2024-11-17 This Week: Troop Meeting, BINGO, Elections, Membership Update, Scuba, Philmont, One Month Look-ahead

roop 131,

Thank you to the over 40 scouts and adults who came out this weekend, for the Naval Academy trip.  While Navy “struggled” a bit at the game, the tour of the Naval Academy was amazing, we were able to meet three great Midshipmen, and the Elks club proved to be very gracious hosts. Providing the motto that there is no such thing as bad weather – just the wrong gear, we experienced quite an extreme of weather from the near 60’s in the sun during the game to the mid 30’s at night while sleeping.

I neglected to take a photo of the camp site, however, props to all you scouts for cramming so many tents in such a small area!

See a few photos below snapped by our intrepid adults!

TROOP MEETING

We will have a Troop meeting at 7:30PM this Monday at Immanuel Church on the Hill!  As always, your leadership team will have a good meeting plan for you all.

Since we will have at least four Boards of Review going on, let’s also try and focus on advancement this week.

If you have any troop gear, please make sure you bring it back clean and dry as we want to do an assessment of the troop gear and see if we can find some good black Friday sales to supplement what we have!

Please note, this is the only meeting we will have before the Elections as we are off next week for Thanksgiving, see below!

BINGO at the CHURCH

All, see message below from Caroline Bergmark whose Son Corey Wargo Bergmark was part of the troop when he was younger.  Her partner Francine Wargo is our organization sponsor representative.  The church has invited us to Bingo, please attend if you can and don’t forget to RSVP!

Immanuel is hosting a BINGO and is inviting anyone from the Scout family group to join!

(We are asking for RSVPs – just so we know how much pizza to order.)

BINGO. Nov 24. 5:30 – 8:30. Parish Hall. 

Join Immanuel for Fellowship, Gratitude, and Celebration!

Immanuel is providing Pizza & Salads & water & lemonade.

Please bring your own tasty beverages and dessert. 

BINGO begins at 6:15 pm. 

Please RSVP to Kathryn by Nov 22 with the number of people in your family coming so we know how much pizza to order. 

kathryn.jackson41@gmail.com

Thanks!

Caroline

ELECTIONS

Monday, December 2^nd – Troop Meeting– 7:30 PM

• If you intend to run for SPL, then please let me know.
• For those of you that want to run for Patrol Leader, I would start talking to your patrol mates and let them know.
• There are plenty of other leadership positions available as well, see list below of the roles that we commonly fill.  For the older scouts, I would like to see at least three (2) Troop Guides this round as well, so please consider that position. The younger patrol will benefit from your experience and wisdom!

o   The patrols elect the Patrol Leader. The Patrol Leader appoints the Assistant Patrol Leader.

o   The troop elects the Sr. Patrol Leader.  The Sr. Patrol Leader appoints the Assistant Sr. Patrol Leader(s) and the other leadership positions:

• Assistant Sr. Patrol Leader:
• Quartermaster: 
• Historian: 
• Librarian: 
• Bugler:
• Scribe: 
• Troop Guides: 
• Chaplain’s Aide:
• Order of the Arrow Rep:

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

See note below from our Committee Chair, Mrs. Devlin.  Scouts BSA (National) has a new system for re-chartering this year.  Instead of the troop collecting your fees and paying collectively, each family is asked to pay directly.  The only caveat is that the troop will still collect our dues directly.  See note below and thanks for your patience as we get used to the new system.

Good evening scouts, parents, ASMs, committee members and T131 fans,

……

Cutting to the chase here, it’s almost time for fees/dues/recharter. 

Adults

BSA Adult Volunteer Annual Fee = $65 paid direct to BSA 

Scouts 

BSA Youth Annual Fee = $180 (up $5 from last year):

• $85 National BSA fee
• $80 Participation fee for NCAC (National Capital Area Council)
• $15 for Scouts Life magazine (optional)
• Paid directly from parents to BSA, they’ll reach out to you via email in the next month or sowhen your son’s registration is expiring (most T131 scouts expire 31DEC2024)

Troop 131 Scout Dues = $25

• Goes toward camping gear, scout food, rank patches and merit badges 
• Troop 131 dues are only for scouts—no dues for adults
• Paid via Zelle/cash/check to Mr. Baldwin by Nov. 15
• Scouts can pay some or all of this with the funds in their scout accounts on file with the troop—see attached doc from Mr. Baldwin for your scout’s balance

Note: We never want the ability to pay dues to stand in the way of the Scouting experience.  If you would like a scholarship, please contact me or any adult leader directly and we’ll take care of it!

This is a big shift for us as a Troop—we used to collect all Troop money and submit a check directly. We’re taking notes on the new system, and BSA is eager to improve the process however they can.

Last important piece of info from the committee meeting is the adult camping fees–starting in 2025, we will waive adult camping fees for those volunteers who are supporting our activities! (If there are extra per-person fees for events like climbing or rafting, it will be announced.) Thank you to all who continue to support our boys’ outdoor experiences.

Please reach out with questions.

Anastasia Devlin

Chair, Troop 131

786.457.3043

SCUBA CERTIFICATION & MERIT BADGE SIGN-UP/INTEREST FORM

See link below for this amazing scuba program that Mr. Saulki has set up.  There are three parts starting with Discover Scuba in December, then the Confined Water Course in May and the Final Scuba Campout and Open Water Course in June.

You do not have to commit to all three activities at this time, however, they build on each other, for instance you cannot do the Open Water Course if you have not completed the previous two activities. You must compete all there to get the Merit Badge and Certifications.  Some scouts completed the Discover Scuba Course last year, so they can skip this first part if they want and move right to the confined water course.

I would encourage all of you to take the Discover Scuba course.  If you love it, then sign up for the other two courses.  If not, then no problem.

Please use this form to sign up (commitment) for the Discover Scuba but indicate interest only for the Confined Water and Open Water Course.  We will have separate sign-up sheets for those two and following the Discover Scuba Course.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbxA9oTZsJbSlW31xic50bwQt3wkxm7M7S5YebMvWIj2ODnQ/viewform

PHILMONT SCOUT RANCH-2026

I know it seems crazy to be thinking about the Summer of 2026, but such is the requirement for High Adventure Camps

Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Farmer, the “lottery” (where we request certain dates) for Philmont Scout Ranch opened earlier this month and I am pleased to announce that we were able to reserve a spot for two crews for a 7-day trek for August 1^st -8^th 2026!

See link below for additional information and sign up/interest sheet.  Please note that an initial $150 deposit will be due in late November of this year.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdN4gfaMCcMhY5pKC53yJj7iaj_xf1rbGmptw73twFLusIKgw/viewform

SCHEDULE: One Month(ish) Look Ahead

Monday, November 18^th – Troop Meeting (BoR)- 7:30 PM – Immanuel Church on the Hill

Monday, November 25^th – No Troop Meeting- Thanksgiving

Monday, December 2^nd – Troop Meeting – 7:30 PM – Immanuel Church on the Hill (TROOP ELECTIONS)

Saturday, December 7^th – Discover Scuba – Chinquapin pool

Monday, December 9^th – Troop Meeting (PLC)- 7:30 PM – Immanuel Church on the Hill

Monday, December 16^th – Troop Meeting (BoR)- 7:30 PM – Immanuel Church on the Hill

Monday, December 23^rd – No Troop Meeting

Monday, December 30^th – No Troop Meeting