Boy Scout Troop 259Church of St. Therese

November 2007 Volume 2 Issue 4

By Jim Martin

Eastern Shore CampoutAugust 2007

Our Eastern Shore Campout was a great success! It started off a little crazy when the bus driver was unable to go, but we had more than enough parents who stepped up to drive. The Eastern Shore Campout is always billed as “the vacation after summer camp”. Since the scouts work very hard at summer camp, the Eastern Shore trip has no planned activities and they are even allowed to bring electronics, a rare treat.

Troop 259 had twenty-nine scouts and many adults on the campout. Troop 215, who was also invited, enjoyed the campout on the Eastern Shore as well. They had eight scouts and four adults. The scouts had plenty to do if they wanted to participate. Several scouts earned their Fishing Merit Badge by catching two different types of fish and having to eat one of them. They also had to learn several fishing knots. If your scout says he doesn’t like fish he is not telling the truth. Thanks to Assistant Scoutmaster Ted Miller, all the scouts enjoyed cooking and eating the fish they caught.

Many of the younger scouts took a five-mile hike on Saturday morning which was followed by a round of plant identification provided by Dave Byrd. It seemed as if the scouts were pretty busy for a vacation.

One of the highlights of the trip was a boat ride to a barrier island that all scouts and adults enjoyed.Many thanks go to the chef of the weekend, our Senior Assistant Scoutmaster, Mr. Doug Hankins. He cooked for 22 adults and the Turner family. Mr. Hankins smoked fresh pork butts overnight so the adults could have fresh barbeque for lunch. Yes, he had a home made sauce for the barbeque. Dinner was two smoked turkeys served with mashed potatoes and green beans and the dessert included baked apple pies.

The Turners were especially happy with the fine dining since they were remodeling their kitchen. Their kids, Carolyn, Hank and Amelia, had a great time with all the activity on the normally quiet property.

The Eastern Shore was a true success because all the adults made it possible.

MERIT BADGES EARNEDMerit badges in red are Eagle Required.

Marc A. Model Bldg & Design, Textiles, ElectricityAustin B. First AidJames W. First AidJoseph G. Fire SafetySheldon G. Environmental Science, Electornics, ElectricityTom K. Environmental ScienceNate B. OceanographyMathew P. Environmental ScienceJoseph Z. Camping, Motor Boating, Sculpture, Model

Bldg & Design, Metal WorkWilliam G. SwimmingMitchell H. First Aid, Model Bldg. &Design, Art, Metal

Work, Sculpture, LeatherworkJoe G. Cycling, Environmental Science, Music,

Model Bldg. & Design, Electronics, Sculp-ture, Metal Work

RANK ADVANCEMENTSScout Blair C., Chad G.Tenderfoot John B., Ben W., Adam C., Jack C., Tyler P. Second Class Sheldon G., Mark J., Jacob W., First Class Thomas K.Star Chad O., Mathew P., Nate B.Life Colin R., Thomas W., Mark J.Eagle: Daniel Gaylord, Daniel Gerrek,

Ernest Knight, Joshua Iiams

By Scoutmaster Dave GerrekSLEEPY HOLE PARK DEDICATION

On September 15, 2007 the Mayor of Suffolk, invited Josh Iiams, Daniel Gerrek, and Richard Fie-brandt to participate in the opening ceremonies for the dedication of the new professional Horse Shoe Park at Sleep Hole. Josh, Daniel and Richard's Eagle Scout service projects were instrumental in the construc-tion of the park. Josh's project was constructing 24 back drops while Richard and Daniel build the fence around the park. Eagle Scout projects are meant to provide leadership skills to the scouts and service to the community. Troop 259 and Sleepy Hole Park has had a long relationship. Eagle Scouts from our troop have completed 6 Eagle Scout Projects at Sleepy Hole. In return, the park allows our troop un-limited camping access. Great job Josh, Daniel, Richard!

Cookbook Fundraiser forTroop Boy Scout Troop 207

The folks in Troop 207 Kempsville, Virginia Beach have put together a fabulous cookbook that has close to 300 recipes; 50 of them are for campfire cooking. The books are $12 each and would make a great last minute gift idea for those that love to cook—in and out of the kitchen. This was a labor of love on their part and hopes to be a great money-maker for them.

If you are interested in obtaining a last min-ute gift item, orders will be taken and sent to Troop 207 by November 20th with delivery on December 1st.

Hand-me-downs?

Has your scout out-grown any of their uniforms? Did he wake up and grow 6” and claimed you shrunk his clothes?

If that describes your household, con-sider donating your old scout uniform pants, shorts and shirts to the Troop. All sizes are welcome and for those scouts that can use them, they in turn can donate the uniforms that they have outgrown to share with someone else.

Boys—pass it forward!!

Welcome to Troop 259 !

Since Summer Camp, we have had sev-eral new boys join our troop since our last court of honor, they are:

William G. and Nicolas L.,

We would also like to extend a warm welcome to our newest ASM and Commit-tee Members, Warren G., and his wife Tamra, who along with William join us from the Grand Canyon Council in Arizona.

Nicolas L. decided to come back to Scouting after taking some time off. We are glad to have Nicolas join us from Pack 212!

Troop 259 welcomes both Scouts and we’ll make sure that both Nick and William have a terrific time!

Catholic Retreatoree—September 2007The weekend of September 9-11, Troop 259 with 16 scouts and 5 adults as well as other Boy and Girl

Scouts from Tidewater Council participated in the annual Catholic Retreatoree at Pipsico Scout Reservation. Friday night's activities included ice breaker events, a prayer service and cracker barrel. The scouts were di-vided into like age groups for team building events during the morning. In the afternoon, the scouts played in volleyball tournaments, black powder shooting, archery, repelling, and swimming (both Dan Gerrek and Zach Abbate were live guards at the pool). The highlight of the weekend was the dance on Saturday Night. As al-ways, Troop 259 was the life of the party. The Retreatoree concluded on Sunday Morning with a prayer walk. We did have one unique event occur....a raccoon came through the campsite very early Saturday morning and open a bag of Starbuck's Coffee. This must have been a sophisticated and intelligent raccoon because he bypassed Mr Hankin's coffee and went straight for the Starbucks. Many thanks to Mr. Miller, Mr. Greiling,

Mr. Barbish, Mr. Qualls and Mrs. Gerrek for attending and providing adult leadership.

Basket FundraiserLooking to be

Another Success!

Troop 259 has outdone them-selves again! Many thanks to Cheryl Greiling who helped with

coordination of the fundraiser this year.

With many Baskets displayed in the Social Hall of St. Therese as well as under the tent outside, the congregation was able to participate in our fund-raiser on the weekends of Nov. 4/5 and 11/12. This is a major fundraiser for our transportation fund which aids in the maintenance of the bus, fuel, reg-istrations, etc.

The troop would also like to thank the boys them-selves and their families and friends who donated as well as the businesses that provided items. We would like to thank the members and friends of St. Therese for their participation.

Our troop bus is the beneficiary of most of the funds that are raised and since it is over 20 years old, the cost of maintenance and fuel has risen dra-matically over the years. So from all of us, a very

heartfelt THANK YOU!

Scoutmaster, George Ball

MERIT BADGE UNIVERSITYThe Merit Badge University will be held on December 1, 2007, and February 2, 2008 at

Kempsville Presbyterian Church, 805 Kempsville Road, Virginia Beach, Va. The schedule for both days is below:

8:00 AM Opening8:15 AM – 11:45 AM Morning MB Session11:45 AM – 12:30 Lunch (Bring Your Own)12:30 PM – 4:00 PM Afternoon MB Session

4:00 PM Closing

Scouts will be able to work on 2 Merit Badges, one in the morning and one in the afternoon session. The Scouts may be able to complete some of the requirements prior to the start of the class. For example, the 90-day budget required for the Per-sonal Management MB could be started prior to the start of the first class session. Participation during sessions, plus home-work and activities, are required to complete the merit badges. At the first day class session the Scouts will meet with their counselor, review the merit badge requirements, and the counselor will inform them of the requirements that need to be com-pleted prior to the start of the 2nd session. The MB counselor may schedule a field trip between the 1st and 2nd sessions. The scouts arrive at the 2nd session, review and go over their homework with their counselor, and try to finish any remaining re-quirements. Scouts that do not complete the requirements will get a partial MB. Some Merit Badges may be completed at one session or in one day. It is possible to complete 2 Merit badges at each session.

Scoutmaster UpdateThe Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters had a meeting on Monday evening, October 29th. The fol-

lowing is a brief synopsis of what took place.

It was agreed that the Patrol Leader Council (PLC) meetings will be moved from the second Thursday of each month to the Sunday following the 2nd Wednesday at 2:00 pm. However, if the scheduling of this meeting conflicts with a camping weekend it may be moved. In addition to the Patrol Leadership, all staff positions at the troop level are required to attend as well. Once the PLC has finished its meeting it will be followed by a brief scoutmaster meeting. The next PLC meeting is scheduled for December 2nd at 2:00 pm at the Church. At that meeting, Jim Martin will conduct an abbreviated Junior Leadership Program.

The following Assistant Scoutmasters will act as guidance for the patrols going forward:Mark Goldman Jolly Roger PatrolDana Reynolds Knight Patrol Michael Qualls Bulldog PatrolTed Miller Desert Storm Patrol Warren Goodman Cyclone Patrol Ed Chartier Stealth Patrol

The Adult roll is intended to assist the Patrol Leadership in keeping their patrol corners on track. They will also help the patrols develop quality skill instruction segments. If they are not available on a particular week, they will let the Scoutmasters know so that a substitute can be arranged. Material for skill instructions can be found in the Troop Program Resources, of which a copy should be in the Troop cabinet.

Parents, committee members and other adults are asked to carry on their conversations outside of the social hall going forward. We can use one of the rooms in the rear of the church for this purpose or in the hall out by the photo board. This is to keep the noise down so that skill instructions can be heard by the boys.

We are looking for someone to step up and volunteer as Advancement Chair. Barbara Iiams is stepping down after a long tenure and would like the chance to show someone the ropes. Nominations are also wel-come.

The troop will be attending Camp Powhatan for summer camp next year, June 29 through July 5, 2008. Mark your calendars!

MERRIMAC MERIT BADGE DAY

The Merit Badge Day will be held on January 12, 2008 at Portsmouth Catholic Elementary School located at 23701 Oregon Avenue, Portsmouth, VA 23701

SCHEDULE8:00 AM Opening

8:15 AM – 11:55 AM Morning MB Session11:55 AM – 12:30 Lunch (Bring Your Own)12:30 PM – 4:30 PM Afternoon MB Session

Scouts will be able to work on 2 Merit Badges, one in the morning and one in the afternoon session. The Scouts may be able to complete some of the requirements prior to the start of the class. For example, the 90-day budget required for the Per-sonal Management Merit Badge could be started prior to the start of the first class session. Participation during sessions, plus homework and activities, are required to complete the merit badges. The Merit Badge counselor may schedule a field trip be-fore or after the session. Scouts that do not complete the re-quirements will get a partial Merit Badge. Some Merit Badges may be completed at one session or in one day.

All scouts are required to sell $50 worth of popcorn to help with their re-chartering fees. Although there hasn’t been much hoopla this year (and we got a late start), but this is one of the few fundrais-ers that helps the troop by getting discounts from the scout store on all our supplies, badges and other items that make all our courts of honor special for each and every one of our scouts. An estimated cost for re-chartering and supplies is upward of a few thousand dollars over the course of a year. PLEASE DO YOUR SHARE! All orders are due no later than November 21st and buyouts are due no later than November 29. Anything after that will have a $15.00 late fee added on. Prizes will again be awarded to the top selling Scouts.

Holiday

Party

Usually every year, the Troop 259 has a Holiday Exchange Party. This year is no exception. The troop will hold its Holiday Party on December 20th, during the regular troop meeting.

All boys who have musical instruments are encouraged to bring them and have a holiday jam session and are asked to bring a wrapped gift of no more than $10.00 to exchange with the other boys. The motto

is: You bring a gift, you get a gift.

Last year, the boys seemed to have a great time. The following week during Winter break, the troop has no meeting and will re-sume its regular meeting schedule on January 3rd.

Holiday cards

Last year, Troop 259 undertook sending cards to our recover ing troops who spent their holidays in the hospital. The troop is once again looking to send those soldiers Holiday Greetings.

If anyone has any boxed holi-day cards that they would like to donate, we would love to have them.

Last year we sent over 50 cards and would like to have at least that many again.

Please have your Scout bring a box to a meeting between now and December 13th so we can sign them and address them.

As always, thanks for your continued efforts and your on going generosity.

A small contingent of boys from Troop 259 enjoyed an overnight back-packing trip to Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah Park during the first week-end in November. The weather was great, and the rock scramble was alot of fun. The only drawback was that it was rather crowded. There was one point where we had a wait of about 40 minutes to go up one of the more challeng-ing sections.

Those of you who have not had the opportunity to climb this mountain are missing out on a wonderful time. Lots of climbing up, over, around and through a number of crevices to get to the top. We finally reached the summit in late after-noon which gave us limited time to enjoy the view before we had to find a camp-site. The first choice was out because the spring was empty due to the dry weather we have been having. We did finally find a nice flat spot, not far from a stream that met our needs nicely.

A couple of the boys learned that "just add water" does not mean that it is good backpacking food. The stew mix was not a great success. We are learning however that pack weight is important. Only one scout brought the kitchen sink this time. I want to thank Warren Goodman and Dave Byrd for assisting on the trip. Also, thanks to our newest ASM Josh I.

Troop 259 Celebrates 400th

Anniversary of Jamestown Sixteen scouts and seven dads took part in a campout Oct 12-14 at Chippokes Park that included a bike/hike trip over the James River to the Jamestown Set-tlement. Friday night the troop pitched camp in the dark at the group campsite and the weather was absolutely perfect, cooling down just enough to enjoy a

campfire before lights out.

Saturday provided a crystal clear sky and as the troop separated into bikers and hikers to make the trip from the campsite to the James River Ferry. The bike group led by Mark Goldman, and assisted by Scott Greilling and Chuck Gillium got off to a rough start. An early crash and com-plete tire blow out in the first 10 minutes, put the group a little behind schedule but did not reduce any enthusiasm. The hikers led by Dave Byrd and Bill Leber, walked the 5 miles to the ferry, with some late help from Ethan Wright who provided terrific ‘chase vehicle’ support to both groups.

The biking group arrived in time for the next ferry after a 16.5-mile ride through Surry County. Both groups then came together to meet up with George Ball, who organized a waiting hot lunch for all in the Jamestown Settle-ment picnic area.

Following lunch, the entire group took part in a 2.5 hour guided tour of the Jamestown Settlement, which included a detailed review of Indian life at the time of English settlers arrival in 1607. The group then went below deck of the ship ‘Susan Constant’ where they got a taste of what the journey to America was like for the original settlers.

After walking through the Jamestown Village, the group was given a demonstration of a 1600’s musket firing, where the scouts challenged the marksmen to see how fast he could reload (it took 22 seconds, or the time it would take to have one of the native Indians fire 4 arrows at him!).

Following the tour, everyone was together for the ferry ride back where many scouts got to provide some close up feeding of a group of following seagulls.

Back in camp, after a total of 21 miles biked, dinner was quickly organized and it was an early lights out following a very full day.

Sunday morning provided enough time for a walk to the James River Beach for both a prayer service and an investigation of nature and fossils in the region – with expert commentary provided by Mr. Byrd! Before departing, the troop got to see a movie in the Chippokes nature center about how the initial settlers explored the entire Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay basin.

The combination of perfect weather, activities and the review of history and nature made for an experience to be long remembered by all.

Claustrophobic?

A SCOUTMASTER MINUTESome of the greatest things ever accomplished are things that have never been done before. Scientists,

inventors, explorers and businessmen have all made our lives better because they weren’t afraid to try something new. Edgar Guest (1881-1959, poet and writer) wrote a poem where he challenges us not to fol-low the beaten path, but to have courage and do something that hasn’t been done before.

THINGS THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE

Things that haven’t been done before,Those are the things to try;

Columbus dreamed of an unknown shoreAt the rim of the far-flung sky,

And his heart was bold and his faith was strongAs he ventured in dangers new,

And he paid no heed to the jeering throngOr the fears of the doubting crew.

The many will follow the beaten trackWith guideposts on the way.

They live and have lived for ages backWith a chart for every day.

Someone has told them it’s safe to goOn the road he has travelled o’er,

And all that they ever strive to knowAre the things that were known before.

A few strike out, without map or chart,Where never a man has been,

From the beaten paths they draw apartTo see what no man has seen.

There are deeds they hunger alone to do;Though battered and bruised and sore,

They blaze the path for many, whoDo nothing not done before.

The things that haven’t been done beforeAre the tasks worthwhile today;

Are you one of the flock that follows; orAre you one that shall lead the way?

Are you one of the timid souls that quailAt the jeers of a doubting crew,

Or dare you, whether you win or fail,Strike out for a goal that’s new?

UPDATE ON Troop 259’s WebsiteOur troop website continues to enjoy numerous hits. A new feature for the sec-

ond-generation version of our web presence is a FUNDRAISING page. A new link, which will take you a page dedicated to our current fundraising efforts, has been added to the main menu. The fundraising page currently contains many details

about the popcorn sale that is almost completed. Information on our Angel Car Visor Clip is also available. Stay tuned to the website for the latest information on upcoming outings. Leaders, please remember to send permission slips and outing details to admin@bsa-troop259.org for timely posting.

LOOK WHAT’S HAPPENING FOR 2008AN EXCITING TIME FOR EVERYONE!

December ’07 1 Merit Badge University—Kempsville 2 PLC Meeting5 Hanukkah7-9 Cooking & Camping Merit Badge20 Holiday Party & Gift Exchange25 Christmas Day27 No Meeting

January ‘ 08 1 Happy New Year! 12 Merrimac Council Merit Badge Day—Portsmouth Catholic12 Lock-in @ Air & Space Museum18-20 US Naval Academy Jamboree—First Class Scouts & 14 years

old only25-27 Timberline Ski Weekend—West Virginia31 Feed the Homeless @ St. Therese

February 2 Merit Badge University—Kempsville 8-9 Nuclear Science Merit Badge 15-17 Camping @ Johnson Farm—Back to Basics23 University of Scouting (Adult Training)

March 15-16 Wilderness Survival @ Beaver Dam, Gloucester23 Happy Easter!

April 4-6 Dismal Swamp Canoe Trip18-20 Council Spring Event20 Passover26 Spaghetti Dinner (To be Confirmed)

May 1 SPL & ASPL Elections10 Leadership Training16-18 Father/Son Canoe Trip

June 7 Clean the Bay Day15-21 NYLT Pathfinder (Nat’l Youth Leadership Training)20-22 Camping Trip to Cape Hatteras, NC

June—July 6/28—7/5 Summer Camp @ Camp Powhatan, VA

August 3 Annual Planning Session

**All outings are subject to change**