Author: Jeffrey Heck

OA Chapter Tepee report

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As many of you know, and some do not, the LOA Chapter has a tepee that can be set up for OA and scouting events.
It has not been used in at least 5 years.  The tepee canvas itself is in good shape and is in covered storage (in my garage).  However, we need to replace the poles.
That, in itself, is not a problem.  Thanks to Mr. Hoyes and Mr. Pishon, we have a line on a reasonable price for the poles.  The issue I have is indoor storage.  I  do not want to have these stored outside in the elements.
Is there anyone out there connected to OA that has indoor storage available that we could use?
Mr. Hoyes and Mr. Pishon recently put in time and energy to get the trailer in working order.  I’d really like to have that effort not be in vain.
Thank you in advance.
WWW
John Ruggles
LOA Chapter Advisor
317-864-2839

YPT Status: need immediate attention

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As October 1st approaches, the District Commissioner’s staff is ever more concerned about training, especially Youth Protection Training.

As previously published, your YPT should be renewed each year between March 1st and October 1st. This eliminates many problems at recharter time. Please help by logging into your my.scouting.org account and double checking your YPT expiration date.

As of this writing, the District has 29 scouters who are now expired on their YPT. A total of 168 scouters are or will be expired before November 10, 2016. There are probably another 50 or s0 (unverified) who expire before March 1, 2017. All of these 218 or so people can cause their units to be unable to renew, if the person expired is a required office to recharter such as committee chair, or maybe dropped from membership in order to allow their units to recharter.

Three units have 3 or more scouters whose YPT is expired at this moment. Several units will have more than 25% of their scouters YPT expire before November 10, 2016.

Please begin an aggressive campaign in your unit to bring these numbers down now.

 

Online Eagle Resources

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This website has over 400 articles or so. In the wealth of information, there are sometimes some nuggets that get buried.

Don’t forget to take a look at some of the past articles for Eagle candidates. A key article is on the Eagle Board of Review.

You can always use the topics list on the right hand side of the webpage to look for other topics, too.

Back to School: Rocket Distribution

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At Thursday, August 11th’s Roundtable, District Executive Con Sullivan will be distributing rockets to all Cub Scout Packs for Back to School Night recruiting.

Remember, like last year, we will be giving each new scout a rocket when he joins scouts.

See you at Roundtable, 6:30 pm at Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the northeast corner of the campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 West 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260.

State Fair Volunteers Needed!

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Council is again running “Base Camp” at the State Fair from August 5th to August 21st.

This is a great way to have scouting exposed to people from around the state and your neighborhood in a fun and engaging way.

Bring your son and his non-scout friend. Let him see the fun that awaits when he joins.

Come volunteer to show scouting to boys. More information online here.

Fall Recruitment: Help Wanted!

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As we are entering our important time of the year for recruitment, we need as many scouters as possible to stand at recruitment locations as possible. We have need for Boy Talk presenters during the school day; persons to attend schools’ ice cream socials, school’s back-to-school nights, and our council-wide scout recruitment night Thursday, August 25, 2016.

Scouters who are willing to serve are strongly encouraged to attend the District Committee meeting to meet with members of the District Membership Committee. This is Thursday, August 4, 2016 at 7:00 pm at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N Meridian St, Rm 405, Indianapolis, IN 46260.

Those you cannot attend may contact Sharla Merrick or Jenny Byers or Jeff Heck.

Hope to see you there!

Roundtable: District Kick-off

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Next Thursday, August 11, 2016 at 6:30 pm, Roundtable will serve as the District Kick-off.

This is an extremely important Roundtable. It is a chance for different committees and groups within the district to discuss their plans for the coming academic year. It is a chance to ask questions and better understand all the resources that Council and District offer to you as a leader and to your unit in particular.

If you are a district committee chair or participant in a council committee that wishes to recruit participants, this is your chance to tell your story. Please contact Jeff Heck to reserve a time in the presentation. If you have A/V needs, these can be accommodated. You should send your A/V material to Jeff in advance to make sure it is preloaded and ready-to-go.

Hope to see you there!Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner Patch

Cub Scout Position-Specific Training

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North Star District in cooperation with Del-Mi District will be holding in-person Cub leader position-specific training from September 6 through September 9, 2016. Tentatively the trainings will take place at Carmel’s Monon Center off of 111th Street between Westfield Rd/Rangeline Rd and College Avenue.

Positions that will be trained include Pack Trainer, Den Leader specificCub Scout logo, and Cubmaster Specific training. Each session will begin with Youth Protection Training.

While National and local councils have shifted focus to using e-training for these sessions, many veteran scouters have said that their first training in scouting done in-person did more to have them feel part of a larger community and network. They felt more welcome and less isolated when they began their work in Cub Scouts.

We are offering this training in order to enhance the quality of the experience for our newest Cub Scout leaders. They will come face-to-face with other new leaders and meet veteran scouters who can serve as future resources.

If you would be interested in serving on the faculty, please contact Jeff Heck or Con Sullivan.

If your pack does not have a Pack Trainer, please make a special effort to send a representative. This will help us move the District to its goal of 100% trained scouters.

Specific dates and times are to be determined.

Pack 105 Celebrates 5 Years of Service to Zionsville

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Team Tecumseh

Who’s ready for a big party?  It is hard to believe, but it is Pack 105’s 5th birthday.  We are going to celebrate with the biggest pack meeting yet!!!  Come a get a 5 year Pack 105 patch.<image.png>

Can you please send out an invitation to your former dens for this historic event?

We are going to celebrate with the following activities from our 5 year program:

Year of Tecumseh with a Popcorn Skit featuring our name sake Tecumseh
Year of Stem with the physics of football – punt, pass, and kick
Year of Transportation with a demo by one of our local heroes (police, sheriff or fire department)
Year of Culture with Songkran-  a water fight amongst Pack 105, Troop 358,and Troop 804
Year of Sports with Human Foosball

Date – Monday Sept 12
Location – Dad’s Club Shelter
Time – 6:00-8:00PM
Attire – Class B

Agenda

6:00- 6:05 Introduction
6:05 -6:10 Opening Ceremony – Flag and prayer
6:10- 6:20 Water Fight – Songkran – Cultures of the World
6:20-7:20 Stations
Station #1 – Human Foosball
Station #2 – Kick, Pass and Throw
Station #3 – Local Heroes Demo
7:20-7:45 Tecumseh Popcorn Skit
7:45-8:00 Group Celebration with photo

WAHOO
Jeremy

100 Years of Eagles with Troop 18

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In a previous post last month, we announced that Troop 18 is celebrating 100 years of Eagle Scouts in the Crossroads of America Council. In 1916, Troop 18 had the first three Eagle Scouts in the Indianapolis Council (the predecessor to the Crossroads of America Council).

This week we will add more to the story of Troop 18.

In 1917, Louis Fletcher, First Class Scout, age 14, earned bronze honor medal for saving 2 boys from drowning (Boys Life, Sept. 1917.)
Also in 1917, Troop 18 put on a show at the Peter Pan Theater. The net proceeds were to defray expense of the two-week summer camp the troop went on every year “An elaborate moving picture program has been arranged for the performances” (Indianapolis News, May 23, 1917, pg 13.)
In 1924, Hillis Howie worked with Troop 18 and earned gold badge from William Hornaday for service to wildlife. (Mr. Hornaday was instrumental in the BSA’s early conservation program and was the director the New York Zoological Park.) The gold award today requires the equivalent of multiple Eagle Projects dedicated to conservation. While the Bronze and Silver awards are met by requirements. The gold award is by nomination only after 3 years of dedicated service to youth conservation efforts. 
In 1926, Hillis Howie, now Scoutmaster of Troop 18, organized Prairie Trek summer camping in American Southwest. Later, Prairie Trek goes under name of Cottonwood Gulch Foundation. Mr. Howie purchased 500 acres near Thoreau, New Mexico for the camp. (see Prairie Trek expeditions records 1926-1982). The center of the treks moved from the Boy Scout Troop to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. In 1938, Hillis Howie led an expedition with the young Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., an Indianapolis native and graduate of Shortridge High School. Vonnegut thought so highly of Howie that he dedicated his book Galapagos to Howie. Vonnegut’s father, Kurt Vonnegut, Sr., known today for being the architect of the Athaneum and Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument on the Circle, showed his appreciation to Mr. Howie by designing the cabins that remain in New Mexico to this day.2nd Pres troop writeup Feb 2016
In 1929, Howard Young received his Eagle Scout award from the hand of Chief Scout Executive James West (1929 Boys Life).
In 1931, Indiana Department of Conservation (pg 118) lists Troop 18 as having 28 members attend Camp McCormick.
Skipping forward several decades, in 2012, Eagle Scout Ian Kenney awarded honor medal with crossed palms for saving a friend during a house fire.
Help Troop 18 celebrate its and Crossroads of America Council celebrate its century of Eagles together by joining in the fun!