Troop 132

Good work on the face shield project. This has been a great Troop effort to produce over 1000 face shields. I know this is not easy and it takes time. Keep in mind the many people who would be using them and the good turn you are doing. Well done and thanks to Lincoln for putting us together with this project.
Games have started and its been fun to see the high spirits. I think we are all a bit rusty on our baseball and frisbee skills so it was good to be outdoors.

We will be meeting earlier as the summer moves on and stay tuned to the announcements for specific dates and times, which start this coming Tuesday.

The good work of scouting in our community continues and there are many service projects either underway now, or starting soon. Lucas and Henry are cleaning up the bike paths, Kevin will need some help with the library project, Lucas will need help with picnic tables, and Simon will need help with Kestral Boxes. The Scout House might need some scout attention like leaf raking and such and we will keep you posted on what we can do and when.

The Philmont crew hikes continue and this is a good opportunity to get in shape.

You might be tired of me saying this but I’m really proud of our scouts and scouting program. The scouts are making a difference and putting the Scout Oath and Law into practice every day. When in doubt on any decision or day-day activity, think about how that fits into the Scout Law and you will always come out ahead.

Exciting news. We had our first meeting in person since March and we will continue through the summer. We will again meet at Emerson Field from 7 pm to 8:15 pm. Everyone was wearing masks and social distancing as we broke into smaller groups. We plan and will follow all state and town guidelines.

Thanks to many who signed up to make face shields. Good job – helping others at all times!
Our next PLC meeting is scheduled for 6 pm on Monday, July 27 and this meeting will focus on planing the remaining summer programs which might include some other meeting locations to perhaps hike or bike. Stay tuned.

Reminder, if you want to earn a merit badge, sign up online or send what you would like to do to me. Then request a blue card from Mr. Sprague. Complete the work, fill it out the card, and drop it in my scout box for unit leader signature (that’s me). I’ll complete it and do you the favor of getting it to Mr. O’Neil as Advancement Chair.

BLUE CARD Update
 
Here is our updated policy on Blue cards effective July 1, 2020. This update will make it easier for our Troop to support your efforts.

1. Find and interesting merit badge you want to pursue – sign up online and sign up as soon as it becomes available. Or just ask me for a merit badge counselor.
2. Next ask for the unit leader, aka Scoutmaster, aka me, [email protected] for a blue card. I will need to know who the merit badge counselor is and if you don’t know it, just let me know and I’ll put virtual, on-line etc.
3. Pick up your blue card from my scout box (grey square, milk box, on my front steps at 115 Upland Road – bike, walk, hike or ask for a ride to pick it up. A scout is physically strong!
4. Fill out your name, address, merit badge, and counselor’s name, address, city, state, zip, tel number or indicate on-line (dates).
5. Learn and earn your merit badge.
6. When done, the council or your counselor will complete your virtual on line blue card (in Scoutbook) and this will be sent electronically. Next, if it is online, enter the date completed.
7. Send me an email and drop the blue card in my scout/Milk box. I most likely will ask you about your merit badge and then send it to our Advancement Chair, Mr. O’Neil on your behalf.

Take a look at this nifty online version and just adjust to having to ask via email and picking it up instead of meetings.
This will help support you as you learn about all those interesting merit badges.

The new leaders are now in place and well done with the transition. Last week we had a good meeting learning about Beekeeping from a former scout leader and neighbor of Grady Flinn. Thanks to Grady for putting this together. If you are interested in learning more, check out the Gardening merit badge. If there is interest let me know and start a blue card.

Next week we will have another virtual meeting to set up the patrols. Going into July and August we will start meeting in smaller groups outside and we have some planning to do and will have a plan by next week. We expect to do this and meet all state and best practices including social distancing and masks.  The PLC Monday meeting will discuss our next set of meetings. This also means parents will need to drop and pick up as we will not be able to carpool. We have some ideas such as hikes, games, cleaning up trails, gardening (community plot), and etc., but the PLC needs to put the time into effective planning.

BLUE CARD Update
 
Here is our updated policy on Blue cards effective July 1, 2020. This update will make it easier for our Troop to support your efforts.

1. Find and interesting merit badge you want to pursue – sign up online and sign up as soon as it becomes available. Or just ask me for a merit badge counselor.
2. Next ask for the unit leader, aka Scoutmaster, aka me, [email protected] for a blue card. I will need to know who the merit badge counselor is and if you don’t know it, just let me know and I’ll put virtual, on-line etc.
3. Pick up your blue card from my scout box (grey square, milk box, on my front steps at 115 Upland Road – bike, walk, hike or ask for a ride to pick it up. A scout is physically strong!
4. Fill out your name, address, merit badge, and counselor’s name, address, city, state, zip, tel number or indicate on-line (dates).
5. Learn and earn your merit badge.
6. When done, the council or your counselor will complete your virtual on line blue card (in Scoutbook) and this will be sent electronically. Next, if it is online, enter the date completed.
7. Send me an email and drop the blue card in my scout/Milk box. I most likely will ask you about your merit badge and then send it to our Advancement Chair, Mr. O’Neil on your behalf.

Take a look at this nifty online version and just adjust to having to ask via email and picking it up instead of meetings.
This will help support you as you learn about all those interesting merit badges.