Apple Day Wrap-Up

From L-R - Jonathan Boardman, Jahdai Jackson, Daniel Boardman and Nathan Morissette
gave out Apples at Sobeys in Alcona.

From L-R.  Scouter Brendan Greenbury with his son's
Aidan and Micah handed out Apples at No Frills in Alcona.

The 1st Alcona Scouting movement (Beavers, Cubs and Scouts) were out in force from October 14-15th in Alcona and Lefroy, handing out Apples as part of their yearly fundraising efforts.  The Spartan apples were locally sourced from Carpe Diem in Stroud

All in told, the group raised $1626.42, of which 70% goes directly to youth programming, handling the costs of craft supplies and subsidizing outdoors activities like camps.  Of the other 30% raised, 10% goes into a Jamboree fund and the other 20% is used to provide Scouters with uniforms, pays for Police Reference Checks and covers other volunteer based expenses.

We at 1st Alcona wish to thank the communities of Alcona and Lefroy for giving so generously.  The pride in these youth's faces when they know they personally were responsible for collecting funds was tremendous to behold.  These are memories they will always carry forward.

Thought about enrolling your child in Scouts?  We still do have space in our sections and would be more than happy to accommodate you.  We are always looking for more Scouters as well.  If you enjoy working with youth and would be willing to donate some of your time to this cause we would love to hear from you.  For more information you can contact our Group Administrator, Tim Norton at tim@actingart.com or by phone at 416-871-5744.

Apple Day 2016

The 1st Alcona Scouting Group (Beavers, Cubs and Scouts) will be out tonight, Friday the 14th from 6-8pm and tomorrow, Saturday the 15th from 10-2pm at multiple locations in Alcona and Lefroy handing out apples in support of our yearly Apple Day program. All apples are free, though we do accept donations on behalf of the Scouting program. All proceeds go towards our programming for the year - purchasing patches, crafts supplies, going on camping trips and other outdoor excursions.

It sounds like such a small thing, but every youth takes away the memories of the exchange you have with them, knowing that they are an important part of the community and in the Scouting movement as a whole. If you have some change you can donate, it would make such a large difference in these young kids lives.

Ringtail's Crafty Idea - 2016 edition

Looking for ideas to entice your kids to go for a hike.  Give them a digital camera and encourage them to take lots of pictures on your journey.  Then either use one of the freeware collage applications out to put them together or if you are slightly more artistically able use an application such as Photoshop to do it manually, as I have done here.  Your kids will cherish these little posters of their trip and will want to do more!

2016/2017 Year

Our new Beaver year will begin on Wednesday, September 14th at St. Francis of Assisi - 6:45pm. So far, we have only a handful of youth pre-registered, but as last year was any indication this does not mean much.

I need your help. Please let me know if your child will be returning ASAP so we can plan accordingly as to whether we need one colony or two this year. We have members of the Area willing to help out to make this a reality, but I need firm numbers to make them act.

Also, as our Group Administrator, it is my goal this year to try to bring more involvement from as many of the parents as possible. Wait...don't click away, keep reading...this does not mean necessarily as a scouter.

We could also use more people on group committee, and I would like to form smaller sub-comittees to help out in other ways. Crafts, Snacks, Fundraising, Outdoors, etc;. Basically create more brain trusts. Trust me, I could use them.

We are still looking for Scouters, so keep that in mind. If you can't do it yourself, but know that you have a neighbour, sibling or parent who enjoys working with children and would be able to pass a PRC then pass their names my way or to our Group Commissioner Wolfgang at w.lausch_2@sympatico.ca. The Cub pack may be looking for Scouters as well.

We are a community based organization, and I would love to see us be more involved together. Let's make this the best Scouting year in Alcona yet.

Fundraising for Fort McMurray

Many, if not all of you are likely aware of the horrible events that are taking place in Fort McMurray, Alberta.  The wildfires have caused substantial damage to the city and more than 80,000 people have been evacuated...which is the entire city. 

Can you imagine what it would be like for that to happen to our small town?  The worry we would face, with fear for our homes, our families, our pets, our very livelihoods?  I personally couldn't even begin to fathom it.  Not many of you likely could as well.

Malek reached out to me today with a request that we kick off fundraising efforts to ask if every people could donate $5.00 each.  This money will be part of what we hope to be a much larger donation generated by all the different sections of 1st Alcona Scouting.  Through bottle drives, BBQ's and other methods we are doing what we can for our fellow citizens (which includes at least three Scout Groups, btw). 

For the Beavers, if you could bring your donation to your regular meeting on Wednesday we would greatly appreciate it.  Furthermore, Malek is reaching out to our local grocery stores to see if we could have a charity BBQ on their locations sometime within the next month, which we will need help with...most particularly our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts to sell Burgers or Hot Dogs.  As these locations rarely donate the use of a BBQ we would be asking that if anyone out there has portable BBQ's that they would be willing to loan us for the cause.  Please let me know if you could help here (or in any other fundraising capacity for that matter), and I will keep you up to date on the particulars of when and where.

We at 1st Alcona thank you all in advance for any help you are able to provide in this.

Yours in Scouting,

Ringtail

May Schedule

Hey, almost forgot we had this thing.  Sorry, due to various reasons I had switched to using direct e-mail for communications over the dreaded Winter of 2016, of which Spring apparently could not escape until recently.

Hard to believe, we have only FIVE meetings left.  Let's use them well.

Here's our final agenda:

May 4 - Bird House Crafts.  St. Francis of Assisi 6:45pm.  Hawkeye is facilitating this one and has put a lot of special effort to make sure this runs well.  We offer parents the chance to help out with this one.  Beautiful bird houses make for really nice Mother's Day gifts (hint hint).  It would be great if people could bring some smaller hammers, giving the youth a chance to at least try to nail their own bird houses together.

Sunday, May 8th - Scout Trees.    I know, it's Mothers Day this year, but we welcome as many family volunteers as possible to plant trees just off of 10th Sideroad, south of the 7th Line. (Close to Centennial Park).   1 - 4pm.

There is a crest for Scout Trees, and I need to know beforehand who is available so that correct amounts can be offered.  I will have this listed in my sign-in list on Wednesday the 4th, but if you know you can come letting me know beforehand will help.

May 11 - Sports Night - St. Francis of Assisi 6:45pm.  Weather permitting this will be an outdoor meeting.  We did get a couple sports requests from our youth as per their Canadian path programming, so we will fit them in this night.


May 18 - Flight Night Part 1 - Indoors at St, Francis of Assisi We did this as part of last year and it was a smash success...so since we have so many Brown Tails we will repeat.  Paper Airplane heaven.  Get your hate on for me now...we'll teach your kids how to make cool paper airplanes.

Thursday, May 19 - Swim Up Ceremony @ Holy Cross - 7pm
                 Hosted by the Scouts
This meeting is specifically for the White Tails, but we offer the chance for all our youth to come on out and see what the ceremonies are like and support for fellow Beavers.  The White Tail Beavers will swim up to Cubs, the Senior Cubs will move up to Scouts and we may even have a ceremony for some Senior Scouts moving up to Venturers.
There will be cake. 

May 25 - Flight Night Part 2 - 6:45pm - Innisfil Beach Park (Meet at Playgrounds).  Again, another smash success last year.  We welcome families join in...and let's fly some kites!  We will supply a new kite to each Beaver.

June 1 - End of Year BBQ and Campfire.  7pm.  At this point, I have offered to hold this at my house in Belle Ewart.  But if someone is REALLY keen on being the host instead let me know.  We will supply the Burgs and Buns, etc; Can we do pot luck for everything else?

I promise to keep this updated with any changes or additions that may occur, and feedback is always welcome.

Ringtail.

First Meeting of 2016

Happy New Year to you all!

At this week we offer the opportunity to all our Beavers to bring their favourite toy from Christmas time to show to their colony mates.

I also need numbers for Winter Brr this week.   The event will be on Saturday, January 30th at the Thornton Arena from 1 - 4pm.  The price for the event is $5.00 per youth, and I will be collecting money at this meeting.

This year's Winter Brr is being organized a lot better than last year, and I anticipate it will be even more fun.  For the uninitiated, Winter Brr is our yearly Area event where the youth will have an opportunity to compete in a rotating sequence of fun activities with a bunch of other colonies within Simcoe Phoenix Area.  I know that Barrie, Painswick and Stroud among other groups will be there.  There there will be a warming station (likely inside the Arena), so even on a really cold day we won't keep them all outside for 3 hours.

Leaders, I will also need to know how many of you can attend.

There is a Scouters Club meeting this Sunday the 10th of January at Trinity Anglican Church on Collier Street in Barrie where the planning for this event will be completed.  I will be aiming to be there but if any of the other leaders have the time to join in I would appreciate it.

Next, we have some movement on the colony split.  I searched for a good location that would have a meeting at the same time as our current colony to not success...we have the opportunity however to start our new time on Thursdays.  Take a look at your own schedules and let me know if this date would still work for any of you.  This will help us put the numbers together as to who could potentially move over.

We have a problem though.  Currently there is nobody who is chomping at the bit to be the section leader for Colony B.  Whether due to confidence or due to available time I can't judge but I'd like everyone to give it some thought and let me know if you'd care to give it a thought.  Obviously availability on Thursdays is a key.  I'm still willing to help with programming but I can't devote another night out all the time myself.

Please reach out to me if you have any questions of thoughts.

Finally, for those who may be interested - there is a Canadian Path Workshop happening on January 16 at St. George's Anglican Church in Barrie (9 Granville Street).

All participants are asked to arrive at 8:00 AM, and the workshop will finish at 4:30 pm.

The fee is $15 per participant, and the registration deadline is January 8.  Payment must accompany the registration form (which I have).  Leaders will be reimbursed for this cost.

This workshop is for scouters as well as Venturer-aged youth.

Ringtail