Saint Patch Retreat Information

Well, it is hard to believe that the January 10th Saint Patch Retreat is only two weeks away. The team that is helping have been working extremely hard to put on a fantastic event and it looks like we are getting a great response from the scouts with over 25 scouts attending so far. I am personally very excited to see how the community of St. Peter's is coming together to support our boys. I wanted to give you some details on what the program is and what the day will entail.

The National Catholic Committee for Scouting developed an activity called the "Footsteps of American Saints". The Footsteps of American Saints Activity program is a religious activity program that encourages youth to learn about several individuals that have shaped the landscape of Catholicism in America. This religious activity honors those men and women who led heroic lives of faith. Their words, their deeds, and their devotion to prayer and to the sacraments, inspire all American Catholics. The goal of this activity is to share the lives of several Saints so that the youth might relate to what these people have done and maybe look to these individuals as role models.

Saturday January 10th

12:30 PM Registration

1:00 PM Opening Flag Ceremony

1:15 PM Station #1

1:45 PM Station #2

2:15 PM Father Doug - Saint Education

3:15 PM Confession/Snack/Music

4:00 PM Station #3

4:40 PM Mass

6:00 PM Station #4

6:30 PM Station #5

7:00 PM Dinner

8:30 PM Games

10:00 PM Lights Out

Sunday January 11th

7:00 AM Wake Up, Clean and Pack

8:00 AM Breakfast

9:00 AM Dismissed

At the conclusion of this retreat the scouts will have earned the 5 patches recognizing the different saints. They will be awarded these at the Mass prior to the Blue and Gold Banquet with the other religious awards on February 21, 2009 at 5PM at St. Peter's Catholic Church.

As you can see there has been a tremendous amount of work involved in this and I think the boys will have an experience they will remember. To cover some of the costs for dinner, breakfast, snack, supplies and the cost of the patches the fee is $20 per scout. This can be paid at the door the day of the event. The pack will be covering the remainder of the cost.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at cnagelmol@aol.com or Deb Lamolinara at gdlam63@aol.com.

Have a great New Years Holiday and see you on the 10th......

Chris Nagel

Cubmaster Corner

I don't know about you, but it is hard to believe that it is almost Christmas. It has been an exciting and action packed beginning to the scouting year already and much more to come as the 2009 approaches. The fall picnic, cubmobile racing, Halloween storytelling with Barb Sutton, the Fellas Cake Bake, American Red Cross Blood Drive, a successful popcorn fundraiser and many more den activities are just a few of the activities that have kept the boys busy so far.

I want to take some time to update you on what is happening over the next few months. I am looking forward to what the 2009 scouting year holds for the boys. The leaders will be meeting in a few weeks to put some more detail into 2009, but here are the highlights that we are looking at.

December

We will be going to the Lutheran Home in Westlake on Saturday, December 20th at 10AM to entertain the residents with Christmas Caroling. One of our Scout Moms works there so we have done this for the last few years. The residents have a great time and the kids have a unique rendition to the ole classic songs. We will be awarding the Bobcat badge to those scouts who have achieved it and having some refreshments and holiday cheer. Please bring the family, we need all the help we can get.

January

As the scouts continue working on achieving their Light of Christ and Parvuli Dei medals for the religious awards program we will be holding a Saint Patch Retreat on January 10th, 2009. The goal of this is to assist the boys in completing their requirements to earn the 5 saint patches for this year as a group. Deb Lamolinara is coordinating this event and we are getting great support from the parents, parish and the Knights of Columbus with help. I encourage you to mark the date down so your scout can participate in this program. The event will end with dinner and a movie before lights out for anyone wishing to sleepover for a mid-winter campout type experience in the basement.

February

February is a very special month for scouting. This is the month where we celebrate the birth of scouting and it's formulation by Lord Baden Powell. We begin the month with Scout Sunday on February 10th. The Scouts attend the 10AM Mass together at St. Peter's Catholic church. Scouts should meet in the church basement at 9:30 dressed in their Class A uniforms. They will proceed in together and sit as a group for Mass. We are looking to have refreshments following in the Church basement.

This is also the month for the Blue and Gold banquet which is scheduled for February 21st. The Blue and Gold banquet is one of the traditions in scouting where we celebrate scouting's birth and recognize the scouts for their achievements. This is also the time where we award the religious medals and saint patches to the scouts who have earned them over the last several months.

Festivities begin at 5PM with Mass at St. Peters where the boys will be awarded the religious medals in front of the parish and proceed in with the Knights of Columbus 4th Degree Assembly. We then proceed to the gym where we have a banquet. We are looking at the format and content for the evening so stay tuned. I encourage you to attend this special event.......

Finally, I leave you with a warm wish for your families this holiday season and a heartfelt thank you for all you do for the boys. I look back on the year and know that what we had done and accomplished for them could not have been possible without your support. The pack is only as good as the support we get from you. I saw this poem many years ago and thought it would be a nice ending to this very successful and fun scouting year.

Bridge Builder

An old man traveling a long highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray,

To a chasm vast and deep and wide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,

The sullen stream held no fears for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side,

And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," cried a fellow pilgrim near,

"You're wasting your time in building here.

"Your journey will end with the closing day;

"You never again will pass this way."

You have crossed the chasm deep and wide,

"Why build you this bridge at even tide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head;

"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said.

"There followeth after me today,"

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

"This stream which has been as naught to me,

"To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

"He, too, must cross in the twilight dim--

"Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."

October 2008 Pack 153 Newsletter

Welcome to the October installment of the Pack 153 newsletter. There is much to report on and many updates to let you know about. Hopefully everyone had a great re-entry into school year and the scouts are doing well with their studies. We had outstanding recruiting results and we have 15 new scouts that have joined the pack and still more application coming in. If you know of anyone who would enjoy the experience let them know and if they join you get a $5 credit in your "scout account."




Well, hopefully you are in full swing of our annual popcorn sales. Again, I cannot stress enough the importance that each scout hit the $300 goal we have set. This is how we fund the activities throughout the year and we have much planned. Remember, there are many great incentives this year including the mystery house. If you missed the first hit here it is again:

Scouting is fun and Scouting is neat, but selling popcorn South of Center Ridge might get you a nice treat!!!!

Hint number 2 might even come later in this Blog.........

The Scout Encampment event was this past weekend and we had great representation from the pack at the event. About 10 families braved the chilly October air and trains to camp at Lorain County Fairgrounds and participate in the over 100 different activities the had to offer for the scouts. I have attached the photos from the event to my blog, but they have everything from military displays, model planes, trains, bat house, beehive, BB guns, archery, totem pole carving, blacksmith and I could go on and on. The highlight of the event was the 20 minutes fireworks display as we sat around the campfire eating marshmallows and hot dogs......A special thanks to Dave Haney who coordinated this event for the Pack.

October's Pack meeting will be October 24th from 6:30PM - ? at St. Peter's Church. We will be sharing more information as we get closer, but the highlight of the event will be sitting around a campfire in back and hearing Halloween stories told by local professional storyteller, Barbara Sutton. (not scary) Bring chairs and blankets and hope for good weather. As always, families are welcome at the Pack meetings. See more on Barbara at http://www.barbsuttonstoryteller.com/.

The holidays are coming up and in our continued efforts to get the scouts involved in the community our Pack has partnered with the American Red Cross to sponsor a blood drive at St.Peter's Church on November 23, 2008 form 9AM-2PM. We will be asking for a few scouts to assist at the drive itself with serving refreshments and welcoming donors, but the biggest effort will be from recruiting donors. A representative from the Red Cross will be speaking with the Scouts in October to discuss the importance of Blood Donation and what they can do to help. If there is anyone that has benefited from receiving blood who would like to share their story please contact me to discuss. cnagelmol@aol.com





We will be kicking off the 2008-2009 Youth Religious Awards program at the 5PM Mass on October 18th at St. Peter's Church. Tigers and Wolves are eligible to complete the Light of Christ while Bears and Webelos are eligible to complete the Parvuli Dei. In addition, Scouts can participate in the Rosary and Saints patch programs this year. If you have any questions about the programs see your Den Leader or contact the Pack Religious Coordinator Deb Lamolinara at gdlam63@aol.com. Remember, one of the values in scouting is that Scouts are reverent, so we encourage participation in these programs. Information on non-catholic programs are available as well.


It has been an exciting and busy beginning to the scouting year, so keep selling that popcorn so we can have the funds to support our continued activities. Mystery House Hint #2 is as follows: North Ridegeville has roads and streets galore, but getting to this house only takes one of these no more.

Have fun and safe selling........

Chris

Cub Scout Popcorn Fundraiser Begins

Parents,

And so it begins.....the 2008 Scout Popcorn sales drive is here. By now most of you should have received the product brochure and sales form for this event in the mail. I wanted to take some time to give some perspective on this event and the impact it has on our pack and your son.

As a parent, I understand that there are many fundraisers that we are asked to participate in and all for very worthy causes and organizations, Scouting being no different. However, I feel it important to give some insight on what this money is being used for so you know why there is a need to have a successful fundraiser.

Our goal is to put on a quality scouting program for the boys. The leaders conduct a planning meeting each year and look at everything that we want to accomplish in the program and set our dues and popcorn goals based on that schedule. It takes a typical pack $150 per scout to have a successful quality program. The dues for the pack are $50 so we have only covered one third of that expense. The rest comes from the popcorn sales drive. The pack retains 30% of the sales and we strive to make this our only fundraiser. With that being said if we want to deliver on the promise of a quality program we need your help.

The following is a sample of some of the things this money goes to based on last years program:

Snacks and Refreshments

Awards for Boy's Achievements

Patches for Participation

Halloween Party with Magician

Pinewood Derby Supplies and Awards

Goldrush Camping

Special Events (NASA Speaker)

Holiday Pizza Party

Blue and Gold Celebration

Religious Awards Program

Den Activities and Supplies

These are only a few of the items that this money is used for, but I wanted to give you a sense of what sort of things are in store for the boys if we have a successful drive. The goal for the pack is for every scout to sell $300 worth of product. We will be kicking things off at the pack meeting and giving you many ideas to make this goal. The key is to work the plan!!!!

Diane Shaft is the Pack 153 "Popcorn Kernal" and will be communicating some very exciting prizes and incentives at the September 21st Pack Meeting that will not only encourage the boys to reach this goal, but there is an incentive for the parents this year as well.

If you have any questions about the popcorn sales please feel free to contact myself or Diane at tdshaft@windstream.net.

Yours in Scouting

Chris Nagel

cnagelmol@aol.com

SEPTEMBER CUBMASTER MINUTE

I have to tell you that as I sit to write this month's post it is hard to believe that it is almost September. Seems like we just began the summer and now we are sending the kids off to school and beginning the upcoming scouting year and fall recruiting. Everyone that I have spoke to seems like they had a great summer and many enjoyed the opportunities that the Heart of Ohio Council offered at day camp, overnighter, resident camp, and the Indians sleep in event. I want to extend a thank you to Dave Haney, Fred Awad, Phillip Slezak, D'Arcy Ziegler, and Kim Zander for volunteering their time to spend the week with our boys at resident camp. It is a large commitment and we appreciate their time and I know the boys had a great time.

As we move into the new scouting year we have many exciting activities and programs planned. We received many great comments about the quality of the program last year and our goal is to build off of that and make this years program even better. We are making some minor changes to the program this year to keep it fresh and exciting for not only the boys, but the families as well. I hope to share those with you throughout the year, but in the meantime you can visit our website at http://www.cubscoutpack153.com/ for our complete 2008-2009 calender of pack meetings and events we have planned thus far. Your son's den leader should be contacting you to communicate the schedule for den meetings.

One of those changes is that we held a "Say Good-Bye to Summer and Hello to Scouting" family picnic to kick-off the scouting year on August 16th. We had a great turnout with over 70 people attending and seemed like everyone had a very nice time with the games and activities that we had. Check out the website to see the photos of the event. Thanks to all who attended and helped with the event.

Something new we are doing this year is taking orders for uniform needs. I emailed a form out last week, so if you are interested in participating in this program please complete the form and get to me by August 31 to be included in the order.

The "Gateway to Scouting" Encampment is just about a month away. This is such a tremendous event that it is only done twice a year. It is held at the Lorain County Fairgrounds and will have many, many exciting activities. Please visit the website and click on the link on the homepage for more detailed information. We will be sending out a registration link with additional information in the next few days. You do not want to miss this event!!!!!

It is that time again to begin thinking about our annual popcorn sales drive. This is our main fundraising opportunity and helps to fund our scouting activities throughout the year. Diane Shaft has taken on the important role of "Popcorn Kernel." She will be visiting the den meetings in September to kick off the event. There are many great prizes available this year at the Council and Pack level. Even a possibility to throw a pie in my face.........

As always, let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to working with you on delivering a quality program for the boy's......

Yours in Scouting,

Chris

cnagelmol@aol.com

Cubmaster Corner - June 2008

Scouters,

I hope this finds your summer off to a great start. I apologize for not being in touch with all of you recently, but it has been a very active start to the summer for me. However, I wanted to get you updated on activities happening within Pack 153.

However, before we get into that I wanted to speak briefly on the tragedy that occurred a few weeks ago in Iowa at one of the Boy Scout camps. For those of you who did not hear four Boy Scouts from Iowa were killed while at camp when a tornado riped through the campground. You can find out more at the Boy Scouts of America Website and access the story and tribute to these boys at http://old.scouting.org/scoutcamp.pdf.

I mention this so we can remember these young men and their families in our thoughts and prayers. It is also a time to remind ourselves of the principles of safe scouting. Although there is not much they could have done to prevent this, there are many things we can do as we conduct our scouting activities to ensure everyone has a safe and fun scouting experience. Please have a safe summer out there whether scouting or enjoys activities with you families.

This week marks the start of many summer scouting activities in the Heart of Ohio Council. We had a tremendous response to the camps this year. Thank you to D'Arcy Ziegler for coordinating the camp sign-ups this year. This coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday many of the boys will be participating in day camp at Camp Firelands in Wakeman. The boys always have a great time at this camp participating in many great activities such as swimming, archery, wood craft, BB guns, etc. all working towards their achievements.


In July many scouts will be participating in resident camp at Camp Firelands. This is where the boys camp for 4 days and again they have a great time with friends and fellow scouts from around the region and complete many achievement towards their rank advancements. Again, thank you to D'Arcy and Kim for attending Webelos camp with the scouts and Dave and Fred for attending Cub Scout camp. It should be a great experience for everyone.


This Saturday is the much anticipated Progressive Field Overnighter with the Cleveland Indians. We have had a tremendous response to this event again this year with over 30 people from Pack 153 attending. Thanks to Kelly Butler for coordinating this event again!!!!


I also wanted to let you know about the 2008 "Gateway to Scouting" Encampment October 3-5, 2008 at the Lorain County Fairgrounds. We should have more details on the pack web page this week, but the information that I received looks very fun and it is for the entire family!!!!! Just some of the events includes rockets, fireworks, totem pole carving, railroad rides, wall climbing, HAM radio and much, much more so be on the look out for more information. I have already reserved a camping spot for Pack 153 now all we need is you.


Well, I hope all of you continue to have a safe summer and the boys enjoy themselves at the scouting activities they are attending. As always, please contact me if you have any questions at 440-666-1395.

Please visit our website at www.cubscoutpack153.com






See you Scouting





Chris

Cubmaster's First Blog.........

Welcome to the Pack 153 Cubmaster Blog........

I have been hearing so much about this blogging that folks are doing and decided to look into it a bit more. What I discovered is that this might be a great tool to add to the website to foster more communication between the scouts, parents and leaders in order to enhance the quality of the program for the boys. I am unsure how this part of the site will evolve over time, but hope that you find it useful knowing what is happening with the pack and offer an opportunity to give us feedback on making the program better.

I want to congratulate all the scouts for advancing to the next rank and appreciate those that came out last Friday to support our Tiger Cubs in their advancement ceremony. They showed that the glow of the scouting spirit is alive inside of them. I hope all of you keep the spirit alive throughout the years to come.

Also, thank you to all who came out in support of the "Good Turn for North Ridgeville Day" on May 10th. The boys assisted some of North Ridgeville's senior citizens in cleaning their yards for the summer and sprucing up flower beds and mulching. They were extremely appreciative and commented on how well behaved the boys are. The Webelos den also assisted in cleaning the water shed area behind St. Peter's of trash and debris.

As we look forward to June there are many opportunities for the boys to get out and enjoy the outdoor activities that the scouts offer. We had a tremendous amount of interest in the camps this year with our biggest participation ever in Day Camp and Resident Camp. In addition, it looks as if we will have a large group going to the Progressive Field Indians Overnighter. If you are interested in either of these it is not too late. Please reach out to your son's leader for more information.

Lastly, I want to welcome the new Tiger Scouts and families to the pack. We had a great start to the recruiting year and I am excited to get the den going. As we see them around this summer at camps please join me in welcoming them to Pack 153.

Well I think this is a good start to my career as a blogger so until next time......


Chris