Trail Talk – 3/2/26

Happy Monday and Happy March 244! I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for another great week ahead! It will be business as usual this week at scouts and we will have a “normal” scout meeting, whatever that is! I do have one change for this Tuesday, we are going to hold off 1 week to do Patrol Elections(see below) and we are going to combine OA elections and Patrol Elections into 1 night on Mar. 10th.

Hopefully you all got a chance to read my email and response concerning the most recent DEI decision  from Scouting America. If not, please find that email and read it. I saw even more information last night that pretty much confirms a lot of what I said in that email. It appears that Scouting America wanted to communicate things out with the Department of Defense but that did not happen and the DoD made the announcement early with information that was not a part of the agreement. Please know that Scouting will continue to accept and welcome ALL youth.

IMPORTANT NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THIS WEEK:

Patrol Leader Council(PLC) Meeting – Tuesday night(first Tuesday of the month) at 6:15 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall! If you are a member of the PLC, then make sure you are there!

March Activity – ALLEGAN EVENT. Saturday, March 21st at 2:00 p.m. INDOOR CLIMBING and other attractions. On  Saturday, March 21, we will all gather AT Allegan Event, and we have  reservation for 2 hours. We will be able to go in and climb, use their high ropes course and more from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. The cost for this event will be $24. If you wish to purchase food or use the arcade, you will need to bring your own money. Parents will have to turn in the Troop Permission Slip(attached), like normal but there is also an Allegan Event Waiver form that needs to be filled out. This is filled out online at this link: https://waiver.roller.app/AlleganEvent/?ubid=609BeYO-gU2iK93fcKk3EQ This is not negotiable. No waiver, no entry. Sign up for this on Tuesday! I have to have a minimum of 20 people signed up or I have to cancel this! SIGN UP NOW!!

PATROL LEADERSHIP SELECTIONS/ELECTIONS – We are going to hold off on these for 1 more week. This is due to a mistake on my part as we still need 1 more week for the last set of leadership positions to count for the time requirement for rank advancement. I had my “6 month” for the leadership time off by 1 week and was jumping the gun a bit. We will do Patrol Leadership election/selection on Tuesday, March 10th AFTER we do OA elections.

ORDER OF THE ARROW ELECTIONS – Tuesday March 10th during the troop meeting. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU BE THERE FOR THIS MEETING. We can only do the OA elections IF at least 50% of our youth membership is present! Find a way to be there for at least the first 15 minutes or so of the meeting!  It is that time of year again where we vote in and select “candidates” for the Order of the Arrow. If you are not familiar with the Order of the Arrow(OA), the OA is Scouting’s National Honor Society. We are looking for scouts who exemplify the Scout Oath and Law and are dedicated to doing cheerful service in their lives. You have to be a 1st class Scout and have 15 nights in a tent WITHIN the last 2 years to be eligible to be voted. Once you are “elected”, you are NOT a part of the OA yet. You must complete an “Induction” weekend and Ceremony before you officially become a member.  I have already submitted names of those youth who are eligible and a team from the OA will be there on Tuesday March 10th to conduct the election.

APRIL CAMPOUT – SPRINGFIELD, IL LINCOLN PILGRIMMAGE – The cost for this campout is going to be $60 as of right now per scout and $30 per adult. This campout takes place on April 24 – 26th and scouts will have to get out of school EARLY on Friday, April 24th. Because Springfield is a 5-hour drive, we leave around 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon in order to make it down there in a timely manner. This campout gives you a chance to learn a lot about our 16th President Abraham Lincoln. You have 2 options for activities you can do. 1. You can walk 18.9 miles in the steps of Abraham Lincoln from New Salem, IL to Springfield, IL through suburbs, farmland and other streets taking about 7 – 8 hours to do this. OR 2. You can visit the Presidential Museum in Springfield, IL in the morning and the village of New Salem as it was back in Abraham Lincoln’s day in the afternoon! Both are exciting opportunities. I have done the long hike 13 times and the museum 2 times! I loved both of them! This trip however has  A LOT OF PREPLANNING that has to go into it. I have to start signing scouts up for the activities NOW!! This is not something that is run by our troop. This is run by the Abraham Lincoln Council of Scouting America(which is part of the reason for the cost being higher), so a lot of things are out of my control. Because I have to submit information to the council, I need you to SIGN UP NOW!! There will be a signup sheet and a permission slip available at the church starting ON TUESDAY! THIS IS AN AWESOME OPPORTUNITY! SIGN UP NOW!

EAGLE PROJECT IDEA – Are you a Life scout looking for an idea for an Eagle Project? I was recently contacted by the Blue Star Mom Kalamazoo Chapter #186 with a need that they thought could be an Eagle Project. They are in need of a new shed to be either built or fundraised for and installed. They are located at 1920 East Kilgore Service Road, Kalamazoo. You can contact Joyce Benko(Chapter Vice Presdient) by calling 630-415-9619 or Shellie Wilson(Chapter President) by calling 269-213-6889 or emailing Shellie at president.mi186@bluestarmothers.us

WILDERNESS FIRST AID TRAINING – I sent an email out about Wilderness First Aid training to several of our adult leaders a couple of weeks ago. I am trying to gauge interest in offering this course. I am looking at the weekend of May 2nd and 3rd. If you are interested and have not emailed me back yet, please do so this week so we can make a decision. Right now, I have about 5 adults interested in this year. Wilderness First Aid training is good for 2 years and so if you are going on any high adventures in the next two years, you will want to make sure to be trained!

Meat Stick Fundraiser – MEAT STICKS! MEAT STICKS! Pick up your meat sticks to take out and sell at the troop meeting. This year, in order to get the most of the fundraiser, we are selling the meat sticks at a price of 2 for $3 instead of $1 apiece. This helps us to make more money overall for each scout’s individual scout account. You can see Brandon Beery at the troop meetings to get meat sticks to sell and to turn in the money from your sales!

Scouting America PHYSICAL FORMS! – Every Scout and Leader that goes to summer camp, Swampbase, Pictured Rocks or the mini-high adventure MUST have an up-to-date SCOUT PHYSICAL FORM with all parts of the form filled out, Part A, B1, B2 and C. You must get a new one for this year. No Form, No Trip. WE NEED ALL PHYSICAL FORMS TURNED IN BY MAY 1ST.

SUMMER CAMP 2026 June 21 – 27th, 2026 PIONEER SCOUT RESERVATION! We are looking at the cost this year of $450/scout and $210/adult.  I AM REALLY GOING TO START PUSHING SUMMER CAMP as of now!!! What I need parents and scouts to understand is that Summer Camp is something that has deadlines for various aspects of signup. WE HAVE TO HAVE CERTAIN SIGNUPs DONE BY CERTAIN DATES AND THEREFORE WE NEED YOUR HELP! In order for us to get the “early bird” price of $450 per scout we need to turn payments into Pioneer by the end of April. This means that we need your payment for Summer Camp by April 21st! We have to register you for your merit badges with the camp on April 26th! We have to have merit badges figured out BEFORE that date. We will have a Summer Camp Meeting in place of our normal troop meeting AFTER spring break, on April 7th! This will be a time when we sign people up, collect forms, go over what is expected for summer camp and sign up for merit badges. Scouts, start thinking about merit badges now! Please remember that every scout that goes to camp must have an updated Scouting America Physical form. The physical forms are only good for 1 year. So, start thinking about this now and get your scout their physical form filled out Parts A, B1, B2 AND C. Adults attending camps or high adventures are required to have medical forms filled out as well!

Pictured Rocks Backpacking Trip – July 9 – 15th Cost is $300 due by June 15th. Still looking for a second female adult leader! I sent out a detailed information packet about this trip a couple of weeks ago. We will have an information and preparation meeting on SUNDAY MARCH 22ND AT 2:30 P.M. in the Fellowship Hall.

SWAMPBASE – Please stay up to date on all information for this trip.  Mike King held an information meeting two weeks ago and also sent the information out over email to the group going to SwampBase. Make sure you consult all of that, so you keep up with what is going on! ALSO, EVERY SWAMPBASE participant will need to have a Scouting American Physical Form filled out in order to participate. This includes ALL parts, Part A, B1, B2 and C. Make sure you take care of this sooner rather than later! Please continue to look for information from your trip leader, Mike King!

Troop 244 Payment Portal – Zeffy. Our Zeffy page remains open for you to make payments or by troop merch! Wanna pay for the campout, Pictured Rocks, SwampBase, Registration, etc. Go to the following link: http://bit.ly/pay244

For troop Swag/Merch you can click on this link: http://bit.ly/244swag

Scoutmaster Minute   – Many of you have heard of a woman in India named Mother Teresa who has devoted her life to serving the poor. She is known around the world. She has shown that you do not have to do big things to be a blessing to others.

  • If someone is hungry you can feed them.
  • If they are dirty you can help clean them.
  • If they are sick you can care for them.
  • If they are lonely you can talk to them.
  • If they mourn someone you can give them words of comfort.

You do not have to be rich or famous or a person of great importance to do any of this. You simply have to care about others as much as you care about your own needs.
Mother Teresa has cared for many who were sick, fed many who were hungry, and cleaned many who were dirty. She gave up all her worldly possessions when she started doing this many years ago. She was not always famous but she always cared, helping people in the slums of Calcutta, India.

Each of you can be a blessing to others as you live your lives. You can say a kind word when someone is down; you can buy a meal for someone who is hungry. When you help someone, keep it to yourself, you do not need to tell others what a good person you are. The world will notice your example by how you treat others. When the opportunities arise, always be a blessing to family, friends and strangers!

“What Troop Does More!!” – 244!!!