reminder about the PLC meeting, Scout Sunday, and the Court of Honor

Parents and Scouts:

Please note that the Feb. PLC meeting [Patrol Leaders Council] will be on February 9th at 5 PM.  This is changed due to me being out of town this weekend.  Please be ready to discuss the upcoming meeting plans for March.

Also – Don’t forget about Scout Sunday this Sunday.

See you all next Tuesday for our Court of Honor.  Don’t forget that we will start at 6:30 pm for the potluck.

Sincerely,

Kirk Bohanan
Scoutmaster Troop 136

Scout Sunday

Dear Parents and scouts:

I hope all are staying warm in this frigid weather.  I am looking forward to having our Court of Honor next week on the 4th.  But before then, we have Scout Sunday this weekend.  Please see the note below from Todd Miller about how you can participate in the services at The First Presbyterian Church. 

Thanks – and Stay Warm!

Kirk 

Kirk:

Please forward this e-mail to all Scouts as a reminder about Scout Sunday this Sunday Feb. 2.

Scouts are encouraged to attend church in full class “A” uniform (including merit badge sashes and OA sashes) to recognize the birthday of Scouting.  If you do not have your own church, please join us at the First Presbyterian Church where we will participate in the services by handing out bulletins, greeting people as they arrive, and collecting the offering.

You should arrive at either 8:45 a.m. (service ends at 10:00) or 11:00 a.m. (service ends at 12:15 p.m.).  We will have adult leaders present to assist the Scouts in their duties.  Bring your families, too.

See you there,

Todd Miller

Troop 136 Committee Chairman

No meeting tonight

Parents and Scouts:

Unfortunately, the Troop will postpone the scheduled Court of Honor which was to be held tomorrow night due to the cold weather.   We will plan to have the ceremony next Tuesday, 2/4/2014. 

Please be thinking about the upcoming campout for February [Caving Trip] and be ready to turn in your permission slip filled out.

If you have troop tents from our last camp out - those should be returning to the troop by next week as well.  If you have any questions give me a call

Kirk Bohanan

Scoutmaster Troop 136

Winter Court of Honor

Parents and Scouts:

Just a reminder that next Tuesday, January 28th, we will hold our Winter Court of Honor for the troop. All families are encouraged to attend. We will recognizing all advancement and awards since September. And don’t forget those Pies in the Face for the popcorn prize winners that will also be going on at the end of the night – unless you take “The DEAL”!!!

For this Court of Honor, we will have a Pot Luck Dinner. Each Patrol is to bring food as described below. 

WE WILL START AT 6:30 PM on this night with our dinner first!

        Blue Blazes and Black Hawks are to bring a Main Dish and Dessert.

        Flaming Aces and Flaming Cobras are to bring Main Dish and a Side dish

        Leadership Patrol – Main and Dessert

        The Troop will provide drinks and table service. 

Class A uniform of course! I would like to get a troop picture and individual pictures for our Troop software. This will help use get to know all of you better.

Our night will also include a discussion from  Venture Crew 136 and opportunities that the scouts have if they wish to get involved with them.  They are a very active crew and are for scouts that are 14 years old and older. 

We will also have the annual Friends of Scouting presentation.  The FOS is the fundraising campaign that is held for our local council, and gives families an opportunity to assist with this very important program of scouting.

I have included in this email a copy of the TroopResource Form.  This form is used to allow the parents a way to communicate their talents that they have and are willing to share with the troop.  We all are volunteers and can use each of your talents to help assist the troop.  Please take a minute and review this form and let me know how you can help.  Please turn this in at the court of honor if possible.

We will also be coming up quickly on Scout Sunday which is Feb. 2nd. We will be observing this at the First Presbyterian Church by assisting in the 2 services on the 2nd.  This will include greeting, ushering and assisting with collecting the offering that morning.  The 2 services are 9:00 am [traditional service] and 11:15 am [contemporary service].  You and your families are cordially invited to come and visit the church that Sunday.  They would love to have us all!  This is a Class A Uniform Event.

One last item – the Bluespring Caverns Trip is going to be Feb 22-23.  If you are interested please be sure to get signed up as soon as possible.  As I have communicated, we have 40 spots for this event.  The Permission slip and information on this was sent out last night and should also be on the website. [www.bsa136.org] 

If you have any questions please let me know.

Sincerely,

Kirk Bohanan
Scoutmaster Troop 136

Cold Weather Camping tips

Parents and Scouts:

Here are some cold weather camping tips that could be of some help this coming weekend.  We will talk about some of these tonight. 

I hope to see you all tonight!

 
Kirk Bohanan
Scoutmaster Troop 136

Family Life Merit Badge

Scouts,

I have had two boys express interest in working on the Family Life merit badge.  If you are also interested, please email me.

This is an Eagle required merit badge, one requiring more involvement and maturity to complete than most as there is work at home, completion of a chore chart over a 3-month period, and quite a bit of writing.  It is suggested that you have a rank of First Class or higher before working on this merit badge.

I need to change the schedule for those interested in Family Life merit badge.  We will not be meeting this coming Tuesday, Jan 14 or Jan 28.

We can meet Feb 4 and Feb 18 at 6:00 at the church.  Please let me know if you are available.

If you want to get started before the February meetings, please print out the merit badge workbook from www.meritbadge.org.  You can begin by reading requirements 3 (chore chart), 4 (home project), and 5 (family project) and reading examples that meet the requirement in the merit badge book.  Before you start working on the chores and projects, call me to discuss the ideas you have to make sure you will be meeting the requirements.  The other requirements will be addressed as we meet together.

For those of you who attended the groups in the fall and have unfinished requirements, you can call or email to make arrangements to meet with me as needed.  Several of you are very close to completing the badge (Alec Thomas, Ben Caskey, Hunter Rothwell, Billy Kattner).

Susan Colborn

Summer Camp dates correction

Parents and scouts:

Just to clarify, the newsletter had our summer camp date incorrect.  We will be going to Camp Falling Rock on June 29th-July 5th.  Sorry for the confusion.

The cost for Summer camp is as follows:

Payment Schedule

Camp fees are: $270.00 per youth and $170.00 per adult.

An early bird discount of $20.00 is applied if a deposit of $25.00 is made by March 1 and the remaining balance of $225.00 is paid in full by May 1 then the Scout will receive the “Early Bird Discount” [The total of Camp will then be $250.00.]

Fees will be made payable to  Boy Scout Troop 136 and we will register the scouts as a unit.  Please start to think about this and be ready for the early bird discount dates.

We will have further discussion on summer camp as we get closer to spring.  Think about that Warmer Weather.....

Kirk Bohanan
Scoutmaster Troop 136

Troop meeting on 1/7/14 is cancelled

Parents and Scouts:

Due to the closing of Southwestern City Schools for 1/7/14 we will not have our scout meeting tomorrow night as well.  We will resume again on 1/14/14. 

SCOUTS – Please use this day off tomorrow to work on your advancement items [Alec – that means you too]. 

We have a Court of Honor at the end of the month and would love to have you get recognition at that time for your efforts. 

Remember that we are going winter tent camping on the 18th.  I can imagine it will be COLD.  Our theme for tonight was to be on winter camping.  That will be moved to next week.  SO – Use your scout book and prepare yourself!

If you have any questions please drop me a note.

Thanks – and stay warm!

Kirk Bohanan
Scoutmaster Troop 136

Jan Newsletter, Permission slip, and Eagle Court of Honor

Parents and Scouts:

HAPPY NEW YEAR to ALL!

I hope your Christmas break has been a restful time with family and friends.  We are looking forward to another great year of scouting and will hit the month running on the 7th. 

Below is the Newsletter for January.  I have also included the Permission slip for the January Campout.  As stated in the newsletter, we will be tent camping in January at Camp Falling Rock.  We will be discussing winter camping procedures on Tuesday the 7th – so don’t miss out the information - especially the new scouts that wish to go.

This weekend we will be holding the Eagle Scout Court of Honor for Brent Reichert.  It will be on Sunday the 5th at 2:30 PM.  We hope to see you there and help us recognize Brent in his accomplishment.  After this Court of Honor we will have our PLC meeting for January at 5 PM, and then the Committee meeting will be at 6 PM.

I have also included an updated Year Plan with our Summer Camp choice filled in.  We still have an open spot for camping in April.  The PLC will be discussing this in upcoming months.

If you have any questions just let me know. 

Sincerely,

Kirk Bohanan
Scoutmaster Troop 136

Boy Scout Troop 136

First Presbyterian Church

4227 Broadway

Grove City, Ohio

Tuesday’s 7:00-8:30 PM

January 2014 Newsletter

Our Theme this Month is: Computer & Programming Technology 

Please note the following upcoming events.  Refer to the 2013-2014 Program Plan for the complete year planning events.  Note that the plan is subject to minor changes.

1. PLC: [Patrol Leader’s Council]  Jan5th - at 5:00-6:00 at the Church.  Senior Patrol Leader, Asst. Sr. Patrol Leader,  All Patrol Leader’s. & Asst. Patrol Leader’s and other members of the PLC including Scribe, Historian, Quartermaster are also encouraged to attend. 2. Troop Committee / Parent Meeting: Next Meeting is Jan 5th at 6:00 PM at the Church. All parents are invited to attend this meeting and learn what is up coming in the Troop activities.			3.Camp-out this Month:               Date: Jan 18-19, 2014               Location: Camp Falling Rock             Leave Saturday @ 7:30 AM  Return Sunday @ 12:00 PM               Cost: $10.00 Permission slip must be filled out and returned by: 1/14/2014
	4. Monthly Dues:	“A Scout is Thrifty…” Please keep up to date on your monthly dues.  We collect $10.00 each month for troop operation.  This can be paid or taken from your son’s Scout Account.  Scout Accounts are funded by participation in fundraising activities.  The Scout Account can be used to pay for Summer Camp fees, Monthly camp-out fees, Troop Dues, Uniform expenses, and Troop related expenses that are approved by the Scoutmaster. Please check with Jim Baughman on status of your son's Scout Account.

A warm Welcome to all the new Scouts that have joined our unit!

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our new scouts that have recently joined Troop. 136  Those from Pack 534, Pack 136 and Troop 385 - WELCOME!  We look forward to having you a part of us and continuing your scouting experiences.  Get ready to plug in and start to excel yourself.  Taking a bite of the advancement "Elephant" - One Bite at a Time!

5. Brent Reichert's Eagle Court of Honor
Brent will be receiving his Eagle Scout Rank on Sunday January 5th. The troop and their families are encouraged to attend. It will start at 2:30 PM - at the church. See you there!

6. January Campout - Camp Falling Rock
The Troop will be cold weather camping in January. We will be tent camping at Camp Falling Rock. Please plan to be present on Tuesday January 7th and learn about Camping in the cold weather. For the new scouts wanting to go on this outing it is highly recommended.

7. Winter Court of Honor
We will have our Winter Court of Honor on January 28th @ 6:30 PM at the Church. This Ceremony will be for awards that have been earned since the Fall Court of Honor. We will have a pot-luck dinner before the ceremony. Please contact your patrol leader to find out what dishes you are to bring. [You will bring a main dish and one side or dessert]. The troop will provide the table service and drinks. I hope you all will come and support the boys and watch them receive their awards. AND Don't forget those Pies in the Face!

8. FOS [Friends of Scouting] Campaign!
As part of our Quality Unit requirements, we will also hold our 2014 Friends of Scouting Pledge Drive. We will have our presentation on January 28th during the Court of Honor. This is the time when we as parents of Scouts can participate in the annual contribution campaign drive held by our Council. This is an important part of our Scouting organization, and I encourage all to come and participate in this campaign.

9. University of Scouting!
The University of Scouting [For Scouts, Adults & Leaders] will be held on Jan. 25th at Westerville Central High School. This is a training activity for adults and has a variety of topics that will be offered. Cost is $25.00 BEFORE January 10th or $35.00 on or after January 10th [this will including lunch] if you are interested. Sign up at http://www.skcscouts.org/teach/. There will be some merit badges also offered at the training day for the scouts. See the link above to find out which ones.

10. Camping in a cave in February!
Our outing in February is on the 22nd. We will be camping in a cave at Blue Springs Cavern in Indiana. There will be a program put in by the cavern staff, an underground river boat ride, and a small amount of spelunking. We will be camping overnight in the cave. We have 40 spots and the cost will be about $50.00. If you are interested please be ready to turn in your permission slip when they come out. I will need some adults for transportation as well.

11. Thunderbase - 2014 coming in May
The Thunderbase 2014 is a huge council wide camporee that will be held in May at the Ross County Fairgrounds. This will be similar to the ones in 2007, and 2010. It will be a really fun event. This registration cost will be $35.00 and then another $15.00 for food. Look for more information as the winter progresses.

12. Summer Camp 2014!
Our Summer camp location has been decided! The troop voted and the results are in! This year we will be going on June 30-July 6th at Camp Falling Rock, in Newark Ohio. Keep a look out for upcoming information in the months to come.

13. BSA Health Forms
Health Forms from summer camp last year are now on file for the next 6 months. If you did not go to summer camp you should have at least Part A and Part B of the New Health Form submitted to the troop. [Part C is the visit to the Doctor’s office]. This is important information that we have and are able to take on our outdoor outings in case of an emergency. Please help us by getting this information into the Troop. As any medications changes please update Part A of your son’s form. See the website for a link to the latest revision of this form.

February's  Theme is: Neurology & Brain Games  - should be interesting....