Pack 809 Cubmaster Update

 November 7, 2008

www.pack809.org

Theme for January: Seeds Of Kindness

Pay Up!

Thank you to everyone who's registered in the last month. We still have a few delinquents out there--please register your son ASAP! Pack 809 has a policy of only awarding badges to currently registered scouts, and I don't want to be the guy standing between a Tiger and his patches! If it's a money thing, contact me or Don--the pack has scholarships available for those who need it.

Got Campout Photos?

Thank you to Elmer Glasser, Craig Carty, Deb Lego, Steve Maurer, Brad Wong, and everyone else who helped pull off another successful Fall Campout! By my count (that's right, not easy) we had 131 people participating. I'm aware of three minor injuries (thank you, Eddie and Susan), one bad case of poison oak, and zero arrests. The injury count excludes the helmetless (brainless) bike crasher and the Boy Scout (!) from the site next door to whom we provided first aid. If you have photos, PLEASE get them to me or Steve Capie (steve_capie@intuit.com) ASAP so we can include them in the pack meeting!

Scouting for Food

In the spirit of this month's theme, Seeds of Kindness, Pack 809 is participating once again in Scouting for Food. This is the council's annual drive for the Contra Costa Food Bank. Each den has been assigned an area to distribute door hangers this week, and pick up non-perishable food items next Saturday. Your den leader has more details. The boys have a great time, especially if they get to help unload at the big tractor-trailer truck!

Pack Meeting

Our next pack meeting is on Thursday, 13 November, at 7:00, John Baldwin MPR. The agenda for the meeting is as follows: Setup (Den 7), flag ceremony (Den 11), UNIFORM INSPECTION (yes), opening ceremony (Den 1), den yells/promise/motto, Den Chief induction, advancements, activity featuring your very own Wolf Den 10, a song or two, Cubmaster minute, law, flag ceremony, raffle (Den 9 selling tickets). Den 2 is responsible for the Lost & Found service project this month.

Soles 4 Souls

I hope everyone got sufficient shoe-tying practice last Saturday. Thank you to all the scouts, parents, and siblings who participated in the Soles 4 Souls service project last weekend!

A Scout Is…

Thanks to Mr. Glasser, we are on track to providing a Boy Scout Den Chief for every den again this year. We will be inducting some of them at the November 13 pack meeting, and a more in the weeks to come. These boys typically have 2-3 years of ; Boy Scout experience, and the Den Chief office is their first leadership role. They can be lots of help to the den and great role models for the boys.

Den Leadership

Most of Pack 809's Den Leaders attended the first-ever session of the council's training pilot called Boy Management--bad name, great content. This course started as a Pow Wow session a few years ago by a Webelos den leader (and organizational psychologist) named Betsy Eubanks, and took off from there. You should be seeing some of this rubber meeting your den's road in your son's next den meetings, as well as in the next pack meetings! Make-up sessions are available for leaders and assistants who were unable to attend.

The Derby Approaches

Pack 809's Pinewood Derby is coming up on the 31st of January. We will distribute the kits at the December pack meeting. We're still looking for committee members; contact Don if you want to be part of the highest-octane event of the year!

Recruition

If your son has been a Cub Scout for at least six months, has recruited a new boy, he may earn the Recruiter award! Let your Den Leader know you're interested. This patch is also available to adult leaders!  

Mountain Adventure for Your Den!

Owing to popular demand, the Dubés are making our cabin in the Sierras (Arnold, 2.5 hour drive) available free to each den for an overnight excursion. There is plenty of room and lots of cub-friendly stuff to do nearby, including snowshoeing, hiking, Big Trees State Park (ginormous is closer to the truth), skiing (cross-country and the other kind), sledding, logging & mining museums, snowballs. If you can wait until spring there's fishing, swimming, frog-catching, outdoor movie nights, and of course scorpion-hunting. We will also rent it out for family vacations.  

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Pack Meeting!

John Dubé, Cubmaster, Pack 809

Baloo’s Bugle: http://usscouts.org/usscouts/bbugle2008-2009.asp

Program Helps: http://www.scouting.org/CubScouts/Leaders/CubScoutHelps.aspx