Saturday, May 11, 10AM-4PM. Volunteers are needed to help with cleanup activities on the Center Trail. The plan is to focus on clearing drainage by removing last winter’s deposit of sticks, logs, and leaves so that the drainageway runs freely. Other activities may include clearing organic matter (leaves, debris) from the trail and brush clearing along the trail. Volunteers should enter from the Loop road, sign a town volunteer waiver, and then a drainage section will be assigned. Please bring gloves, rakes, water and shovels if you have them; there will be some extras. Hope to see you out there! 

Spring is here and it is time to register scouts who will be returning next year.

Checks and final RSVPs are due by Friday, March 8th. Please make checks payable to Cub Scout Pack 97 and mail or drop them to Jenn Fischesser. See the information page for details.

For those interested in Ice Fishing this year, the Woodville Rod & Gun Club will be sponsoring a Kids Ice Fishing Derby on the same day as our Pinewood Derby, Sat., 2/2. The Ice Fishing will begin at 11:00 am (towards the end of our Pinewood Derby) and will last until 2:30 pm. We will not be sponsoring this as an official Pack event this year, since most of our resources are going into the Pinewood Derby, but you are more than welcome to attend with friends and family. This event is free, but you MUST pre-register. The following link contains information and forms required. http://www.woodvillerodandgun.com/Kids%20Ice%20Event%202013.pdf

As you may have seen on the council web site Scout Sunday is February 3 at St. John's. The Cub and Boy Scouts will be responsible for various jobs (color guard, handing out bulletins, bringing up the gifts, doing the collection, altar serving) at the 10:00am Mass. The Scouts would also be responsible to host the coffee hour after Mass. Please wear your Class A uniforms. Please contact Kim Brennan if interested.

The annual Pinewood Derby is fast approaching and our planning for this event has just begun! We need a couple of parents from each den to attend our Pinewood Derby Planning Meeting on Thursday, January 3 from 6-7 pm at St. John's. Many of the parents who volunteer to make this event happen have boys who are graduating either this year or next and it is time to bring in the parents of our younger scouts so they can help keep this amazing event going for years to come for our boys. I know, you can't possibly fit one more thing on your calendar. :) Before you choose not to respond, please take a look at some info about what is needed and some benefits for you and your son.

What is Needed

Because our Pack is quite large, we operate with the philosophy that many hands make light work. This allows each of us to focus our time on what we do best/what we are interested in. We have 2 teams of planners for the Pinewood Derby:

• The Track Team (involves anything to do with the physical track, timing system & software) - guys who are handy, if you can operate a computer, like putting things together - you'd be great on this team! This team is currently made up of a lot of dads, so you won't be alone!
• The Hospitality Team (involves everything else...ordering trophies, check in/registration, ordering food, decorations) - you can do something behind the scenes like ordering and setting up the trophies, or helping to facilitate check in, or coordinating the food/drink that we'll provide, if any of these interest you, we'd love to have you! 

There is a lot of opportunity within each team and you can have as much or as little involvement as you would like.

The Benefits

• You are able to give you son a behind the scenes look at how the track works, how it gets set up and how this event comes together!
• It won't take a lot of time and it is a lot of fun for you and your scout!! Feedback from many of the boys is that they really like when their parent is involved in helping with these events. :)
• If you would like to bring your scout to this meeting, we will have a Boy Scout (or two) there to talk to the boys about the Pinewood Derby and they will give your boys some tips about making their Pinewood Derby cars (this will take place in an adjacent room to where we will be meeting) and will answer any questions they have about the event. What's better than a few tips from kids who have done this?! 

Please RSVP to Kim Brennan and let her know if you are interested and can make the meeting. OR if you are interested, but can't make the meeting. A more detailed agenda and list of tasks will be sent out shortly. If you have any questions please contact Kim.

For more information on the event, see this page or sign up to volunteer using this spreadsheet.

We still need volunteers at Hopkins School between 1:00pm-3:30pm on Saturday November 10. We also need two vehicles for this time! Please contact Laura Hanson if you are able to help out with this. We would like two scouts and at least one parent at the hub, and two vehicles doing runs to the Food Pantry. This time can be divided up however it is most convenient. All ranks Wolf and above are eligible for this post.

Help clear leaves and sticks from Center Trail during this community service project.

This is our ONLY fundraiser for the Pack and we hope you will encourage (and help) your son to Do His Best with regard to helping us earn funds for the Pack. Many Packs sell popcorn, have yard sales and engage in other fundraising efforts, but Pack 97 feels that with a strong effort from every scout, we can raise the money we need for the year with just one fundraiser (saving everyone time and money!). Other Packs will begin selling on 10/20 so get ready to get out to your neighbors, friends and family - don't wait!