Now that Pinewood Derby has been completed and the spring campout paid, I wanted to take a moment and discuss something nobody likes talking about and that's money. At the beginning of each school year we collect for multiple things including pack dues, national dues, Boy's Life / Scout's Life, and tshirts. The national dues are held and used in December when we recharter the pack. That's a yearly process to add/remove Scouts and leaders from our roster and pay for their national registrations for the next calendar year. When we set the national dues to collect over the summer of 2019 we didn't know about the national dues increase that was to be released in October.

National dues are now $60 per year per scout.
Sam Houston Area Council includes an insurance fee per scout at time of recharter, this is $3 per scout.
Our pack dues are $74 per scout for the school year.
The new 2019-2020 dues total payment should have been: $137 per scout.
Many of you paid $100 per scout, hence the $37 difference that we're asking for in the spring.

We need these additional fees paid by May 1 in order to guarantee we have enough funds to purchase rank awards for the bridging ceremony and keep the pack in good financial shape. Check and see if your company does donation matching or offers something like volunteer/ service hour payment.

If you are new to scouting and paid online at beascout.org when you registered, that had you pay your registration fee for the remainder of 2019 and none of 2020. There is a box to check on the 2020 spring dues product page to make up that difference.
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The Pinewood Derby is March 1 this year which is only a few short weeks away now. Rules were sent out via Scoutbook back in January, please get with your Den Leader if you need a kit or if you have questions about the rules. Schedules and calls for volunteers will be coming out shortly after the Blue and Gold, hope everyone can make it.

Remember our track is more like a hot wheels track so don't plan on riding the center... because there is no center!

We've had so many families join since the last pack meeting that at the committee meeting Tuesday night we decided to have an orientation meeting for all of the new families. Cubmaster Marc will go through his slide deck and I will cover how to use Scoutbook, discussing national and local dues, as well as talking about the need for more volunteers. If you can help us with the event, visit the pack facebook group or the Scoutbook event to find the signup genius link.

Thanks!
-Daryl
​Committee Chair

What a great start to the year so far! We haven't had our first pack meeting yet but we are already looking like the pack is going to grow by a few scouts this year compared to last. Thank you to all the families out there that put in a good word with neighbors, friends, and even strangers on the street or at school about the Pack and with scouting in general. Be sure as those families sign up and join that you speak with your den leader about getting the recruiter patch at the next pack meeting.  There's no patch more important to the health of our Pack and Scouting in general. 

A big thank you to the Fraas family for organizing our summer events, the last being a memorable "parade" around the field at Minute Maid Park followed up by an Astros win! We threw you in last minute back in May and we had great events. Thank you again!

I'm excited to get the new year started and am really excited for our Open House / Sign-Up Night happening Sunday afternoon 2-4 pm at Lord of Life Lutheran Church. 

See our Facebook event for more details.

​Hope to see you there!

​-Daryl

The school year is poised to begin!  We hope everyone who is a returning scout as well as new and prospective scouts are ready to begin a great journey this year!  The Pack 883 leadership are gearing up for an exciting year that is starting off with a bang!

First, we are engaged in several efforts to reach out to prospective scouts and families at David Elementary and Sally K. Ride Elementary.  This year is the first year the both campuses have closed the campus to our outreach efforts on Meet The Teacher night as well as Parent Information Night.  This hampers our on-site presence for personally engaging with prospective scouts and families, but we are planning several other ways to reach out to families.  This is where you, as returning scout families, can make a huge difference! 

​Our first effort is word-of-mouth.  Families you know, friends of your scouts, and meetings within the classroom offer the best opportunity for one-on-one interaction with prospective scouts.  While our Pack cannot be present, we can always discuss and promote scouts individually to everyone we meet.  So our best outreach is with you.

Another outreach we are pushing is through Facebook and this website.  Our Pack 883 has this website and TWO Facebook groups.  One Facebook group is a public page for anyone to see, and the other is a closed group in which we use to organize with members of Pack 883 and also publish media of our scouts in action.  We want all scouts and families to be members of BOTH!

Public Facebook Page for Pack 883:  Cub Scout Pack 883
Private Facebook Group for Pack 883:  Cub Scout 883

When you "like" the public Facebook page, please Share the group on your own Facebook feed.  The potential to reach other families via social media is powerful!  If you are a member of other groups that include families in The Woodlands, sharing within that group also expands our outreach.  While we primarily have scouts from David Elementary and Sally K. Ride, we are not limited to only those schools.  You are our greatest recruitment tool!

Check back to get more news from Pack 883!  I hope to keep this blog updated once a week with news and updates of information so that everyone knows all the great things happening with Pack 883!

-Steve

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