|
Trail Signs
August - September 2024
| |
|
Service above self! Trail Signs is our bi-monthly newsletter. | |
|
Please take note of upcoming Council Service Center Closings:
- September 2nd - Labor Day
| |
|
|
Let's Fund Some Awesome Adventures!
Scouting Popcorn Sales is the Hoosier Trails Council’s plan to help your unit to have ONE fundraiser this year. Trained popcorn staff and volunteers will help your unit to plan and execute the best and most efficient fundraiser that your unit has ever had. Popcorn experts are primed to meet with your unit to determine your needs and to get things rolling.
Mark your calendar to attend a Popcorn Sale Kickoff Event:
Popcorn Sales Training West – Thursday, August 8th – 7:00 pm
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church 4201 W Third St., Bloomington, IN
Popcorn Sales Training East – Tuesday, August 13th – 6:30 pm
First United Methodist Church, 240 W Poplar St., North Vernon, IN
Check out the 2024 Sale Toolbox!
| |
|
Encourage a Friend to Sign-up for Cub Scouts Today!
For only 40 cents/day the possibilities are endless for your child! From Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA to Venturing and Exploring, the programs offered by Hoosier Trails Council open opportunities for all interests. Our membership extends across south-central Indiana, so there’s plenty of opportunity no matter where you live. There are many benefits to becoming a Scout:
- Scouts have the time of their lives making new friends and learning new things in environments designed to help them succeed.
- Camp programs use natural surroundings to provide youth with opportunities for physical, mental and spiritual growth.
- Scouting promotes character development, citizenship training, and mental and physical fitness.
Our mission is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them values that emphasize trust, loyalty, friendliness and other prized principles.
When compared to the cost of sports and many other activities, there is no doubt that Scouting delivers great value to its members! Costs include Scouting America membership fees, uniform costs, and nominal activity fees that may be charged locally. Of course, these costs may be offset by unit fundraising and other available scholarship funds.
Through our programs, we provide youth with many unique and educational experiences. Scouting teaches outdoor skills, the value of servant leadership and giving back to the community. Scouts develop positive character and leadership traits that will last them a lifetime.
Use the locator map (www.BeAScout.org) to find a Cub Scout pack in your community. Questions or need more information, contact Jon Ocheltree, 812-336-6809.
| |
|
Cub Scout Shoot- O- Ree
September 14-15, 2024
Maumee Scout Reservation
12975 West County Road 925 North, Norman, Indiana
The Cub Scout Shoot-O-Ree is our unofficial kick-off to the new year of Cub Scout programing! This event is open to registered Cub Scouts and their Cub Scout age siblings. The Shoot-O-Ree is especially great for boys and girls who just joined the program. Scouts will enjoy a variety of shooting sports themed activities like archery, BB guns, sling shots, and much more! Check-in for the Shoot-O-Ree begins at 8:30 am at the camp administration building (at the end of the camp parking lot). Activities are open from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. An optional overnight camping package is available for this event that will include registration for one Scout and one adult with meals included. Additional Scouts or adults can be added to your reservation but at least one parent/guardian will be required for each Scout camper/family. This offers a great way to spend more time at beautiful Maumee Scout Reservation and participate in a campfire and MORE activities! Scouts that plan to camp overnight will set up their camping gear and join us for dinner at 6:00 pm in the dining hall. More information will be available soon so be on the lookout!
New events are added each year! Snacks & lunch will be available for an additional cost at our OA Café or you can bring your own lunch. There will be a Trading Post available for those wishing to purchase snacks and souvenirs.
Please check the weather forecast for the day of your choosing, and make sure each participant is prepared and dressed appropriately. This is a “rain or shine” event! There will be a variety of indoor and outdoor activities for all sorts of weather conditions.
Pre-Registration is strongly encouraged.
| |
|
Welcome Families to the New Scouting Year
Providing a year-round, quality Scouting program should be the goal of every Scouting unit. Using our program planning calendar and links below, start planning your Scouting year now!
Now is the time to start thinking about your program for the upcoming Scouting season just a few short months away. This is the start to the Ideal Year of Scouting and creating an adventure for your unit. Hoosier Trails Council would like to help you get things kicked off and give you the materials you need and the support you want. Learn new ways to support your members and leaders, tips on recruiting, fundraising and much more. Please visit our website for your resources to start planning your best year ever!
| |
|
It’s official! The Cub Scout program will be updated for the 2024-25 program year. Over the past several years the National Cub Scouting Committee under the leadership of past chair Lisa Wylie and current chair Audrey Oakes have identified four areas to improve the Cub Scout program to ensure that it is fun, simple, and easy.
Over the past five years the National Cub Scout Committee has been working on these updates. These updates are based on feedback from over 23,000 parents and Cub Scout leaders through various surveys and data. Listening to and identify the key opportunities to improve the program the National Cub Scout committee is excited to finally reveal these improvements. Over the past year these improvements have been socialized to thousands of individuals with overwhelming support.
Check out the latest updates on these program changes.
| |
|
Ordeal Weekend
Hoosier Trails Council would like to congratulate you on being elected to enter the Order of the Arrow, Nischa Chuppecat Lodge. It is a great honor to be chosen, as you have been, by your fellow Scouts. In doing so, they have set you apart as one of whom they expect a great deal. Always remember that you were chosen because of your camping ability, and your Scouting spirit.
In order to become a full-fledged member of Nischa Chuppecat Lodge, you must complete your induction in the Order of the Arrow. The purpose of the induction is to gain a greater understanding of the Scout Oath and Law, and the principles of the Order of the Arrow. The induction will be explained to you in full at the Ordeal Weekend, August 9-11, 2024, at Maumee Scout Reservation. If you cannot do your induction into the OA at the Ordeal Weekend, you will have one more opportunity to do so at the Brotherhood Weekend in May of 2025. Register now for the OA Ordeal Weekend!
Fall Fellowship Weekend
Nischa Chuppecat Lodge is excited to invite all members to the Fall Fellowship on October 3-6 at Maumee Scout Reservation. This is a great opportunity to celebrate all that our lodge has to offer with fun, food, workshops, and activities all weekend long! We will also be electing our lodge officers for the 2024-2025 year of service. Join us for some fellowship and participate in the silent and live auction of patches and Scout memorabilia of years gone by. A lodge committee meeting will follow on Sunday and all members are invited to attend. Register today for this awesome event!
| |
Webpages to Support Scouting Operations | |
We have been hard at work developing resources to broaden communications and improve the level of service provided by the council website, check them out today:
| |
FUNDING AWESOME SCOUTING ADVENTURES | |
Don’t forget to hold the date on your calendar for the Hoosier Trails Council’s 15th Annual Wine-A-Ree. As always it is the first Saturday in November, and this year it will be November 2nd.
VIP tickets are available through registration on the council’s website and that will allow you early admission and an additional commemorative shot glass. VIP tickets are $60 in advance and the doors open at 12:00. General admission tickets are also available for $30 in advance and $40 the day of the event and doors open at 1:00. This year the silent auction will move to a virtual platform to allow for easier bidding if you choose not to stay for the entire day, and more information will be put out soon.
There are already 12 confirmed vendors and there are plans to add several more wineries, breweries, and distilleries to the mix. Plan to come out and support this great event while spending time with your friends.
| |
|
Scouting License Plates
These plates can be used as standard vehicle registration plates for passenger cars, recreational vehicles and trucks weighing less than 11,000 pounds. This is not a vanity plate, so special numbers or messages cannot be accommodated. Your plate selection is good until your next registration renewal. When you purchase an Indiana Scout license plate, you indicate your personal support of Scouting and add financially to the Hoosier Trails Council Endowment. How can you participate? When you renew your plates, an additional fee is added on to your basic renewal fees, and that money is contributed to the Hoosier Trails Council endowment fund.
Renew Plates Online: Currently, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles offers Online Registration for your vehicle. Once you create an account, you can choose your specialized license plate. It's fast, easy and best of all - no standing in line!
| |
|
Support the Hoosier Trails Council in Non-traditional Ways
One way in which you and your family can help support the work of our council is through registration in the Kroger Community Rewards Program! By simply buying your family’s groceries, you can help contribute to our council’s overall success. Sound easy enough? Get on board today.
| |
ADULT & YOUTH TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES | |
|
Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills Training
September 6-7, 2024
Maumee Scout Reservation
12975 West County Road 925 North, Norman, Indiana
Welcome to Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills training. This hands-on program gives adult leaders the practical outdoor skills they need to lead Scouts in the outdoors. Imagine having hands-on knowledge of setting up a campsite, pitching a tent, hiking, outdoor cooking—all the skills necessary to see the Outdoor programs of Scouting America come to life. The skills sessions presented in Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills closely follow the Scouts BSA Handbook and are meant to serve as an adult training outline. By using these skills sessions in conjunction with the Scouts BSA Handbook, trainers can be sure new leaders are proficient in the basic outdoor skills through First Class rank. Each skills session references specific chapters in the handbook. Hands-on participation makes the best learning tool, so participants should leave the training experience knowing they can show their Scouts how to accomplish outdoor skills while fulfilling rank requirements. Back home, we want leaders to feel comfortable working with and instructing their Scouts. From pitching a tent to starting a cooking fire, they should feel confident in helping their youth leaders plan and carry out their own unit campouts and exciting troop programs using these skills.
Items Needed: Tent, Sleeping Gear, Clothing, Rain Gear, Eating Utensils, Pencil & Paper, Compass, Pocket knife, and any other personal Gear.
| |
|
Advanced Leadership Training: Register for 2025!
Hoosier Trails Council offers Wood Badge, the best advanced leadership training opportunity available in Scouting America and now is the time to register! Leadership in your unit continuously changes and grows from year to year and it is important to arm your new leaders with the great knowledge, techniques, discipline, and strong habits that exist in some of our most noted leaders. The Wood Badge course centers upon the concepts of servant leadership and leaving a legacy. The key elements are then taught with a clear focus on “how to.” It is all put on by experienced adult leaders with the most up-to-date resources that are provided by the BSA. If you are looking for a great opportunity for your adult leaders to learn some advanced leadership skills, this is the training they will need. Registration is open for the course and you can sign up today!
| |
|
Update Your Youth Protection Training
With fall membership season just around the corner, it is not too early to schedule your unit Youth Protection Training plan. Each year, any new adult that you have join your unit as a leader must go through and understand Scouting’s Youth Protection Guidelines. Recruitment time is the best opportunity each year that you will have to encourage your new parents to take this course online or in person. Scheduling this training up front will also put you in a good position for your unit recharter deadlines. Youth Protection Training is the best course around for sharing Scouting’s barriers to abuse and keeping our young people safe.
| |
Using a Safety Moment in Scouting Activities
Safety Moments are exactly what the name implies: opportunities to prepare for an activity, review safety measures and report incidents correctly. Topics of this new series include incident reporting helps, safe use of medication in Scouting, weather-related safety, winter activity, and winter sports. Search for Safety Moments Here
| |
September is Falls Prevention Month | |
Adult Audience Only: Tragedy struck our Scouting family on Oct. 13, 2018, when Nolan Henderson, a 16-year-old Star Scout, was fatally injured while hiking and bouldering with his troop on Maiden Peak in the Cascade Range of central Oregon. An adult leader had started the hike with the youth. When younger youth wished to turn around, the leader returned to the base camp as well. Nolan and the remaining youth were allowed to continue up to the peak without adult supervision. When one of those youth got stuck during the ascent, Nolan went to his aid. After he scaled a sheer face of the peak to help the other Scout to safety, a handhold gave way and Nolan tragically fell to his death. Learn more from Nolan's story. | |
New Council Safety Webpage
This new page has been created to bring safety resources to your fingertips, so that our Scouting participants have safest adventures possible. We invite you to become familiar with this great resource: https://hoosiertrailsbsa.org/program-resources/scouting-safely/
| |
Recent Eagle Scout Award Recipients | |
|
Alex Franklin Adams, Lone Scout
Curtis Peter Williams, Troop 219
Jack Michael Cooper, Troop 555
Keara Malan, Troop 1223
Jace Alan Malan, Troop 223
Gavin Matthew Kocher, Troop 170
Charles Vincent Webb, Troop 190
Adrien Proctor, Troop 631
Cooper Raymond Allen, Troop 121
Wesley Eli Miller, Troop 529
Cavan Michael Stilson, Troop 559
Corbin Reed Mason, Troop 559
Thad Leo Hobbs, Troop 190
Joel Michael O'Neal, Troop 219
Johnathan Christopher Freeland, Troop 148 William Redford Foley, Troop 121
James Kenneth Kidwell, Troop 110
Mason Alexander Jones, Troop 557
Nathaniel Aaron Poage, Troop 100
Gabriel Rigdon, Troop 631
Nathan Joseph Campbell, Troop 717
Tyler Wolf Smith, Troop 121
Elliott John Holman, Troop 541
| | | | |
