Trail Talk – 2/17/25

Good afternoon Troop 244 Scouts, Scouters and Parents!

Happy President’s Day! Wow, what a great weekend we had this last weekend! We had our February Campout, and it was awesome! We had a ton of snow! Which can be both a good and bad thing. It definitely made things very wintry and gave the scouts a workout when doing a Search and Rescue. At the same time, it was also nice to have that snow falling on my tent during the night. It was a nice calming sound. We had a great meal on Saturday night. Sean Harrigan cooked the two turkeys to perfection and the scouts cooked all the sides to perfectly completement the turkeys! It was awesome! I was so exhausted from the campout that I slept until 11:00 this morning! Good thing I didn’t have to work today! 😊

I want to thank all the adult leaders that either came on the campout or helped in some way with the campout this last weekend. Zach Florian, Matt Car, Michele and Michael Clapp, Michelle Henderson, and Abby Withers all came out for the entire weekend. Joey Sullins helped to pull the trailer and came out on Saturday night to enjoy some time with the scouts. Sean Harrigan came out during the day on Saturday to cook the turkeys. Suzie Suchyta helped with the organization of the troop at the church on Friday night and Sunday morning. Of course, Sherry did all of the behind the scenes magic that make the campouts happen! Thank you all so much!

Here are our Troop announcements for the week:

FEBRUARY COURT OF HONOR AND DINNER – February 25 – AT 6:00 p.m. We may not end up getting started until 6:15 due to time constraints but we will see how that goes. We do charge a cost of $8/person for this dinner to cover the costs of food and such. WE NEED HELP!! We need scouts to be there around 5:00 to help with the setting up of tables/chairs in the gym and to help with cooking the food! I will also need to talk with scouts about opening flag ceremony, helping to conduct the program and other things.

ADVANCEMENT – Because of the Court of Honor coming up next week on the 25th, the last chance for any awards, merit badges or rank advancements to be recorded in time for the court of honor is TOMORROW NIGHT, FEBRUARY 18TH. We will be ordering all of the patches, etc, on Wednesday so the last chance to finish up a merit badge and get it recorded or to have a board of review for a rank advancement is tomorrow night! Please plan accordingly. I plan to make things like Board of Reviews a priority tomorrow night!

T21 SWIMMING REQUIREMENTS – This Saturday, February 22nd, we will be meeting with any of the T21 scouts who still need the swimming requirements for 2nd and 1st class at the ALLEGAN AQUATIC CENTER from 1:00 – 3:00. The cost is $5.00 per adult and $4.00 per scout. We will meet at the Allegan Aquatic Center and do the Swim Test plus all of the aquatic rescue requirements. You can pay upon arrival or you can register ahead of time by going to: https://ard.recdesk.com/Community/Program/Detail?programId=6019

 JERKY! – Our annual Jerky sale began on January 28th. Each stick sells for $1.00 and for each one sold, the scout earns 24 cents into their individual scout account. You can make payments for jerky at any time here – https://bit.ly/244Jerky

There are 3 ways you can sell . . .

1. Pick up jerky at any scout meeting, sell it and then return the money to get credit.

2. Take pre-orders using the order form here – https://www.facebook.com/…/permalink/10161092202452135/

Turn in the order form to get your pre-orders filled and then deliver to your customers.

3. If you have family and friends out of the local area who would like to purchase jerky to support your scout’s efforts, they can order through this link – https://www.countrymeats.com/fundraiser/troop-244-mi-49024

You can make payments for jerky at any time here – https://bit.ly/244Jerky

If you are interested in helping with this fundraiser, please see Mr. Townsend.

HIGH ADVENTURE 2026 – I am in the same place as I was last week with this. We have been going back and forth between SwampBase and SeaBase. I have had a few more people show interest in SwampBase since last week. I will make a final decision on this at the court of honor on the 25th. If you don’t want to do either one of those and have another idea for a high adventure, please let your SPL and/or myself or Christy know. Maybe you think we should go backpacking and do a trip to Pictured Rocks or Isle Royale? You must tell us!

CUB SCOUT PACK 235 HELP!! –I am still looking for some of our scouts to step up and be a Den Chief for Cub Scout Pack 235 at Pathfinder. They meet on Mondays at 6:30 for about an hour. This can either earn you leadership requirements or service hours. Please see me or Christy if this is something you can do! Let’s show Pack 235 that they should join Troop 244 when done with cub scouts!

In addition, Pack 235 will be holding their Pinewood Derby on March 22nd. Setup will be Friday night, March 21st and then the actual derby on Saturday, March 22nd. This is the same day as our museum trip but if you don’t think you can go on the museum trip, the Pack is asking for scouts from 244 to help out at the Pinewood Derby! I did this when I was a scout and it was a blast! Please let Christy or I know if this is something you would be willing to do!

March Museum Trip – Now that our February activity is in the past, we need to start thinking ahead to March! Our March activity will be a museum trip to Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids! It will be on March 22nd and will be a day trip. Most likely we will be leaving the church around 9:00 a.m. and returning around 3:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided. SCOUTS MUST WEAR THEIR CLASS A UNIFORM!  More information will be coming out about this activity from Christy Szekely as far as cost, more information on timing, travel info and permission slip! Be on the lookout for that.

BOUNDARY WATERS – Boundary Waters is now full at the current time. I am hoping to hold an informational meeting for those going to Boundary Waters in March or April, at a troop meeting and then I am thinking of doing a “training/shakedown” type of meeting on the April Campout! The April Campout is scheduled for April 25 – 27th at Camp Tamarack. Please plan on going on this campout so that you can be trained in some backcountry skills necessary for the Boundary Waters trip! In the meantime, please continue to make your payments of $200/month.

SUMMER CAMP 2025 – Sign up is happening NOW! Please sign up with SHERRY for Summer Camp 2025!! We will be attending Pioneer Scout Reservation once again the week of June 15 – 21st! The cost for Summer Camp this year is $430 per scout and $215 per adult. This is considered the “early” bird fee. If we don’t have all of the fees for summer camp turned in by the end of April, the fee that Pioneer charges actually goes up. Please start signing your scout up now and paying for summer camp. We would like to have you signed up and the first $150 paid by the troop meeting on February 18th!  Physical must be completed and turned in by May 1st!

PHYSICAL FORMS! – Every Scout and Leader that goes to summer camp, boundary waters or the mini-high adventure MUST have an up-to-date BSA PHYSICAL FORM with all parts of the form filled out, Part A, B1, B2 and C. You must get a new one for this year. No Form, No Trip. WE NEED ALL PHYSICAL FORMS TURNED IN BY MAY 1ST.

Scoutmaster Minute – CLEAN – I could help but to think of this scout law on Sunday this weekend when I got home from the campout and stood in the shower! It is not that I was filthy or anything, but it was so nice to give myself a rinse and just kind of feel clean after the weekend. Of course, I then went and shoveled the driveway, got sweaty again and had to take another shower! It’s all good. I think that when we think of the scout law of Clean, we often think about that word in terms of the opposite of messy. We think about keeping our bodies clean by bathing with shampoo and water. We think of brushing our teeth, clipping our nails, doing our hair, etc. Yes, these are all things that help us to keep clean but they aren’t the only things. Cleanliness also extends to the things around us. Do you keep your room clean at your house? When you are on a campout, do you keep your tent clean and picked up? I know I do but that is because I am a bit OCD and have to have my tent in order before I can start my day. However, being “Clean” doesn’t just apply to the Physical things we see around us like our bodies, our rooms or our tents. It also applies to our minds. Do you constantly swear a lot? Do you think thoughts that are kind of dirty or inappropriate? If so, you are not being Clean. Being Clean means keeping your mind in a state of cleanliness as well. Choosing your words wisely. Having thoughts that are beneficial and helpful to yourself and those around you. I think that this is the part of Clean that is probably the most challenging for all of us. Afterall, it always seems like there is a shower around the corner to get our bodies clean but is there a shower for the mind? It is up to us to expose ourselves to things that keep our minds clean. That has to be a shower for our minds. We have to be careful of the things we look at (i.e. social media) because it is so easy to be corrupted this day and age. Make sure you are making choices that keep your body, soul and mind Clean!

 “What Troop Does More!!” – 244