Trail Talk – 11/25/24

Happy Thanksgiving Week Troop 244! I truly hope that you are all looking forward to both the Thanksgiving Break and the Thanksgiving Holiday itself. There are so many things to be thankful for in our lives and we often don’t take the time to express our gratitude. I am thankful for my daughters, Rebekah and Rachel. I am thankful for loving family in my sisters, mom and extended family. I am thankful for friends who know to check in on you. I am thankful for the family of Scouting in Troop 244! Scouts and Scouters, both past and present, have truly become a part of my family and I want you all to know that I am very, very grateful for your friendship and support.

Some things to know for this next week:
NO SCOUT MEETING THIS TUESDAY, 11/26 –Because of my dad’s visitation service, we are not having a scout meeting this Tuesday. My sisters and I did this on purpose so that as many scouts and scouters as possible can come to the visitation. Please come and pay your respects to your Scoutmaster Hank Poppen instead. We will resume meetings again on Tuesday, December 3rd

HANK POPPEN MEMORIAL SERVICES – we will be laying my dad to rest this week. This is going to be a very tough week for me, so I thank you in advance for your patience and kindness. I know that my dad would love to have as many of the scouts and scouters there as possible. He loved you all. I am asking that scouts wear their Class A uniforms with their neckerchiefs to the visitation and services. Adult Scouters, you are more than welcome to wear your scout uniforms or regular clothing. I leave that choice up to you. I hope to see you Tuesday night and/or Wednesday morning. For those scouts that I contacted and asked to be an “honor guard”, you can plan to come to the funeral home around 5:00 on Tuesday evening.

EAGLE COURT OF HONOR (Sunday, December 1st) – We are planning to honor 5 of our young men who became Eagle Scouts in the last several months on Sunday December 1st at 2:00 p.m. at Pathfinder Church. These young men have worked very hard to reach the rank of Eagle and it is only appropriate that their fellow scouts and scouters be there to help honor and recognize them. We are asking that all scouts attend this Eagle Court of Honor. We like to have scouts play different roles in the Eagle Court of Honors and we need help with setup so please have your scout to Pathfinder Church by 12:30 p.m. to help setup and to be assigned a part to play. All others can arrive shortly before 2:00. We will be recognizing Roan Borton, Caden Dodde, Charlie Fox, Jack Kingston and Alexander Haas for the rank of Eagle Scout.

CITY BARBEQUE TROOP FUNDRAISER(TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3RD) – Don’t forget that December 3rd, Troop 244 will have a Dine Out at City BBQ. This will go from 11am-8pm. Go and grab dinner before coming to the troop meeting that night! This is NOT taking the place of the troop meeting. Mention you are supporting Troop 244 when placing your order. If online use promo code GIVE so our Troop can receive 20% of the proceeds. Please RSVP to Friends of Troop 244 GroupRaise Meal at City Barbeque so there is enough food available for the extra patrons anticipated. Thanks. Any questions, please let me know. Lastly please share your socials so your friends can join us as well. Information is through email from my husband, Jeff Crawford, as well.

HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE – every Holiday season for years now Troop 244 has done a food drive to gather food for those in need. We gather the food together at the church throughout the month of December and then we bring all of that to Twelve Baskets. Twelve Baskets right now is supporting 400 families. We began this collection last Tuesday but I didn’t see anything brought in. We do not have a troop meeting this week so please plan to bring in your holiday food donations(see flyer below) next Tuesday, December 3rd. We will continue collecting food until our Troop Holiday party at the meeting on Tuesday, December 17th. Please see the flyer below for more information!

Scoutmaster Minute – This has been a turbulent last few weeks for me and at the current time, I do not see an end to that. It is difficult when you feel like you are walking around wounded most of the time. You feel like a huge chunk of yourself is just missing. My dad and I were more than just father and son, we were best friends. I talked with him just about every single day on the phone, usually about things that had to do with running the troop. When that is gone, you often realize or wish that you could have said or done so much more. We had a really great relationship.
The reason I bring this up today is that I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in “situations” that we forget about “relationships”. We get into a situation, and we feel that we must resolve that situation as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Sometimes, we get so overwhelmed by the situation and how we “feel” in the moment that we can ruin relationships with others involved in the situation. I think of a friendship that I once had, where both of us got so wrapped up in circumstances, that we left our last conversation very negatively. We haven’t talked since last January. We worried more about our situation in the moment than about our relationship. One of the “norms” at the school where I teach, during staff meetings is “Remember the situation is never more important than the relationship” and that strikes me as something for all of us to remember. My dad and I had a great relationship but there were times where we would disagree in certain situations. However, we never let those disagreements ruin our relationship with each other. I encourage you to think about this as you interact with those around you; family, friends, fellow scouts and scouters, colleagues and so on. Make sure that you put the focus on your relationship rather than on the situation.

Let’s always remember “What Troop Does More!!” – 244