June 2005

 As the school year is coming to a close, the students are being presented with their awards of excellence. These awards are earned by hard work, perseverance, and commitment. The scouts are provided the same opportunity with the opportunity to earn badges of rank and Merit Badges. But, many of you are not aware of the fact that Scouting recognizes the adults for their commitment to volunteering with the Scouting Program.

On Saturday, May 21, 2005, Arrowhead District of Daniel Webster Council held their annual awards banquet at Rivier College. The dinner ceremony, is to recognize the adults that contribute their time and skills, above and beyond the usual levels of service to scouting.  Although there are many awards and recognitions, one award, the Unit Service Award, was awarded to only three individuals in Arrowhead District. These applicants were nominated by their Troop Committee’s; demonstrate exemplary service to the Scouts and adults in their Unit.  It is with great honor and a privilege to announce that Mr. David Milton was one of those three esteemed individuals to be recognized for his generous commitment to Troop 401 and the Scouting program. We are very lucky to have him as a part of our Unit. Congratulations Mr. Milton!   Be sure to thank him for his time and service to Troop 401.

Troop 401 was also honored for earning the Unit of Honor Award for 2004. This is earned by for filling the criteria of the Council. The Troop has provided a quality program including trained leaders, camping, advancement, fundraising for our Troop and for the Council, through the Friends of Scouting Program to name a few.

Great Job Troop 401! With everyone’s help we can continue to run a quality program for the boys to grow and have fun.

 Hello Troop 401. We are coming to the end of the Scouting year. There are only a few meetings and a couple of Troop events left for the year.  There are also a few events this summer that are being planned.

Some of these events are as follows:

June 10 to 12 – Camp-out at Wasserman Park. This is the annual campout there.

June 12 -- Eagle Court of Honor for Russell Holman

June 20 --Troop 401 Court of Honor. To be held at St. James Church.

July 4 -- Parade and Midway

July 10 to 16 -- Summer camp at Hidden Valley

As you can see we still have a few things planned. We will need to know from everyone if they are planning on marching with the Troop for the parade. If we have enough scouts marching we will be carrying the American Flag again. Because of the size we need to have at least 15 Scouts. This makes it a lot easier for everyone who carries it. We also need to know if you will help us with the dunk booth and/or concession stand this year. The Troop Committee needs to know how many Scouts and adults will be there so we can set up a schedule for the booths. The times for the Midway are from 12 noon to 9 pm.

There are a few Scouts who will be working on their Eagle Projects very soon and would like to have some help from everyone. I know of 3 projects that have been approved so far and there are a few others that may be approved really soon. They are all looking for assistance. If you can give them a hand for a short time they will be able to finish their project that much faster.

If you would like to go to summer camp already having earned your next rank please let one of the Assistant Scoutmasters or me know. You only have a couple of weeks to finish this up before the next Board of Review. If need be we can always have one over the summer, as long as Mr. Tucker has the time and can pull his committee together.

I hope everyone has had a great year this past year. I know I have. Many of the Scouts have earned their next rank or some Merit Badges. Great job guys. Keep up the work. Thanks also go to you parents for helping them along.

Information for the activities coming up will be going out both at the troop meetings and over the internet. We use the Yahoo Groups a lot and if you are not signed up in one of the groups you are missing a lot of information. This is used as a way of sending out permission slips, event information, troop meeting changes, and troop announcements. Please see Mrs. Kofman or myself if you are not on a list. If anyone has any questions please let me know. I can be reached through email at A76eagle@aol.com or by phone at 424-5968.

June

6/6          Board of Review

6/9          Committee Meeting

6/10-12  Frank Daley Campout

6/12        Eagle Court of Honor – Russ Holman

6/15        Roundtable

6/20        Court of Honor

July & August

7/2-10    Whip-O-Will Clean Up

7/4          July 4^th Parade & Midway

7/10-16  Hidden Valley Scout Camp

7/30-8/6 National Jamboree Trip

8/29        Ice Cream Social

The patrol assignments for the month are: 

5/31        Memorial Day – No Meeting

 6/6         Setup/Cleanup                     Dragons               

                Opening/Closing                 Lizards

                Skill Instruction                     Vipers

                                Orienteering        

                Game                                     Badgers               

6/13        Setup/Cleanup                     Vipers                   

                Opening/Closing                 Badgers

                                 Hobby Night        

6/20        Setup/Cleanup                     Badgers                               

                Opening/Closing                 Dragons

                                Court of Honor                    

Committee Meeting

Meetings are scheduled on the second Thursday of each month, except there is no meeting in July. We meet at St. James Church, at 7 PM in one of the classrooms. All adults are welcome to participate in the meetings.  Hope to see you there.

Medical Forms

To all of our scouts, old and new:  The deadline for turning in Health Forms was 5/16.  Please submit new Class 3 medical forms to Mrs. Rosemary Dougherty, Troop Coordinator of Medical Forms or Mrs. Kofman, Committee Chairman as soon as possible. This is especially important for boys and adults attending camp this summer, the forms have to be sent weeks before camp actually occurs.  Also, if these forms are not turned in soon, you will not be able to attend Troop events outside of a Troop meeting (like camping.  Boys and adults under 40 need a physical every other year; adults over 40 need a physical annually.  Thank you!  

 Class B Uniforms

These should be done within the next few days.   You will get the final price when you pick them up.  Keep an eye out for them.

Attention Parents

Reminders!!!!!   To insure that you are hearing the same announcements that your scout is, we are now asking ALL parents to arrive at 8:15 PM for pick-up. This way, you can get the rest of the details to the upcoming events and activities that never seem to find their way into your scout’s memory bank.

Thank you.                        

Remember, pickup is at 8:30 PM, no later please!!!!!

Ice Cream Social

Put on your calendar now!   The Troop Ice Cream Social will be on Monday August 29^th at St. James.  Scouts and their families are invited. You may bring a friend if they are interested in joining Scouts.

You will receive a postcard this summer reminding you of the date and time.  Check your mailbox!!!!

Whip-O-Will cleanup 7-2 to 7-10!

The Troop will need to mow, weed whack, stack wood, maybe, this Camping area in Merrimack. Although the troop will pick an evening to work on this area, any time that you can give during that week to cut or trim will be helpful, but you MUST let Mrs. Kofman know that you went over, how long you spent there and when you went there for record keeping. 

This is a great opportunity to help the Troop and maintain the town’s golden mine of a camp ground only for Boy Scouts!!!!!.

Summer time is a great time to work on some Merit Badges. Find another scout who is interested in doing the Merit Badge, and then speak to the Scoutmaster or Assistant Scoutmasters to find a Merit Badge Counselor.

The following advancements have been earned since the last newsletter.  Congratulations to you all.

Rank Advancement

Robert Schueler - Scouter

Merit Badges Earned

Aaron Becker - Space exploration

Daniel Becker - Communications

                          Environmental Science

                          Space exploration

Matthew Becker - Space exploration 

Nathan Demers - Family life

Michael Dougherty - Textile

Steven Shidlovsky - Computers

IMPORTANT FOR EAGLE SCOUTS

Eagle Scouts please be sure to contact Mr. Tucker with the final information for your rank of Eagle as listed in your Scout Books.  Further requirements toward Eagle Palms cannot be recorded until the Eagle Rank has been officially recorded on your Troop records.

Events scheduled to mark on your calendar:

June 2, Thursday – Merrimack Public Library Set-up for Book Sale, Time 6 PM.

June 5, Sunday - Merrimack Public Library Breakdown from Book Sale, Time 4:30PM.

Remember, if you do a Community Service Project with your Church, Youth Group or other organization, let the Scoutmaster know of your Service Hours.

At the last Troop meeting, I announced TWO fundraising opportunities to help the troop and the Scouts earn money for scouting activities.  I received very little response for the adult money earning opportunity.  Please contact me as soon as possible, so I can ensure that people are not interested in money for the boy’s Scout accounts or to help fund the Troop.   Marsha Kofman 429-0794 rdhetal@yahoo.com

 Just a reminder, that Mrs. Sandi Glover is the Troop 401 Publicity person. In order to see your Troop activity in a local newspaper, IT IS UP TO YOU to get Mrs. Glover the details. So, let her know about what you did at your last patrol event.

Troop 401 Visits the Lowell Textile Museum

On Sunday, April 10, members of Troop 401 traveled to Lowell MA to visit the Lowell Textile Museum and work on the Textile Merit Badge. Ms. Paula Lockhead, an employee of the museum, took the boys on a learning tour. She taught about the various types of fibers made from plant and animal materials as well as synthetics. In the process, she related how many expressions and nursery rhymes started with the textile industry and practices. All of the boys were presented a sample of each type of material studied for their collections. The boys were also given demonstrations in spinning wool, weaving cloth, and some were asked to remove seeds from cotton – not an easy task. A highlight for many of the boys was learning how Kevlar (bulletproof material) is made and then they were allowed to try on a bullet proof vest. Additionally, they were given the opportunity to make their own felt, which they made into hacky sacks. 

Scouts attending included: Ricky Allard, Aaron Becker, Daniel Becker, Matthew Becker, James Comstock, William Comstock, Michael Dougherty, Chris Pinet, Sam Prive, Ryan Sanborn, Robert Schueler, Daniel Spencer, Matthew Stockhausen. Adults attending included Paula Allard, Michael & Patrice Becker, Kevin Comstock, Rosemary Dougherty, Richard Spencer, and Lisa Sanborn.

Troop 401 is located in Merrimack, NH. Weekly meetings take place at St. James United Methodist Church. Please feel free to join us at our 7PM meeting time. For more information please call Sandi Glover at 424-8086.

At the Scout Camporee, Troop 401 had two patrols, the Foxtrot Patrol and the Delta Patrol. The leader of the Foxtrots was Patrick Marston. The leader for the Deltas was Will Comstock. The Delta patrol had one of the fastest times at the pole raising competition. There were many activities do to. At a first aid activity, we had to build a bridge to get to the injured person. The river was small enough to step across. We enjoyed a nice lunch of cold cuts then went back out to the rest of the activities. We finally had a nice dinner of hotdogs and hamburgers. At the ceremony ring after dinner, there were many skits, even a pretty good light show. We all then viewed a slide show of all the activities with the patrols there. The weather was very good for camping. It never rained, but it did get cold during the night. Mr. Comstock and a few boys braved the cold and went snitch hunting.

Submitted by Daniel Becker, Lizard Patrol

What is a Billion?

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective in one of its releases:

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
A billion days ago no-one walked on two feet on earth.
A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate the government spends it.

Last Month’s Trivia Questions

1.                   The most important part of tending a campfire is what?   When you are finished using it.  Let the fire burn down and then douse the embers with plenty of water until the cools are cool enough to touch with your hands.

2.                   What are the 6 rules to stove safety?

                a. Never use a stove inside or near a tent.

b. Do not open the fuel cap of a hot stove.

c. Never attempt to refuel a hot stove,

d. Let a stove cool completely before putting it away.

e. Even if empty, keep fuel bottles and canisters away from heat sources.

f. Use chemical stoves only with adult supervision.

3.                   What are the two knots most useful for pitching a tent?  Bowline and tautline

4.                   What item of clothing can easily be turned into a Day Pack? Long pants

5.                   On the day of a hike, your most important  meal will be?  A.  breakfast , B.  lunch    C.  dinner        A. Breakfast

The next newsletter will be for the months of August and September combined and will be published in mid-August.   All announcements for training, fundraising, service projects or patrol news should be sent to Mrs. Becker no later than Wednesday, August 17.

June 2005  Supplement

Equipment Needs to be Returned

The end of the scout year is approaching so if you could return all tents, equipment, etc. that you have borrowed from the troop, it would be greatly appreciated. The last regular meeting is June 20th, so please return any equipment to me or Mr. Becker by that time.  David Porbunderwala, Quartermaster

Web Addresses and Email Lists

A reminder that Troop 401 communicates upcoming events, changes in events, and other important and timely information by means of email.  The troop has three email groups, as listed below.  One is for all members including boys who may have their own email accounts, one for adult leaders and one for all parents.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Troop401Merrimack/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Troop401_Leaders/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Troop401_Parents/

When you access any of the above group web addresses, you are presented with a page that has two options: Join the group or sign in if already a member.  This is where the YahooID is needed to gain access to the message archive and other features.

On the other hand, if someone only wants to become a member of an e-mail list, all they have to do is send a blank message to one or all of the three addresses below:

Troop401Merrimack-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Troop401_Leaders-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Troop401_Parents-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The approval process will take a day or so, and that allows you to receive and send mail using the group.

To unsubscribe from a list, send a blank message to one or all (depending on how many lists you are on) to:

Troop401Merrimack-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Troop401_Leaders-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Troop401_Parents-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com