November 2003

The fallen leaves blowing in the wind and the cold temperatures certainly remind us of the upcoming season. While most people head indoors, our scouts are still outside doing community service events and experiencing the out of doors, and having fun!

With the start of the holiday season fast approaching, the scouts will have many opportunities to participate in Community Service events.  There will be Scouting for Food, Pie Bakes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  These events benefit the St. James Food Pantry directly.  The Box Wrap at St. Joseph’s Hospital is another Community Service event the scouts will have opportunity to participate in. 

Community Service can be done outside of scouts.  If you participate in a project outside of scouts, please inform Mr. Courtemanche. You can receive Service hour credits.

I would also like to thank those adults that have volunteered to coordinate the various events on the scout calendar.  The help and assistance you provide will make this a better program for all of the scouts.

Marsha Kofman, rdhetal@yahoo.com, 429-0794

Here we are, November again. Time for Thanksgiving. The one time of year most people love to eat. Scouting For Food is also in November.  I would like to thank everyone who participated in the bag distribution and bag pickup. With the troop off on the annual Turkey Campout we had to lean on a few parents to help with the bag pickup. Thanks for the assistance. All the food collected by Pack 401 and Troop 401 stays right at St. James Church. The Food Pantry there really appreciates the food we collect for them.

During the next few weeks Troop 401 has a few community service projects. We will be baking some pies for the Food Pantry on Nov. 24th. This takes place in the kitchen at St. James Church at 6 PM Monday night. If you have signed up for this please don't forget to be there. Class B uniform is required. You will get dirty and we would rather have you dirty a T-shirt than your Troop shirt. Don't worry about wearing you Scout shirt for the meeting as the Class B will be fine for Monday.

Some other projects will be the Candle Light Stroll on Nov 29 at Abby Griffin Park, the box wrap at St. Joseph Hospital Dec 15, and the Pie bake on Dec 15. We don't expect everyone to participate in all of these activities. Please do the ones you can. The box wrap and the second pie bake will be on the same day. You will be asked to pick one of them and not both. It will be hard to do both of them. Please check the signup sheets for these events.

The Scouts have asked that we do a Yankee swap again this year. They all seem to enjoy this so we will again have this for them. The date for the Yankee Swap will be Dec 22. This will be in place of the regular Troop meeting. If they bring a gift they will be able to partake in the swap. We ask that all gifts be Scout appropriate and stay within the $5 limit. There will be some activities for the Scouts to do that night before the Yankee Swap. Refreshments will also be there. As we get closer to the date, there will be more info sent home on this. If anyone has any questions with this event or anything that the troop does please give me or one of the leaders a call. I'm sure we can explain it all.

If anyone was wondering who’s shed that is out behind the church, wonder no more. That is the new Troop Shed. Thanks to the Vipers who saw to it that a shed be put up for all of our gear. There are still a couple of things that need to be done to the shed before we start moving anything in there. As it stands right now it is pretty big. I'm sure once we start moving things in that will change. The gear that is in the church barn will be moved over and some of the gear from the closet will also be brought outside. This should open up the closet downstairs for us to use for other things. If for some reason you have any Troop equipment at home, please bring it to the next troop meeting. There are a few things missing.

I would like to congratulate the Scouts who have been working very hard lately. There have been a number of merit badges completed along with some new ranks. Please keep up the great work. Mrs. Gontarz has been a very busy lady lately. She keeps telling me she likes it that way.

With the holiday season upon us please be safe. I want to see everyone here every week. Have fun with the things you will be doing. Learn whatever you can. Enjoy the time we have with each other and the time we spend by ourselves. Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.

YIS
Bill Courtemanche, Scoutmaster

a76eagle@aol.com, 424-5968

December

12/1      Board of Review

12/6      Popcorn sale at town landfill

12/7      Holiday Parade

12/10    PLC

12/11    Troop Committee meeting

12/15    St. Joseph’s Box Wrap

12/15    Pie Bake

12/17    Roundtable

12/22    Yankee Swap

12/22    Scoutmaster’s Conference

January

1/05      Board of Review

1/03-04 Campout at Whip-O-Will

1/08      Troop Committee Meeting

1/14      PLC

1/19      Scoutmaster Conference

1/21      Roundtable       

1/23-25 Campout at Split Rock

1/26      Court of Honor

February

2/6        District Freeze-Out

2/7        Klondike Derby

2/8        Scout Sunday

2/8        Pack 401 Blue & Gold Banquet & Bridging Ceremony

2/10      District Eagle Banquet

2/11      PLC

2/12      Troop Committee Meeting

2/21      Snow-tubing at Gunstock

2/28      Ice Fishing at Horseshoe Pond

Citizenship in the World

Any scouts out there interested in working on the Citizenship in the World Merit Badge?  There will be a session running just after the holidays.  Most likely, we will meet on Friday evenings to avoid homework conflicts, but this is subject to change.  The badge takes approximately 5 weeks to complete plus homework and reading to be done in between. 

Because this merit badge deals with economics, calculating currency transactions, and the different types of world governments, it’s most appropriate for high school students, but not limited to just high school students. 

If you have any questions or are interested, please see Mrs. Collette, 429-1045, kmc120852@aol.com.

As stated in the Troop 401 Policies and Procedures, dues and registration fees must be paid to date in order to participate in an event and campout.  Make sure you are current.

Committee Meetings are open to all Troop adults. They are on the second Thursday of each month, at St. James Church, at 7 PM. Hope to see you there.

District Roundtable is on the third Wednesday of each month. They take place at the Church of Latter Day Saints, in Nashua, at 7 PM. All Leaders and troop adults are encouraged to attend.

Monarchs Hockey Night

Attention all hockey fans! Saturday, February 7 is a special Monarchs Hockey Night for Boy Scouts.  Tickets are $9.50, and the game starts at 7:35 PM.  If you wear your uniform to the game, you’ll receive a special patch. 

Because tickets are limited, and are on a first come, first serve basis, we need to submit all reservations by the end of November.  So, if you are interested in attending the game, please complete a permission slip and submit $9.50 to Mrs. Collette, 429-1045, kmc120852@aol.com by Monday, November 24.

Congratulations to Francisco Resendez for completing the Den Chief Training course. 

New Leader Essentials and Boy Scout Basic Leader Training will take place January 17, 2004 and again on March 6 at First Church in Nashua.  The cost is $6 pre-registered or $8 walk-in.  There will be split sessions for Scoutmaster, Assistant Scoutmaster and Troop Committee.  Registration for the January session is due by January 4. 

The outdoor training session will be on Thursday evening, April 22 and the weekend of May 1-2.    

Trainer Development Conference will be held at Camp Carpenter on January 24, 2004 from 8 AM to 4:30 PM.  The cost is $8.  This training is for anyone who does training or would like become a better presenter.

For more information or registration forms, please see Mrs. Rich, r-rich@comcast.net, 880-8222.

October Advancements

Badge of Rank

Sean Driscoll – Star

Joe Prive – Life

Merit Badges

Daniel Becker – Citizenship in the Community

Derek Trippett – Hiking

Ryan Collette – Hiking

November Advancements

Badge of Rank

Matthew Becker – Second Class

Ricky Emery – Second Class

Francisco Resendez – Second Class

Jarren Wilder – Second Class

Mason Glover – First Class

Merit Badges

Francisco Resendez – Hiking

William Comstock – Hiking

Shawn Collette – Hiking

Robert Frost – Hiking

Steven Shidlovsky – Hiking

Derek Trippett – Coin Collecting

Daniel Milton – Coin Collecting

Albert Wong – Environmental Science

Congratulations to everyone!

Thank you to everyone who participated in Scouting for Food.  The official numbers reported to District were 180 man hours volunteered and 3033 items of food collected by Troop and Pack 401.

November 29 the Troop will be passing out candles at the Candle Light Stroll on November 29 at Abby Griffin Park.  Plan to arrive at the town hall upper parking lot by 6:30 PM.  Class A uniforms are required. 

The Troop will be selling popcorn at the Merrimack landfill on December 6.  Each patrol is scheduled to sell at the following times:

Lizards              8 AM to 10 AM

Vipers               10 AM to Noon

Badgers            Noon to 2 PM

Dragons            2 PM to 4 PM

December 15 is the date of the St. Joseph’s Hospital Box Wrap.   Meet at St. James at 3:30 PM to travel to Nashua.  You will be back in time for the Troop meeting that evening.   Class A uniforms are recommended. 

December 15 there will be a pie bake at St. James at 6 PM.  Pies will be made for the St. James Food Pantry.  Class B uniforms are recommended. 

Wreaths will be distributed at the Troop meeting on December 2.  Scouts are responsible for delivering them to the proper individuals.   

The Badgers had a patrol meeting November 15.  We discussed what is coming up and most importantly, we had fun.  Most of us are about to achieve a new rank by the next Court of Honor.  We look forward to a fun year of scouting.   Submitted by:  David Porbundawala, Badger Patrol

The deadline for articles to be included in the next newsletter is December 15.  You may submit articles at the Troop meeting or by contacting Mrs. Becker at 424-2954 or pab514@netzero.com.