Dues
Initial dues are $20. The Pack (all of St. Albert's Cub Scout group, grades 1-5) keeps none of this. This money goes to the Lincoln Heritage Council (all of the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in Central/Western KY, Southern IN & IL and part of TN) for things like insurance, your Boys Life magazine subscription, handbooks, etc. Pack dues are an additional $35 this year, payable in November - but if you sell enough popcorn (our Fall fundraiser), the pack will waive a portion its dues (more on this at a later date). It's new this year that the handbooks are included in dues, so if you haven't already purchased a Tiger Handbook, you won't need to.
Meetings
The Pack will hold one monthly meeting - usually the second Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM in Visitation Hall (the cafeteria). This time and place could change from month to month (it is different this month, for example), but we try to make sure everyone stays informed of all upcoming events via e-mail and the Pack website: http://pack327.blogspot.com/. Our Den (the Tiger Scouts in 1st grade) will hold one den meeting per month and one Go See It (like a field trip) per month. We also have a website: http://pack327tigers.blogspot.com/ and my primary form of communication will be via e-mail. If you want to give me additional e-mail addresses (work, home, spouse, etc.), please do so.
Our first Pack meeting will be Wednesday, September 19th, at 6:30 PM in Warwick Park. Our fist Den Meeting will be Monday, September 24th, at 7:00 PM in the basement of Hendricks Hall (the kindergarten building). Our first Go See It is still being planned, but will likely be on Saturday,
Each Tiger Cub has 15 specific achievements to complete during the year to earn their Tiger Cub badge. 5 are completed at the monthly den meetings, 5 are completed as part of the monthly Go See Its, and the other 5 are completed at home. Each parent and boy will partner together to plan and facilitate one of our monthly den meetings or Go See Its. Andrew and I will plan the first meeting on the 24th, but I'll have a sign-up sheet at the first meeting for each of you to sign up for one of the remaining den meetings or Go See Its. Don't worry, it's not nearly as hard as you may think, and I'll explain more about this at our first meeting. You'll all get plenty of help and guidance!
And if you happen to miss a den meeting or Go See It with the rest of the den, all of the achievements can be easily made up on your own. We didn't have a single boy fail to get his Tiger Badge last year because of missed meetings.
Uniforms
We are a "belt-up" Pack. That means you do not have to buy the socks or shorts/pants that they will try to sell you at the Scout Store, and the cap is optional (very few of the boys actually wear the caps). Here is what you will need: shirt (buy it big - they can wear the same one for three years), belt w/ Tiger buckle (my boys actually wear their Cub Scout belt to school every day - it's a good quality belt), orange Tiger neckerchief and Tiger neckerchief slide (this is an important part of the uniform and should be worn), patches (Council shoulder patch, red 3-2-7 unit numbers, and purple World Crest). When you go to the Scout Store, just tell them you have a new Tiger with Pack 327, and they'll help you find everything that you need. The Scout Store also sells something called "Badge Magic" which is an easy (but probably temporary) alternative to actually having to sew each of the patches on the shirt.
Any day that we have a Pack meeting or Den meeting, your son may wear his uniform to school. When they wear their uniform to school (St. Albert), they must wear their school shorts or pants with it. (My boys have the short-sleeve uniform shirt, so if it's cold, they will usually wear a plain long-sleeve T-shirt underneath.) If they are wearing their uniform outside of school, they may wear it with jeans, if they choose.
I know this is a lot of information to digest, so please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments or concerns. I look forward to seeing you all at our first Pack meeting on the 19th!
Thanks,
Mark Hiland
Den Leader
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