07/19 – Mid-month Newsletter

December 09, 2019

• A service project is a special Good Turn that puts Scout spirit into action. Projects can take many forms such as a community cleanup, repairing a place of worship, improving a wildlife habitat, or organizing a recycling effort. Start now reporting all service hours. It is a key measurement goal in the Journey to Excellence program. Don’t miss out on valuable points for your JTE unit award. Click here to easily log your unit’s service hours.
• Southern Illinois needs your help!  Here’s how…
• We want you to have the best experience at ScoutFest 2020, which is why we are asking for your advice! Be included in the planning process and let us know which programs and activities you would like to see at ScoutFest. Click here to take the quick survey
• Looking for service hours? McGee Chapel Cemetery in Glenallen is looking for help cleaning headstones. If interested, please contact Todd at todd.abernathy@pr.mo.gov or (636) 234-8158.
• In June we held Fall Recruitment Training on Facebook. This training can be watched at anytime on http://bsaarchive.webtestdev.com/programs/recruitment/. Other recruitment resources are available on that site as well. Physical materials will be available at August’s Roundtable.
• If your unit did not attend Program Preview, please stop by the Ritter Service Center and pickup the items in your mailbox. There will be a binder on top of the Roundtable box. This binder contains new Scouting For Food maps for the Cape and Jackson areas (thanks again, Willie!). If your unit is in either town, please look through these and decide which territory your unit would like to have. If your unit has not claimed a territory by the end of August’s Roundtable, a territory will be assigned to your unit. This is to ensure that we can receive adequate help with each area by the time Scouting For Food comes around.
• Our August Roundtable will be combined with Popcorn Training. This will be held at The Concourse, 429 N. Broadview in Cape Girardeau. Dinner starts at 6:30 and program begins at 7. Click here to sign up for the sale!
• Please send your fall recruitment dates (first and second join nights) to Ashley Metelski: 314-920-0621 or Ashley.metelski@scouting.org. This is to ensure that we can have school access within the first 2 weeks of students returning.
• Save the date for these events:
  • Cub Launch 2019! October 5 from 9am-1pm at Jackson City Park, Pavilion #1. Events will include: Fishing, BB Guns, Archery, Water Bottle Building & Launching, Rope Making, Fire Starting, Monkey Bridge, Tug-O-War & more!
  • Fall Camporee- October 18-20, 2019 at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Scouts will have the opportunity to earn the Aviation Merit Badge. More details will be available soon!
  • Troop Committee Challenge and Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster Training- October 12 at SEMO University; IOLS Training- October 25-26 at Camp Lewallen. Please consider giving back to the Scouting community by training our future leaders. Attached are the schedules for the three events. October 12th is Troop Committee Challenge at 8am at SEMO University. Also, on October 12th is SM/ASM training that starts at Noon. IOLS training will be October 25-26 at Camp Lewallen starting at 5pm on the 25th. Ideally, we would like one SPL for both weekends for consistency. Attached are spreadsheets of the schedules for each training. Below are links to the syllabus so you can see what each session entails. If you’re interested or have questions, please contact sherjz08@gmail.com IOLS Training | SM Training | Troop Committee Challenge
  • Cub Scout Leader Pow Wow- November 2, 2019. Pow Wow is a way to awaken your inner leader or polish your leadership skills. It is a fun-filled day of training for those who do or want to do the most good for the Cub Scout program. Many class offerings are available from a variety of topics. All classes will help those involved in Cub Scouting DO THEIR BEST. We are needing leaders to teach several courses. If interested, please contact Sherry Watson, sherjz08@gmail.com
  • 7^th Annual Southern Illinois Merit Badge University- November 2, 2019 at Community of Faith Church in Marion, IL, from 8am-4pm. Cost of MBU is only $5 and this includes a patch! Online registration will be available soon.
  • A big shout out to all of the Scouts who participated in making Scoutfest 5 a huge success! On behalf of Cape Parks & Rec, River Radio, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts…THANK YOU!!! YOU ROCK!

This has been a great summer for Cub, Scouts BSA and Venturing Camps! Thank you to all of the camp staff and volunteers for making these camps a memorable experience for our Scouts.