Troop 217 Summer 2021 Schedule

 It has been a crazy and challenging year but as things return to normal, so will we! Here is the current list of upcoming activities for this summer. Please read through and RSVP for the activities you plan to attend. If there is interest in an activity but a lot of conflicts for scheduling, we can look at changing the dates.

Sailing June 26th-27th

We will be sailing at the Quemahoning Dam and I am currently looking into camping Friday into Saturday and Saturday into Sunday at the Dam.

Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail July 11th

We will be hiking the next section of the trail as a Day hike. Going from Route 30 to Route 31

Kinzua Dam Paddling trip July 23-25

This is a multi day canoe/kayak trip to Kinzua Dam.

August

We are planning a shooting day at the gun range, a rock climbing day and a multi day Bicycle trip.

Dates and details will follow shortly

Service Hours

Service hour Opportunity

When: Sunday Aug 2 

Time: The event runs from 11am-8pm so however long you can              volunteer

Where: Lorain Park

What: They need help from boys directing traffic through some of the hiking trails plus some other misc. tasks

Attire: Class B uniforms

Service hours opportunity

When: Saturday January 18th
Where: Lorain Borough Park
             503 Green Valley st. Johnstown PA
Time: 1:00 pm
Description: The community has a walking trail that could use some rehab. The boys will be picking up twigs and sticks, moving downed logs to the side of the trail. Basically, they need young hands and backs to carry things!!

Eagle Court Of honor, Re-charter, color guard

Eagle Court
What: Eagle Court of Honor for Gavin Miller
When: January 5th at 1pm, Reception to follow
Where: Christ Lutheran Church Elknud Lane
Uniform: Class A
RSVP: ASAP so we can plan for food


Re-Charter
We need to know ASAP if your son will continue in scouts next year so we can get our charter turned in! Please RSVP via remind, or text me at 814-233-1464. With RADA sale we managed to keep our fee at $40 per boy instead of doubling it like national wanted.

Color Guard
We have been asked to provide 5 boys for a color guard at the ebensburg courthouse to swear in our newly elected offcials. I have 3 spots left so text me if your son would like to participate.
When: January 2nd
Where: Ebensburg courthouse
Time: 9am, we can then stay for the ceremony or leave if we need to get kids back to school.

RADA Knife Sale and Re-chartering information

Re-Chartering

The Boy Scouts have decided to increase their re-chartering fee by nearly double for next year! There are a lot of factors that went into it but all we really need to know or worry about is that to continue in scouts, we have to pay double. That said, we will be having our first mandatory fund raiser in years. The RADA knife sale.

RADA Knife Sale details:

When: Now until December 9th. Catalogs are in and you can get yours at the next meeting or contact me and I will see to it that you get one.

Requirement: We are asking each family to sell $100.00 worth.

Delivery:TBA shortly but it will be before christmas

Money Due:

Online Orders: Details will be available shortly so your boy gets credit for his online sales to out of town relatives or friends.

FAQ: Q. If I sell more than the minimum does it go into my personal account?
           A. No, this money will go into a fund specifically to keep re-chartering fees down now and i                into the future.
         
           Q. How much does the troop make on this sale?
           A. We will make around 40 percent, so if everyone sells $100.00 we won't raise re-charter f                       fees.

           Q. Is there a buy out option?
           A. Yes! It is $100 dollars. It doesn't hurt to have the boys get out and be seen in public and                        talk to their neighbors. Yes, I realize that the boys selling are only making $40 for the                          troop. Yes, the buyout is still $100.

           Q. So if my boy sells $75, then what?
           A. Simple math.... he sold $75, 100-75=25.....so you turn in the orders plus $25.
       

Hike, Service hours and more

This Saturday is the Morley's run race. They are seeking volunteers and I need to know by the end of today, Tuesday Ocober 29th if you are going to attend, along with a shirt size.

When: Saturday November 2nd, 8:15 AM - approx. 10am
Where: The Grove in westmont by the inclined plane
RSVP: Immediately!!!!!!! If you do not RSVP you can still show up and help but will not get a shirt.


This Sunday we will do our next 10 mile hike, weather permitting.
When: Sunday November 3rd, meet at 10:30 am at the trail
Where: The hoodlebug trail located at 1284 Old Indiana Rd, Blairsville, PA 15717
RSVP: By friday

The hike should take between 5- 6 hours, it is pretty flat (according to the book, I have never hiked it)

Dress in layers for the weather so you can shed layers if you start to sweat, I will have water bladders that can be put in a backpack, bring snacks to munch on as we hike.

Personal fitness Merit Badge:
 We started the physical fitness merit badge a couple weeks ago but please make sure your boy is keeping track of their activity on a calendar. It should include their activity for the months of sept, oct and november. This merit badge is required for Eagle.

Rechartering fees have doubled!!!!

Rechartering fees have doubled for the scouts to 60 dollars. We will be having a mandatory RADA sale with details coming soon to offset this cost. Each boy will be required to sell 50 dollars which really is not that hard as you will see if you have not sold their products before.

DUES:
As we start closing up the financials for the year please get in touch with me or Paul to see where your boy stands financially. We try to go into the new year with a clean balance sheet.

Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail / No shooting camp

In the spirit of offering a lot of different merit badges we have decided to skip shooting camp for a year and offer hiking merit badge instead! This does not mean we cannot have a simple range day to go shoot stuff!



Hiking merit badge is an eagle required merit badge. It requires several hikes of various lengths and those hikes must be planned and taken within specific parameters. We can knock out 3 of those over the course of this weekend!!! So here it is.

What: Hiking the LHHT from route 56 to route 30
When: Aug. 16, 17, 18
Cost: $20 / person

Itinerary:
Friday: Hike 1- (5 miles with only short breaks)
             Leave 56 trailhead around 4pm
             Hike approx 6 miles to the decker ave lean-to area, set camp and spend the night
Saturday: Hike 2 -(10 miles with only short breaks)
                 Break camp and hike to 271 lean-to area, set camp and spend the night

Sunday: Hike 3- (10 miles with only short breaks)
              Break camp and hike to route 30 trailhead.

REMEMBER WHEN PACKING!!! YOU WILL BE CARRYING THIS ON YOUR BACK SO KEEP IT AS LIGHT AS POSSIBLE!!! EXTRA SNACKS, CLOTHES, BATTERIES, ETC ETC ADD UP WEIGHT VERY QUICKLY!!!

Gear: IF YOU NEED TO BORROW SOMETHING, LET ME KNOW. I MIGHT HAVE EXTRA!
Backpack
Hiking boots or trail runner shoes
2 spare pair of socks, we will change socks every day!
2 spare pair of underwear
Mess kit
Utensils
Headlamp
Rain gear (if it looks like it will rain)
Sleeping bag
Sleeping pad
Bandanna
Trekking poles (optional)
Backpacking stove if you have one plus fuel.

Menu:
We will be buddying up and each pair will share. We are once again going to be experiencing something new! This trip will be fueled by mountainhouse freeze dried food. All we will have to do is boil water, dump it in the pouch, wait ten minutes and eat! Not the cheapest option, but lightweight and easy to use, plus we have never used them before in the troop.

Breakfasts :          Breakfast skillet (hash browns, scrambled eggs, with suasage ,peppers and onions)
Lunches/dinners: Spaghetti with meat sauce and chicken with rice. It will be up to the pair which is                                 lunch and which is dinner

Going:
Dan Miller
Dani Miller
Stashu Matse
Nick Taranto
Glenn Stutzman
Glenny Stutzman
Tobey Johnson
Jeff smith
Hunter smith
Steph smith