3-5-2008 Pack 172 Planning Meeting
7:30-8:30pm St. Mark School Library

In Attendance: Rich Kovach, Bill Lobdell, Michele Appleby, Evelyn Lesko, Julie Kovach, Helen Levine, Bob Tremallo, Michael Matis, Alan Derosa, Kevin Newcomb, Rick Abed, Ken Poisson, Brian Duca

***Michele Appleby advised all leaders that she is no longer with Bic and should not send e-mail to her at that e-mail address. From now on please use miappleby@yahoo.com to contact her.

**February Games Night: -hosted by Den 2 & 4. Games Night hosted by the Levine and Matis dens went very well. Everyone had a really great time. The way the event was set up worked well, with the prize table in the middle and the games set up around the outer walls. $133 was raised and will be presented to Jacob Rainey by his den-mates at the March Pack meeting. A total of $250 was spent on Games Night.

**Blue & Gold - February 24th: -Blue and Gold held at Oronoque was a wonderful time. Pirate Cody, it was decided was not worth the money that the Pack paid and Michele Appleby sent an e-mail to let them know of our dissatisfaction. Rich Craven did a Fantastic job on the scenery of the pirate ship and cannon. Thanks go out to Rick Abed for a great job with DJing. We will discuss in the future of continueing on with Oronoque, the price was the same as last year, the location is convenient and within town, and the food is scout friendly. Other options are always a consideration, but we would need to book with Oronoque by November to hold the location. Michele will hand over contacts to Julie before leaving the Pack at the end of this year. Next year we will have someone from the Pack cut and distribute the cake so that it is more presentable. The class B uniform t-shirts were a big hit and cost the Pack $451. They were ordered from Crown Prints located in Norwalk. Those scouts that did not attend were given a shirt so that they also will have a class B uniform for scouting events requiring such. For those scouts that did not attend, Pinewood Derby cars for them were given to their Den Leaders. Our total money spent for Blue and Gold was roughly $2300.

**Pack finances: -Helen Levine reported that we have roughly $3200 left in checking after all of the Blue and Gold bills were paid out and is not sure what is in the BSA account. We are in good standing for the rest of the year.  

**Roundtable: - February Roundtable was cancelled due to snow conditions. Council sent out the roundtable packet via e-mail to those who attended previously.

Brian Duca stated that he will attend the March Roundtable on March 11^th and forward all pertinent information to Cubmaster Rich.

**Earning rank: - Leaders in attendance discussed the importance of having our scouts work on their rank rather working on all belt loops. While belt loops are fun and relatively easy to earn, we would rather see our scouts work out of their books toward their advancements. These are the activities that make them a better scout. As they move up the ranks in scouting they will actually be required to earn certain belt loops to go toward that rank. A belt loop once earned may not be used toward another year’s rank. This means that they will have to earn the loop again in that particular scouting year that it is required but will not actually be presented with another loop. Please keep this in mind as you plan out your den’s activities.

**Cub Scout Behavior: - Leaders in attendance discussed the importance of the expectation of Scout Behavior. All scouts should be learning to respect the code of conduct within their Den meetings as well as their Pack meetings. We all discussed different ideas of how we as leader’s have dealt with this issue in our scouting experience. While we all come from different types of families we all try to pass on the values that we believe will help our scouts grow into responsible young men and good citizens. As den leaders it is up to us to set out clear expectations and to hold our scouts to those expectations. To do this we need to have clear communication with them and the support of their parents in this aspect as well.

The Code of Conduct provides Scouts, Parents, and Adult Leaders with a framework of expectations for all members of the Pack. This Code of Conduct will help ensure a common language and understanding for behavioral expectations, allowing us to create an atmosphere conducive to fun, safety, and the values of Scouting.
Expectations

Cub Scouts and Tiger Cubs

• Always be on time.
• Call your Den Leader if you will be unable to attend a Den or Pack activity.
• Wear a proper uniform with PRIDE - clean, neat, and complete - to all Scouting events.
• Listen and pay attention.
• In response to the "wolf ears" signal, silently return the sign.
• Respect one another and your leader.
• Keep hands and feet to yourselves.
• Don't take anything from anyone else without first asking permission.
• Show respect for your surroundings, indoors and out, leaving them in as good or better condition than when they were found.
• Always follow Akela.
• Always DO YOUR BEST!

Parents

• Assist your son in learning the Pack 172 Code of Conduct.
• Work with Den and Pack Leaders as requested to ensure all boys in their Den follow the code.
• Act as role models, demonstrating proper behaviors, language, etc.
• Pay attention, and in response to the "wolf ears" signal, silently return the sign.
• Parents are responsible for the conduct of their non-scout children during Pack activities.
• Parents may be asked to remove disruptive children from these events.
• Cub Scouting is a program based on parent (or guardian) and son participation. It is the policy of Pack 172 that a parent or an adult family member accompanies the Scout on all Pack activities, including Pack Meetings. Parents will also be asked to participate in Den level activities from time to time.
• No use of alcohol, tobacco products, or illegal drugs is permitted while at Scout functions.

Adult Leaders

• Treat all Cub Scouts and Tiger Cubs as individuals, respecting their unique needs and capabilities.
• Act as a role model, demonstrating proper behaviors, language, etc.
• Wear your uniform at all scouting events.
• Assume responsibility for the safety, well being, and behavior of your charges at all times.
• Follow BSA rules regarding discipline and other matters.

Respect

We strive to provide our Scouts with a fun, safe and enjoyable scouting experience. Our Adult Leaders donate many hours of their free time to achieve this goal.

All Adult Leaders should be given your respect. Directions given by Adult Leaders must be obeyed for the good of all Scouts.

Members of Pack 172 are expected to respect each other. Any behavior that injures, demeans, or offends other members of the Pack is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

**March 19^th Pack Meeting (Dens 7will host): -Friends of Scouting has been postponed until the April Pack Meeting, the Pack will be donating $100 to Friends of Scouting. A suggestion to have them come at the beginning of games night next year will be tabled for future discussion.

The Newcomb/Poisson den will be hosting the March Pack Meeting, titled “What’s Up Tonight” a play on words for Astronomy. A guest speaker will be coming and if weather allows, we may be going outside for some star gazing. Tonight will also be the pre-weigh in for Pinewood Derby. All scouts are asked to bring their derby car (finished or not) for an initial weigh in, in a shoe box labeled with their name. They will drop this off at the table and pick it up at the end of the Pack Meeting. Their car will be weighed and they will know if they should add or take away weight before the Derby day. Bill Lobdell, Keith Ferrara and Bob Witkowski will be doing the weigh ins tonight.

The following Den Chiefs will be officially inducted into the Pack, Robbie Kimball, Freddie Kaesman and Tommy Valus.

Non-perishable food will be donated this month to Mertin House.

**Pinewood Derby – March 29: -Cars and rules were distributed at Blue and Gold. First weigh in at March Pack Meeting 3/19. Doors will open at 9 am for set up, Bill Lobdell chairperson would like to see some new volunteers step up to help with set up. Cars were received at the January Roundtable saving us about $300. Trophies were donated by the Shriners Car Club saving us about $50 - 60. Bill Lobdell will reserve the projector with Librarian Mrs. Kalagian, reconfirm with Mrs. Hartley the school secretary and check with the principal Mr. Noga for the day to make sure that we have access to the building, request the microphone and lower the screen in the gym to project onto. Bob Tremallo and Al Derosa will run the race laptop. Bill Lobdell will bring the laptop and the software needed. Music and sound will be run by Rich and Richie Kovach. Michele and Evelyn will help with the snack table. Each scouting family is asked to donate one baked item for the table.

Keith Ferrara will take care of the pizza order(possibly from Vazzy’s). The pizza will be sold for $1 /slice. All scouts should arrive by 12:30pm for registration. Registration will end promptly at 1pm. All scouts MUST be registered prior to 1pm in order to participate. The race should begin at 1:15pm. Keith Ferrara and Brian Duca will also help with the registration cards to help move the line along. Michele will handle the scout pictures at the beginning of the event. Julie has to work that day but will make the goodie bags and send them to the event with Rich, anyone having any items for the goodie bags should get them to Julie in advance ie: pens, magnets, etc. donations of items such as these from your place of work. Bill will pick up raffle items to be raffled off during the event. This event is estimated to cost approximately $400, depending if we are billed for the building use or not. This amount will be significantly higher if we are charged by the town for this event. A tattoo/coloring/maybe face painting table will be set up.

**Fishing Derby: - April 4/5^th. Kevin Newcomb has reserved space for overnight camping but has not as of yet had anyone contact him about sleeping over. If any scout family is camping overnight please advise him. All registrations should be sent directly to Council. The link if as follows: http://www.ctyankee.org/temp/201_08fdflyr.pdf

Kevin will send out a pack wide e-mail to remind everyone about this event.

**Mystic Overnight April 25/26th: - Bill Lobdell chaired the Pack portion of this event for those who registered with him to reserve the 50 slots we had available. Due to the commute being on a Friday night, and taking into account people having to get out of work, it was decided not to caravan up. Each scouting family that reserved space should plan on arriving at Mystic by 7pm for the beginning of the program. Both Cubmaster Rich and Assistant Cubmaster Bill will meet you there. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Bill Lobdell. Anyone still wishing to go may check with Council to see if there any spaces left and reserve and pay directly through Council. http://www.ctyankee.org/temp/201_08mystic.pdf

**Family Campout – May 17/18^th Roosevelt Forest: - This event will be chaired by Kevin Newcomb and he will provid more details at next month’s committee meeting.

**Pack Family Picnic – June 8^th Short Beach: - This event will be chaired by Helen Levine and Darlene DeRosa. Darlene has reserved the Pavilion. Helen has requested an increase in funds to be able to have the “bouncy house”. This was approved by the committee. The budget for this event is estimated at $1500.

*the portions of this topic in red were corrected after the minutes were posted after Julie was notified of the error.

**Leadership / Event Chairpersons: - This was tabled until next month due to the lateness of the hour.

**Cubmaster Minute: - A suggestion from the Cubmaster was to try to keep our resources for the benefit of those within our community, such as Sterling House for our food drive etc. and to try to hold events as much as possible using vendors within our community where it is feasible.

Next parent planning meeting will be April 2nd at 7:30. All Cub Scout Pack 172 parents are invited!

Meeting adjourned at 9:05pm.

Respectfully submitted by Julie Kovach filling in for Pack Secretary Michele Shedlock.