Pack 945 Leader Meeting
Date – Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Time – 7:00 pm

Attendees:	Karen Wagner	Lisa Setzler
	Pam Armstrong	Keith Martin
	Holly Butler	Greg Stearns
	Rick Shepherd	Elaine Carle
	Bill Algaze	Mary Cummins
	Joe Denny	Jody Terry
	Jody Terry

Agenda:
-- Introduce new parents/leaders
-- Update on Recruiting Efforts and next steps (Joe/Mary)
-- Training (Dennies and Holly Butler)
-- Roundtable District News (Rick/Joe)
-- Website (Karen - & Mark Miller)
-- Dues, Fundraising, Volunteers (Karen)
-- October's Pack Meeting (Joe/Rick)
-- Sharing Ideas (all)
 
Topic – Introduce New Parents / Leaders
Three parents from our new Tiger Den joined our meeting and we welcomed them.

Leader Meetings take place once a month. We encourage all leaders to attend. We do ask for committee members to attend when needed.

Topic – Update on Recruitment Efforts and Next Steps
Rick complimented everyone for all of their hard work and efforts. We have been doing well with recruitment. We have 6 new 1st graders (Tigers), 5 new 3rd graders (Bears), and 2 new 4th graders (1st year Webelos). At this point, we are going to put recruitment on hold until spring. We are only allowed to send flyers home from school four times a year. We can not send again until December.

Actions:
When the school directory is ready, we will have the Boy Scout Council mail flyers to Rockwell’s first and second grade boys. (Assigned to Mary)

Topic – Training
Holly Butler and Joe & Kris Dennie attended the New Leader Training on September 30, 2006 in Barnesville, MD. The first hour was new leader essentials, for all leaders, covering visions, goals, stages, etc. They showed a video, talked about how to run a den meeting. They had boy scouts leaders in one room and cub scouts leaders in the second room for the second part of the meeting. They did a good job going over details. They passed out notebooks with information. Holly made copies of items that she felt that we may find helpful. One course that we should all take is called a Youth Protection Training class. It is about 45 minutes on-line. This class protects the Leaders and the scouts. Holly will keep track of training classes that our leaders have attended. If we have copies of certificates, we can also email them to Holly.

Joe is planning on attending Round Table Meetings. The next Round Table Meeting is scheduled for October 26th at 7:30 pm at the church at the intersection of Kingsview and Clopper.

Holly also passed out permission slips to be used by our Dens. The local tour slips are to be used when we are going on trips without parents. The permission slips that were passed out during the meeting were to be used if you have one or two children who do not have parents attending the trips/meetings with them.

Next training date is October 14th at 8:00 am. The meeting is scheduled until 3:30 pm. The following training date is in January. We can go to part of the training (New Leader Essentials or Upgrades) depending on what is needed for the leader. The cost of the training is reimbursed by the Pack.

Any additional questions regarding training can be directed to Holly or Joe. We are going to try to get trainers to our Pack in November so that all leaders can get the New Leader Essentials Training. The Pow Wow will be November 18th. It looks like the meeting with be in Fairfax, VA. This is a full day of training. This is a once a year event. Scouting University will take place on February 24th in Virginia.

BlackHillDistrict@yahoo.com is the address for the district news letter. Note that we are part of the Black Hill District.

Actions:

• Add the online training link to our website. (Joe will send this to Mark)
  
• We need to get registration cards. (Karen will research)
  
• Greg or Patty Stearns will send out their permission form this week to the group.
  
• Karen will look into Scout Mate for our Pack.
  
• Holly will talk to Steve to see if he can come to our Pack Meeting in November as long as it can take 45 minutes or less.
  
• We all need to take the training and then send our training certificates to Holly or Joe
  
• We need all leaders to take the Youth Protection Class online. (Everyone – due by next Pack Meeting – Oct. 18th) http://www.boyscouts-ncac.org/pages/266_youth_protection_training.cfm

Topic – Website
We have a website and will begin to utilize it. Mark Miller is our web master. Our website address is www.bsapack945.org. All information will be directed to Mark by Joe.

Actions:
Joe will get items to Mark to include on the site.

Topic – Dues
All dens but one has paid their dues (not including new Tiger Den). Den Checks were distributed to the leaders at the meeting. Each den receives $30 per child in their den.

Fundraising item this year is Reader’s Digest. All money is due at the Pack Meeting on October 18th. You can go online to order. If you opt out it is $55 dollars per child. We are trying to get everyone to sell the Reader’s Digest stuff. Try to do one or the other instead of mixing the two. The idea was passed around about having two fundraisers a year. Time Life is a lot cheaper with this Reader’s Digest.

It was suggested that we look into to a McDonald’s night before a Pack Meeting, where McDonald’s will donate a portion (10%) to our Pack. Ledos and Dominoes will also participate in this fundraiser event.

Actions:

• All dues and Registrations are due to Karen for new leaders. (Everyone)
  
• Karen is going to work on a chart showing “Where Do Our Funds Go?”

Topic - October's Pack Meeting
We are going to have a Fire Safety Pack Meeting in October, but want to keep it a surprise for the boys. We will call it a Uniform Inspection Night to the children. Joe will bring his firefighter uniforms. Den 2 is doing the opening. The first 15 – 20 minutes are to distribute the awards. He will have someone come up and get dressed in the uniform for the group to see. Then we will do our closing. After the closing we will go outside to see the trucks. We will then say the Law of the Pack.

Actions:

• Kris Kepner needs to send out a new email regarding award request. (done)
  
• Leaders will need to send out award request for the September and October meetings.

Topic – Volunteer List
The list was distributed to all. We still need someone to lead the Pine Wood Derby. We did eliminate a few positions because we did not feel that we needed them. (Rich Weaver has volunteered for the Pinewood Derby Committee Chair.)

Topic – Open Discussion / Items from Joe

• Do we have any training materials (videos, books, etc.) in our Pack?

Answer: Not at this time. We can go to the scout store in Bethesda. Also in Scouting Life magazine there are a lot of free videos in the back of the magazine.

• If we get some videos, can we get the resources to show them at the school during a meeting?

 

Answer: We will have to talk to Mary and see if she knows if we can get a TV/VCR and how much it will cost.

• April is Child Abuse Month – Holly has a few ideas for that Pack Meeting.

 

• Joe shared ideas for gathering at Pack Meetings. He suggested that we put some slips/worksheets to have each scout answer questions. This item must end at 7:00 pm. If you arrive late, you miss the activity. The scores are kept as a part of a reward session. At the end of the year, we can have a pizza party or some other reward. Four tables will be in the front of the room. The chairs will be behind the tables. It was voted that we give an immediate award. We may need to add a set-up den and/or clean-up den to all of the meetings. Joe will explain the activities at the beginning of the meeting.

Action:
Joe will work with Rick to get some sheets for the boys to try out at the next meeting.

• Den 2 went on a family camping trip. It was an awesome trip. The kids enjoyed the one night away.

 

• Pine Wood Derby Cars – When do we get them?

Action:
Joe will buy them before November. His idea is to hand out the cars in the Pack Meeting. He will stage a mystery that the cars did not show up. Then have the cars delivered by hot rod cars from the community.

• Tax ID – Joe asked about it at a meeting. We do have our own.

 

Action:
Joe will call the State Department of Taxation to get our ID Number.

• Sound system – Some have requested a sound system for our Pack Meetings.

 

Action:
Rick will look in his inventory.

• We discussed Hyatt as our sponsors. It was discussed that sponsors should help to find meeting locations and/or provide meeting locations. They should also have a representative in our Pack. Joe is going to meet with Hyatt to see if he can get them to play more of an active role. If we decide to change we may have to change our pack number. If we decide to change in the future, we will contact Rick first. The other place to check with would be the American Legion in Damascus.

 

Action:
Joe will meet with Hyatt.

• Damascus is in need of a Unit Commissioner. This person should be a liaison between the district and the unit. This is a volunteer position. We think that we need to push the District to find this person. They want someone to go to each meeting each month. It is about 4 meetings a week.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:33 pm.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 8th – Rick’s House, 7pm