Remember that Scout Sunday is this weekend, February 5th – if you have questions – email us.  Additional can be found here.

Official 2012 Blue & Gold Patch

Lastly, be sure to remember to sign up for the Blue & Gold Banquet on Sunday, February 19.  The deadline to register is February 8th, click here to register.  We are going to order patches for all families that register by the deadline, so to make sure you get a sweet patch for your scout, be sure to register and pay right away.  Check out this year’s patch – pretty fun.

The Boy Scouts of America annually celebrates its founding on February 8, 1910, based on the program started by Lord Baden Powell in England in 1907. Scout Sunday was added to the Scout celebration in the middle 1940s. Scout Sunday is always the Sunday preceding February 8. The Scout Sunday tradition was started to make people in houses of worship aware of Scouting, and to allow Scouts to live out their “Duty to God” pledged each week. The Scout Law says that a “Scout is Reverent” and the Scouts of all ages promise to do their “Duty to God”.

Scout families who would like to provide treats for the coffee hour after the service are invited to drop them off in the Social Hall kitchen of the church any time between 9:00 and 10:45 am. Thanks for your contributions & hope to see you there!

Registration begins at 10am and ends at noon.  We can’t register any latecomers after registration closes or else we will not be able to begin our race on time.  When you register, you will be given the Pinewood Patch and ballots to vote for best car designs.  Be sure to arrive early so your scout can test his car on the track and make any final modifications.  Note that once your son’s car has been registered, only our volunteer boy scouts from Troop 24 will be handling the cars, this helps reduce the risk of mishaps.

Lunch: Girl Scout Troop 657 is returning to run the lunch cafe in the Social Hall.  They have a very reasonably priced menu which include the following tasty items: Sloppy Joes, Pizza, Chicken soup, Fruit (oranges, grapes, etc.), Vegetables ( carrots), lemonade, Baked goods and Chips.  Be sure to visit them so your scout doesn’t run out of fuel when it comes time for racing.

The Derby begins at 1pm.  We will have a short awards ceremony for the four design winners and racing will begin immediately thereafter.  Racing will be conducted by rank, so Tigers are first followed by Wolves, Bears, Webelos I and finally Webelos II are last.  The fastest car from each rank and the next 11 overall fastest cars will advance to the championship round.  We hope to have all racing completed by about 3pm.

The race is a lot of fun and we invite you to bring the whole family to the Derby.  Please remember that Boy Scout Policy is that all parents must accompany their scouts to these types of events, so if you scout is going to participate in the derby, one parent must stay for the duration.

The Pack 24 Leaders would like to especially thank all volunteers that have signed up to help with the Derby.  The list of volunteers can be found here.  If you have any last-minute questions, contact your den leader or email us at pack24riverside@gmail.com.

Rank Patches

CUB SCOUT PACK 24

Blue And Gold Banquet

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2012

4:00- 7:00 P.M.

Park Place Banquet Hall

6240 Joliet Road, Countryside

Hello Pack 24 Families:  Please accept this as your invitation to the annual Blue & Gold Dinner and Awards Ceremony being held this year at the Park Place Banquet Hall in Countryside.  To help make this event successful, we are requesting that each scout family complete this registration form and bring your payment to your Den Leader or Joan Janopoulos  no later than Wednesday, February 8, 2012. 

All Cub Scouts and children under the age of 5 are free. Children age 6 thru 10 are $ 5.00 each, and adults (children 11 and up) are $15.00 per person.     

Flag Ceremony:  Pack Leaders Murphy, Janopoulos and Schlesser will be on-hand to coordinate the pre-game Pack 24 flag ceremony.  The following Webelos scouts will serve as the color guard:  Good, Janopoulos, Murphy, Schlesser and Winkler.  All members of the color guard must wear class “A” uniforms.  All members of the color guard must be at the arena by 2:30, which is 1/2 hour before face-off to go over the arrangements for the ceremony.  Email any questions to pack24riverside@gmail.com.

Tickets:  Even if you’re not in the color guard, we suggest you arrive well before the game begins at 3pm to pick up your tickets and find choice seats.  Tickets for the Pack are at will call under “Pack 24″ and then specific family names.  When you pick up tickets you may also get a voucher for snacks and the scout patch, depending on your order.

Other:  More details on the outing, including the address, google directions, etc, can be found in this previous post.

See you there!

It looks like we will be getting some cold weather for the Polar Prowl this Saturday!  We have sixteen hearty scouts and a similar number of parents & siblings attending.  If you’re going to the Prowl, a few reminders:

• Bring a sled if there is snow on the ground (we may get some later this week).
• Dress warmly (including boots) there isn’t any place to warm up inside.  A change of mittens gloves can also be a good idea.
• Bring a can of non-cream soup.  The organizers will combine everyone’s soup contributions into a culinary masterpiece.
• The Prowl is located at the Bemis Woods located off Ogden in Western Springs.

Remember, the deadline to register and pay for  the Chicago Steel Hockey Outing is this Sunday (January 15).

Chicago Steel Hockey Logo

January is a very busy month for scouting so mark your calendars for January 22 when we will go see the Chicago Steel host the Youngstown Phantoms.   The Steel play at the Edge Ice Arena, which is at 735 East Jefferson Street in Bensenville (Google maps directions are here).  The game begins at 3pm, but Pack 24 has been invited to serve as the color guard for the flag ceremony at the beginning of the game – so if you get there early, you can see some of our older scouts on the ice.  Also, I believe the seating is first-come, first-serve, so if you arrive earlier you can stake out better seats.

The cost for the tickets is fairly reasonable at $5 each, and there are two packages available.  Package “A” includes a scout patch in addition to a hot dog & soda, in addition to the ticket.  Package “B” includes a hot dog, popcorn and ticket. Click here to register prior to the deadline of January 15.

Also, don’t forget that we have the Polar Prowl coming up on January 14 and the Pinewood Derby on January 28.  Its going to be a very active month for Pack 24.

Email any questions or comments to pack24riverside@gmail.com.

What is the Polar Prowl?  Its a fun outdoor event that is sponsored by our district and council so there will be dozens of cub scouts there from many different packs across the area.  There are organzied games like tug-of-war, flag football, and blobbing (jumping on inflated bags).  There are also some sled hills, and for the past few years there has been a snow canoe so a dozen scouts to ride at once.  We also hike and look for animal tracks in the snow (if there is any snow).  After all of that activity, there is hot chocolate and warm soup for everyone to enjoy.

The Prowl is at the Bemis Woods Forest Perserve (near Wolf & Ogden in Western Springs).  It is scheduled for 9am to 1pm on Saturday, January 14.  The cost is $5 per scout ($3 for adults) + one can of non-cream soup.  You will be given a sweet commemorative patch in addition to having a a great time. 

We are signing up as a pack this year, so click here to register.  The deadline is Saturday, January 7.

• The Pinewood Derby will take place on Saturday, January 28, 2012.
• There is no cost to enter the derby, and the Pack has purchased a kit for each scout.

At the Derby, scouts will vote on car designs.  Awards will be given for the following four categories:

• Coolest design
• Fastest looking
• Most “scout-like”
• Funniest

The Derby will be held at its usual location, the upstairs gym at Riverside Presbyterian Church.  Registration will begin at 10:00am and end at 12 noon.  Since the racing will begin at 1pm, your family will give you time to get lunch at the cafe that will be run by Girl Scout Troop #657 in the RPC social hall.

Finally, a great number of people have already volunteered to help out at the Derby.  This is a huge help and we truly appreciate all of your contributions.  If you have any questions about the specifics of your duty, please contact your den leader.

There is NO cost to enter the Derby, and all scouts that participate will be given an awesome patch.  There will be four design award categories (more information soon) and awards for fastest car by den.  We will also have a championship round for the sixteen fastest cars.

Pinewood Cars were distributed at our Pack Meeting on Tuesday, December 13.  If you weren’t at the meeting, pick up your scout’s pinewood kit from your den leader.  Make a note of the number on the box, since this will be your son’s identification number for the race.

The rules for our 2012 Derby can be found here (Derby Rules 2012).  These spell out the dimensions for the cars, the weight (no more than five ounces), and other important considerations.

More information will be posted as we get closer to the race.  An especially big thank you to all volunteers that signed up at the last Pack Meeting, we will post a full list of volunteers by time slot & job in January.

Updated to correct the incorrect date.