Our scouting year is well underway and with the addition of more than new scouts our membership is now over 80 boys. We are always welcome to new members, so if you have friends or neighbors with sons that may be interested in joining the pack, please invite them to an upcoming pack or den meeting.
We’ve had a few questions from our newer scout families, so we thought the following information would be helpful.
Where do I get a uniform? What patches does my son need & where do they go?
- The staff at Scout Store at 811 Hillgrove in LaGrange can help you find everything your son will need for his class “A” uniform. Starting with the blue dress shirt, they let you know the appropriate Council shoulder patch (Des Plaines Valley) and some other patches.
- The rank emblems (Bobcat, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos) and arrow points are awarded by the pack leadership. If you have some that haven’t been sewn on yet, a guide can be found to the right of this post.
- Scout pants & hat are optional. Neckerchief and slide are part of the official class “A” uniform.
- Scouts that participate in our popcorn campaign will also earn a class B uniform, which is the T-shirt with a really cool design on it.
When are pack meetings? What activities are planned this year?
- Pack Meetings are the second Tuesday of each month at 7pm in the Riverside Presbyterian Social Hall. We change it up in January and February for the Pinewood Derby and Blue & Gold, but we’ll cover that in 2015.
- We have a Google Calendar embedded in this website. Our next major events will occur on October 18 with the Scout Cabin Camp Out and Feed My Community Day. Scout cabin registration will begin soon.
Can I get some help with the all the jargon?
- The cub scouts are boys in the first to fifth grades. The boy scouts are 6th grade to High School. Both are part of the nationally organized Boy Scouts of America. Cub scouts can cross-over and join the ranks of boy scouts when they are Webelos and well into the fifth grade.
- Cub scouts are organized into a pack which is all boys in the first to fifth grades. Dens represent specific ranks by grade level:
- Bobcat – is the first rank a scout will earn. New scouts, even those above first grade, must earn this after they learn some basic scouting requirements. We have a ceremony for all new scouts that have earned this rank at our pack meeting in November.
- Tigers – first grade
- Wolves – second grade
- Bears – third grade
- Webelos – fourth & fifth grades. Bonus for you, webelos is short for We’ll be Loyal Scouts. Webelos that complete eight specific activity pins are awarded the Arrow of Light.
- Pack 24 is chartered by the Riverside Presbyterian Church. The pack is part of the Voyager Trace district, which in turn is a sub-division of the Des Plaines Valley Council, which serves more than 30 communities in our area. The DPVC operates at 811 Hillgrove Avenue, in LaGrange. You may have seen some news that the DPVC is going to be consolidated into a larger Chicago-area Council, but apparently the LaGrange store will remain open.
Who can join?
- Pack 24 welcomes all boys in the first to fifth grades in the Riverside area.
- Because we do so many fun activities, sometimes girls wish to join, but official BSA policy is boys-only. Note that both girls and boys can join Venturers at age 14, this is separate division of the national BSA organization.
- Initial membership fee is $50, which includes Boys Life magazine and the dues that are paid to the national BSA organization.
Other questions? Ask your den leader or email us at pack24riverside@gmail.com.