Troop 5, Middlebury, CT

MERIT BADGE INFO/COUNSELOR INFO:

From Faith Bannon, Merit Badge Coordinator:

Dear Troop 5:

Our troop is planning to start a merit badge library
and we need your help. Kindly bring any merit badge
booklets that you are no longer using to the troop
meeting on June 5th, and/or the Court of Honor on June
12th. Any donated merit badge booklets will then be
available for Scouts to borrow, on a first come first
serve basis, in the future while they are completing
a merit badge. Thank you, in advance, for your help
in establishing a troop merit badge library.

Effective August 1st, 2008 some merit badge books will
be re-vamped entirely. They are Swimming*, Emergency
Preparedness *, Farm Mechanics, and Auto Mechanics.
There will no longer be separate merit badges or
separate merit badge booklets for Architecture and
Landscape Architecture, as the two merit badges will
be combined into one merit badge. If you are
currently working on any of these merit badges, you
should complete them under the requirements that were
in affect when you began them. You do not need to
start them over. (Save your blue card.) The new merit
badge booklets for the revised merit badges listed
above will be available for purchase effective August
1st, 2008.

You will be hearing even more about merit badges from
me in the future. I plan to work with the troop’s
librarian and help to monitor the troop’s new merit
badge library. It will also be my job to update the
troop’s merit badge counselor list on behalf of our
troop. As part of this, I hope to enlist new
counselors from among troop parents.

I hope to assist the scouts in our troop along the
path to rank advancement by informing them about the
role of merit badges in the BSA program. It is also my
hope to help educate Scout parents about the role that
merit badges have in Scouting advancement.

I look forward to working with you all for the good of
the boys in Troop 5.

Yours in Scouting,

Faith Bannon
Troop 5
Merit Badge Coordinator

* Eagle required merit badge

NEW MERIT BADGE COUNSELORS:

Please welcome Mike Pekovich and Steven Zembruski as
Troop 5′s newest merit badge counselors.

Hello Troop 5:

Bon Voyage to all the whitewater adventurers this
weekend! Hope they have a great time.

BOARDS OF REVIEW JUNE 5TH:

This Thursday, June 5th, there will be Boards of
Review for boys advancing to Tenderfoot, 2nd Class,
1st Class, Star, and Life ranks. If your son has had
a Scoutmaster conference for one of these ranks, he
needs to call Mr. Curry to set up his
board of review. Also, parents, if your son will be
doing a board of review, please e-mail Mr. Curry
if you can volunteer to sit in on
other boys’ boards (not your own son’s). This is a
way to help the Troop and to see what your son is
experiencing.

BOTTLE DRIVE JUNE 7TH:

Volunteers are REALLY needed for the upcoming bottle
drive. With a lovely Memorial Day weekend, we will be
reaping the rewards of many cans and bottles from the
parties. The publicity has been great and the
phonecalls for pickup are coming in. It should be a
big one and that means LOTS of Scouts are needed to
volunteer. So far, we have four . . .

Parents and Scouts, please volunteer for either the
9-11 or 11-1 shifts (or both!) by e-mailing Tom
DeAngelis

EAGLE CEREMONY JUNE 8TH:

Please volunteer for setup or cleanup for the June 8th
3:00 P.M. Eagle ceremony, by e-mailing Tefta Bushka

EAGLE CEREMONY ON JUNE 8TH:

****Please RSVP to committeechair@troop5middlebury.org for the June
8th Eagle Ceremony for Nick Marcucci – 25 families
have not responded yet.

PLC ON JUNE 1ST @ 6:30 PM:

From Pat M., SPL: There will be a PLC this Sunday,
June 1st at the church at 6:30 PM.

EAGLE PROJECT JUNE 2ND:

From Tom C., Scout:

Hi Everyone,

This is just a reminder of my eagle project on Monday,
June 2nd. This is on a Monday, but Region 15 has the
school day off due to a teacher work day. It will be
from 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM. On this day we will be
staining, preparing the installation sites and then
installing the three recycling stations at the M.R.A.
(the stain is water based) so dress appropriately.
Wear clothes and shoes that you don’t mind getting
stain on as it will probably not come out once it
dries.. I need as many hands as I can get. If you
can make it, please send me an e-mail If transportation is an
issue call my house and as long
as you get written consent from your parents, we can
pick people up or arrange car pooling. (This can be in
the form of e-mail.) A picnic lunch of hotdogs,
hamburgers and drink will be provided. I am looking
for two wheelbarrows and a couple of long handled
round nosed shovels to use for the day. If you have
any of this equipment and you don’t mind donating it
for a day, please let me know. If you are in need of
service hours, this is a great oppurtunity for you. I
need both scouts and adults to be there. If any
adults would like to come, they are more than welcome.
This should be a fun day of work. Please come ready
to work. Thank you.

SCOUTING IN THE NEWS:

Flag family of Eagle Scouts to greet Bush

When President Bush lands in Phoenix today, he’ll be
greeted at Sky Harbor by a rare foursome: A family
with four generations of Eagle Scouts.

For more of this story, click on or type the URL
below:

http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/05/27/news/20080527_front_page_3.txt

SUMMER CAMP PAYMENTS DUE TONIGHT:Just a friendly reminder that payments for summer camp
are due this Thursday, May 22nd. Please bring your
payments to the Troop meeting.

Payments not received by Thursday will be subject to a
$30 late fee.

No scout from Troop 5 should stay home from camp for
financial reasons, there are many sources of
campership money available to us. If you did not
submit a request for a campership, please speak to me.
All discussions will be held in confidence.

Yours in Scouting,

Jeff Lukens, Assistant Scoutmaster
jeff@troop5middlebury.org

COMMITTEE MEETING:

There will be a Troop 5 committee meeting next
Thursday, May 29th at 7 PM at the church. All are
welcome.

NICK MARCUCCI EAGLE CEREMONY JUNE 8TH @ 3 PM:

***Please RSVP to committeechair@troop5middlebury.org

Memorial Day Activities:

This Sunday, May 25th, Troop 5 will once again
participate in the Middlebury Memorial Day
festivities. All Scouts and Scoutmasters are invited
by the town to participate in the cemetery service
(behind Middlebury Garage). Please arrive at 11:45
A.M. This is a short and moving serice sponsored by
the Middlebury Lion’s Club (big supporters of our
Troop) and several town dignitaries. Please wear your
Class A uniform.

The parade line-up begins at Perrotti’s Pizza at 4:30
P.M. that day. Please wear your Class A uniform.
If you have any questions, please call Scoutmaster
Dave Redline or e-mail him at
scoutmaster@troop5middlebury.com
Troop 5 Eagle Scouts have been invited to participate in the program
held after the parade at the Middlebury Town Hall.

From Tom Curry:

I need to know the year, make and model of anyone who
would be interested in towing the Troop trailer at
some point. All vehicles that are rated to tow up to
5000 pounds can tow the trailer. All half ton pickups
can tow it, also vehicles like Chevy Blazers and Ford
Explorers. For example I own a 2003 Chevy Surburban
3/4 ton with a 6 liter engine and it is 4 wheel drive.
I need to order the wiring harness that would fit the
vehicles. I will be placing the order in the next
couple of days so if they can call me or E-Mail me.

Thank you,

Tom Sr.

Hot off the presses -

Beginning in fall 2008, and in honor of the BSA’s 100th anniversary in 2010, the Boy Scouts of America are redesigning the Official Uniform.

“We didn’t reinvent the wheel; we just made a great thing better. The high-performance, multi-functional new shirts and pants run the gamut from looking good at ceremonies to getting out there—hiking, camping, and getting involved. Loaded with pockets (some big enough to hold your Fieldbook), zippers (converting pants to shorts), gadget loops, and more, you’ll want it all! However, each piece transitions to mix and match with your current uniform.”

You can see what the new uniform looks like here.

What this means to you:

The old uniform is still official!  There is no need to go and buy a new uniform unless you need/want to.  The old uniforms will no longer be available for purchase (after current stock sells out), but that doesn’t mean that you can’t wear them.  If you outgrow your pants, but not your shirt, you only need to buy new pants – you are free to mix and match uniforms.

The last time the Official Uniform was updated to this degree was back in 1982 when the current style was adopted.

From Dave Redline, Scoutmaster:

Hi all
The Mad River District ‘Mad Dash Across Mattatuck’ is
this weekend at Camp Mattatuck and the district could
use our help in running a fire challenge (burn the
string till it breaks) station. The competition runs
7am-6pm and if anyone is available to be there all or
portions of the day it would be appreciated. You
would never be alone in running the area and would
have the ‘tough’ job of securing the string and timing
teams as they attempt to burn it as well as grading
them on teamwork and safety. It’ll be a fun day
watching our scouts and others from the district
demonstrate skills that they have been taught and
practice.
If you are interested please call or send
an email to let me know.
Thanks
Dave

scoutmaster@troop5middlebury.org

Hey Troop 5!
Hey What?
I said Hey Troop 5!
Hey What? Is it time for the Wig-a-Low?

Nope – but it is time to get your payments in for Summer Camp!

Your payment for Summer camp is due to Jeff Lukens by May 22nd. You can bring it to this week’s Troop Meeting, next week’s meeting, or mail it to him (email him for the address)

Your payment amount is listed on the forms that were distributed in early April. If you lost this packet of information, please email Jeff at jeff@troop5middlebury.org for your payment amount.

Please make checks payable to “Troop 5″

NO SCOUT in Troop 5 should stay home from camp for financial reasons. There are many sources of campership funding available to us. If you applied for a BSA Campership, you should have received a notice from the Council. If you have not been notified please let Jeff know. No additional payments should be made until after you have received notification of your campership. At that point, talk to Jeff if additional funding is needed.

Our goal is to have all of our troop members attend summer camp with the troop. It is a week filled with fun activities and presents opportunities for growth and advancement. Talk to any of the boys who have gone in past years — they will tell you how much fun it is.

You can also see a video of what a week of camp is like here (it’s in two parts due to length):

You might recognize some of the pictures and voices in the video too! New Scouts and Parents should take a look to see what a great time camp is.

Attention parents of new scouts: Studies show that scouts who attend summer camp with their troop their first year in scouting stay in scouts longer and have a more positive overall scouting experience. Talk to me, Mr. Romano, or Mr. Curry if you have any questions about summer camp.

Jeff
———
jeff@troop5middlebury.org

CARWASH REMINDER:

Please bring baked goods to the firehouse by 9 AM
Saturday. A large folding table is also needed.
Please contact Dom Romano for
additional info.

WHITEWATER TRIP DRIVERS NEEDED:

From Chris M.,
To all parents going on the white water trip:
If anyone is willing to drive for the whitewater trip,
please e-mail me your name, number of people your car
holds (excluding driver) and the approximate mpg.
Thank-you!

EMS DISCOUNT AT DANBURY MALL:

For all who signed up, and all Scouts, etc., we are
now eligible for a 15% discount at the Danbury Mall
EMS. Thank you, Sue Mayer, for doing this.

The following was received today in response to our posting of the “scouts in the news” article about JR finding a wallet and returning it:

Hi Troop 5!

My name is Cristi Brophy and I am a Scouter and a mom of a Tiger and a Bear in Pack 3097 and I also have a son that is a first year Boy Scout in Troop 90. I happen to be looking on your website and noticed that you had posted the story about one of our brother Scouts in Troop 90.

I just wanted to take a minute to say THANK YOU so much for showing excitement for JR and our Troop, we are very happy about Ms. Cutler getting her wallet back, and now because of all of the attention someone realized they had found JR’s wallet also, So his honesty has rewarded him also!

But we think that this is a little crazy too, because we are Scouts, all of this attention because of just doing what Scouting has taught us? As cubbies we spend years going through the Character Connections, And as Webelos and Boy Scouts we do learn to live the Oath, Law, & the Outdoor Code.It becomes part of us, not just the Boy Scouts but the Scouting families and the communities that support them. JR did as the rest of the boys in Troop 90 would have done he just “did a good turn daily”

Sometimes I feel as though because our Organization has been around for so long that some may not realize just what we are trying to teach our future leaders, However when we see a web site like yours, Scouts supporting Scouts, we really appreciate that. Scouts do heroic things everyday, save lives, help the needy, become mentors, and yes show their honesty. But I really felt compelled to write and say thank you for making us feel special.

You have a great website, Thanks for sharing it with fellow scouters.

Yours in Scouting,

Cristi Brophy

Membership Chair- Lakeshore District

Gerald R Ford Council – Boy Scouts of America