This is our big fundraiser to raise funds for our activities and for this year in particular to help offset the cost of our 2008 high adventure trip to Colorado. All scouts will be given an initial 20 tickets to sell for the breakfast. Some of the tickets were given out as swim night; the others will be passed out at the November 29 troop meeting. We will mail out the tickets to any scouts still needing them after the meeting.

Scouts who will be attending the high adventure 2008 trip must sell at least 20 tickets (or have their family buy the tickets or the unsold portion). The sale of the 20 tickets plus any other ticket sales above the original 20 will result in a dollar for dollar reduction in the cost of the high adventure trip!

Scouts can get as many tickets to sell as they want. See Dave Kirchner if you need more tickets. There will be ticket sale prizes for all scouts, regardless if they go on the high adventure trip or not! There will be some great prizes (think of something sharp and personally engraved) for scouts who sell the most, second and third amount of tickets. For all the other scouts who sold any tickets at all, there will be a drawing of 3 additional great prizes!

Logistics

We will need full troop participation to be successful. Venture scouts need to be at the parish center at 6:00 AM on January 13. Venture scouts should wear a Troop 4 t-shirt. The Ventures will be cooking, doing the hall setup work, and some preliminary cleanup work. We are asking the Ventures to work from 6:00 AM until about 1:00 PM. All other scouts need to be at the parish center at 8:00 AM with full uniforms (no troop t-shirts). These scouts will be waiting on tables and working with the public with games, displays, etc. Plan to work until about 2:00 PM. If a scout can only do part of the hours, that’s great – we need all the help we can get to make the breakfast a success. For all who have never participated in the pancake breakfast before – it’s a great experience and lots of fun!

This special Court of Honor will honor our newest Eagle Scouts: Alex Morte and Brian Zanella. Awards earned by all other scouts since the last Court of Honor in February will also be presented. There will be a dinner before the awards ceremony. The troop committee is still planning the details and will communicate more information to families shortly.

Location: St. Mary’s Parish Center

Biking, hiking, swimming, and a final backpacking training opportunity for our Colorado alpine adventure team… this trip will have it all! The trip is scheduled for Saturday June 21 thru Monday June 23. We will be camping at Savoy Mountain State Forest, located in Berkshires on a 2000’ plateau. The park offers hiking to mountain lakes and waterfalls, and also biking, fishing and swimming opportunities. There is also nearby access to a “rail trail” for extended scenic bike rides which can be tied into the cycling merit badge.

The troop will meet at the parish center at 8:30 AM Saturday and leave for the campsite by about 9 AM. We will return to the parish center for pickup by 4pm on Monday.

Scouts need to bring a bag lunch for Saturday. The troop will be cooking patrol style for dinners and breakfasts, and Sunday lunch. Scouts should also bring some money for a fast food or diner lunch on Monday’s return. Each patrol will give grocery assignments to their members at the May 29th troop meeting.

If your son will be attending, please drop off the permission slip no later than the May 29 Troop Meeting. Please email or call Phil Bedard before May 29 if your son will be attending but won’t be at the May 29 Troop Meeting. The troop needs to know who is attending for planning purposes. There is a nominal fee of $8/scout to help with the cost of the state park campsites. Please staple or clip the payment to your permission slip. If paying by check (preferred), please make payable to Troop 4.

The May Mountain-Climbing Campout:will be held Saturday/Sunday, May 3-4 at Mount Monadnock State Park in Jaffrey NH. The troop will camp at a secluded group campsite, and then hike to the 3150 foot summit. The weather atop Mt. Monadnock is often cold and windy, so scouts should pack warm clothes, hat and gloves for the ascent.

The troop will meet at the parish center at 8:30 AM Saturday and leave for the campsite by about 9 AM. We will return to the parish center for pickup by 3pm on Sunday.

Scouts need to bring a bag lunch for Saturday. The troop will be cooking patrol style for dinner and breakfast. Scouts should also bring some money for a fast food or diner lunch on Sunday. Each patrol will give grocery assignments to their members at the April 17th troop meeting.

If your son will be attending, please drop off the attached permission slip no later than the April 17 Troop Meeting. Please email or call Phil Bedard before April 17 if your son will be attending but won’t be at the April 17 Troop Meeting. The troop needs to know who is attending for planning purposes. There is a nominal fee of $5/scout to help with cost of the state park campsite. Please bring the payment along with your permission slip, and make checks payable to Troop 4.

The Memorial Day Parade will be held Monday, May 26. This is the only parade that the troop attends each year. Scouts should meet in the Stop and Shop parking lot near the 99 Restaurant at 9:30 AM in full uniform. Scouts may be picked up at Draper Park at noon.

Final summer camp payments due

Payments due for Camp Resolute ($290 plus $230 per additional sibling) and Camp Tahosa (2nd payment of $250). New scouts attending Camp Resolute have until May 29 to turn in their payment.

The Troop Day Hike will be Saturday, March 29 at the Douglas State Forest. We will meet at the parish center at 9:00 AM and leave about 9:30 AM for the park. We will return for pick up at the parish center by 5:00 PM that evening. Scouts need to bring: a bag lunch, poncho or rain coat if it looks like rain that day, wear boots, bring a hat and gloves/mittens. A spare pair of socks is a must to bring. If the weather is cold, bring a warm coat as well. Scouts should bring at least one quart/liter of water (no soda, juice, punch, etc.). Do not bring water in disposable water bottles – get a canteen or hiking water bottle at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. for about $10. Scouts need to bring a day pack (school pack will work fine) to carry all their gear for the day.

Douglas State Forest is a great place to hike and explore – we will divide the scouts into age/ability groups and cover distances that are comfortable for each group. At the end of the hike we will have some of Troop 4’s famous fried dough!

If you son will be attending the hike, please complete the attached permission slip and return to the March 20 (swim night) meeting. If you son would like to attend but won’t be at the swim night on the 20th, please call or email Phil Bedard at 508-282-0283 or bedard18@verizon.net We will need a few parents to drive to/from and/or stay for the event. If you can help out please indicate on the permission slip.

troop-four-perm-slip-march-2008.pdf

Troop Swim Night will be at the Milford High School Pool. There will be pizza and soda after swimming.

Awards earned by the scouts since the last Court of Honor in October will be presented. There will be a pot-luck dinner before the awards ceremony. The troop committee will contact the families to determine who will be attending and what to bring. In addition, we will be honoring a great supporter of the troop, the former pastor of St. Mary’s Father Michael Foley.

The November Backpacking Trip will be Saturday, November 17 through Sunday November 18. We will be backpacking and camping overnight on the South Taconic Trail in the Berkshire Hills of Southwestern Massachusetts.

We will start at Bash Bish Falls, the highest waterfall in the state, and end in Mt. Washington State Forest. We will be hiking the South Taconic trail, which comes up from the gorge with the falls onto some ridge lines that have some of the best hiking views in the state. Coming down off the ridge line we will be camping in some campsites along the Ashley Brook. On Sunday we will be hiking through wilderness areas in the State Forest out to the trails end. As with all our backpacking trips, the distances and difficulty of the trails we take will fit the scouts we have on the trip. On the way home we will stop for a fast food lunch in the Berkshires.

This will be a great backpacking trip for beginners as well as veteran scouts. We plan on having two hiking groups, one for beginners and one for advanced scouts. The troop has a good supply of patrol/troop backpacking gear, so scouts just need to bring their personal gear. A list of gear for backpacking can be found on the troop website under “Troop Resources – Camping Information”.

We will be cooking patrol style for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast. Scouts should bring a bag lunch for Saturday and some $ for a lunch on Sunday. We would be happy to have a few parents drive and participate in the event.

We will meet at the parish center on Saturday November 17 at 8:00 AM and leave for the Berkshires by about 8:30 AM. We will return to the parish center for pick up by 4:00 PM on Sunday.

If your son is planning to attend, please return the attached permission slip by the November 8 troop meeting. If you son can’t make the meeting on the 8th but would like to attend, please call or email Dave Kirchner by the 8th. We will be planning for the event at the troop meeting November 8, so it is important to know who will be participating for planning purposes.

This is a combination fund raiser and service project that we participate in with other scout units in town. We are looking for one or two more parents with pick up trucks or trailers to drive around our assigned territory in Milford to pick up the trees and transport them to the town disposal area. It starts about 8:00 am and ends about noon. We will be camping this weekend so we really need a few scouts and parents who won’t be camping to help out. Please call or email Dave Kirchner if you can participate. We had to schedule the camping trip the same weekend because that was the best fit for all of our winter activities.

Scouts who want to participate should bring a small gift wrapped with a cost of less that $10. The activity is basically a grab bag and the scouts do a “swap” as each gift is unwrapped. It’s a lot of fun. We will have some refreshments at the meeting too.

Scouts can bring a knife that they can use under the troop/BSA rules and enter it for a variety of contests (sharpest, best looking, most functional, etc.) There will be prizes for the winners. We will also be doing some wood whittling and carving that night so scouts should bring a knife.

Any scouts who would like to donate new toys to the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots drive please bring them to this meeting. One of our long-time sponsors, American National Power, is collecting for the marines this year.

Draper Park

This week’s troop meeting will be held on the third floor of the parish center. Please use the front door of the parish center.

Troop Swim Night will be Thursday, November 15 at the Milford High School pool from 7:00 to 8:30 PM (instead of the troop meeting that night). There will be pizza and drinks after.

On Saturday, meet at the HS gym to pick up instructions, bags, and route list.

On Sunday, meet at Daily Food Pantry at 21 Exchange Street about 12:30 PM to check in with a parent to drive around and pick up the food and return it to the food pantry. Please don’t park on Exchange street when checking in, use one of the side streets.

For any scouts interested in the personal fitness merit badge, there will be a kickoff meeting at the high school track at 10:45AM on Saturday September 8th. Please wear workout clothes/sneakers since we will perform an initial fitness test that includes pushups, situps and a 1 mile run. We will wrap up at Noon.

The fitness merit badge is an Eagle required badge that includes a commitment to perform 12 consecutive weeks of a workout program that includes stretching, endurance and strength building exercises.

In order to begin your 12week program, you’ll need to submit a written fitness plan for approval. To speed things up, scouts should come to this first meeting with a draft fitness plan in hand. Format is not important, however the plan must include your planned weekly workout schedule, exercises to be performed, and it should show how you plan to improve over the 12weeks (e.g., increase in distance, repetitions, etc). We will review and approve these plans at the meeting.

Please call or email if any questions. Thanks, Phil Bedard

508 282 0283 cell
508 478 5773 evening