for Saturday night only. Sandy will talk with Al about going.

April 4: Eagle Cave has been reserved. Will cost $36 per person, troop picks up half, scouts and advisors must pay other half. All meals provided by Eagle Cave.

Next week the Troop is going to Showtime Theatre. Andrew will research which movies are available. Lois Blondin is available for supervision.

The Scouts would like to go on a horseback trek next year for a high adventure experience. A back-up plan was Boundary Waters.

Miscellaneous Business

One of our tent poles was given to the Council camp to replace one that was broken there. The troop will need to replace the pole (a corner one).

Station 3: The fire department would like the troop to move to Station 3 by the end of this year. This is because the station equipment needs to be secured from the public, which cannot be done at this station. Eric will check into the city hall. Other options include the Methodist church or the library.

New Hats: We have a lot of new hats, which are downstairs.

New Scarves: MaryAnn and Eric will get the scarves started.

Shirts: The T-shirts have arrived.

Discipline agreement needs to be sent to the new boys and their parents. Sandy will delegate it.

Wood Badge: Ed and Sandy will be going in August with the troop paying the way.

Steve Horan and Paul McCaffrey are going to do wood badge next year!!

Bill LeFevre stated the Midwest Regional Extradition Competition needs a group to serve food to participants. It would be 7am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday in May of 2005. It means manning the kitchen at Station 3 and buying and serving the food for a couple hundred people. It would support the fire station, which is our sponsor. Last year they had brats and hamburgers. The committee agreed to explore this further – as a service project.

We need more patches for the uniforms – patrol and troop number patches.

Adjourned at 9:17pm