Parents 

Troop 39 leadership strongly encourage all scouts in the troop to make the most of every Summer Camp opportunity and now is the time to sign up your scouts for Summer Camp 2018.   Please do so as soon as possible.   

Summer Camp offers an exciting opportunity to learn new skills and earn many Merit Badges that are key to advancement from First Class Scout to Eagle.

For those new to the troop, the Summer Camp programme offers a fantastic opportunity for your scout to establish a very firm foundation on his advancement.  He will have the opportunity to learn new skills and many of the Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class requirements will be covered as well as requirements for FIrst Aid Merit Badge.  Summer Camp is also be a great opportunity to make friends in the troop and others from the council and get to know the wonderful Camp Durant.

Troop 39 wants every scout in the troop to have the opportunity to attend Summer Camp.  If any hardships apply, please discuss confidentiality with John Christy, Sammy or Glyn Tomkins.  

Yours in Scouting,

Glyn Tomkins
Assistant Scoutmaster

Troop 39 Summer Camp 2018

June 24- June 30

Cost: $330* includes transportation to and from Camp Durant.

Programme details:  See Camp Durant’s Leaders’ Guide for all you need to know (and a lot you don’t!)

Payment is due by 3/21 (late fees levied by Occoneechee Council may apply for payments received by Troop 39 after 3/21).

You can pay online at the troop’s online shop by 3/21 by credit/debit card or, if you have the funds, your Scoutbucks accounts!

An alternative for eagle scouts and for life scouts who don’t need merit badges:

High Adventure at The Summit

See campdurant.com for details.  Cost $550.  Checks only.

Requires pre-approval by Glyn Tomkins and immediate payment by check only to secure your place. 

Schedule:

3/1 – 3/21 Payments accepted – shop.troop39nc.org or check to Troop 39*.

3/21-4/1   Provide your programme choices.  Look out for instructions in email.

4/1            Troop 39 enters your selections into the camp reservation system for those who have paid.

i.e. if you have not selected your Merit Badges by this time or you have not paid, the probability that you won’t get the programme of your choice will increase.

Troop Families,

This evening Pack 39 had their Arrow of Light Crossover Ceremony before their Blue and Gold. Troop 39 was honored to accept 7 scouts from the pack. In an effort to continue to improve the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts for the entire families we are relaunching the Phoenix Patrol.

The Phoenix Patrol will be run by our Troop Guides, and Mr Benton will serve as the principal Adult Leader for the duration of the patrol. This time will provide our new scouts an opportunity to learn how Troop level scouting is different from Cub Scouts. The Phoenix Patrol will also be working on their progression towards the rank of Scout. We expect to have all 7 Phoenix Patrol Scouts integrated into our 5 core patrols within a 60-90 day window. We look forward to seeing them at their first Troop 39 meeting this Wednesday as Boy Scouts.

Below is your first look at these members of Troop 39. Photo courtesy of Sammy.

Troop 39 Webmaster
Scottie

Each year the District celebrates the contributions of a few of the district’s many volunteers.  This year, several of the troop’s volunteers were recognised earlier in December for their work within Troop 39 and across the district.

Mary Glenn Benton received the Kim Hackett memorial Scouting Spouse award.  Seen here with nominator, Glyn Tomkins

Scoutmaster Emeritus, Mr Jim Mackorell receiving the Charter Organization Representative Award for his work with Troop 505. Seen here with nominator Mr Keith Wetzel, Assistant Scoutmaster Troop 505.  Sorry about the blurry photo!

Ms Julie Hellofs, Touch-a-Truck chair par excellence, receiving the Unit Committee Member Award, photographed with nominator Mr Gary Bird.

Mr Glyn Tomkins took a selfie after receiving the Order of the Arrow Adult of the Year award from Chapter Chief, Alberto Daniels.

Troop 39 spent a great week at Camp Durant.  Check out the official video and photos from Camp!

And the official 925 photos – did you spot yourself?

Scouts First Class and Higher,

Your newly SPL has created a form for you, not your parents, to select positions for the 2017/2018 Scout Year. The email from your SPL has been forwarded on to the Parent email list. If you have any questions about the form then contact him directly. Above is a hyperlink to the Google Form and here is the long URL, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc51wpd0Tn9OWhSs_vIhfy-vk9Er3pX6qxNuFwPP_ckqNXvOw/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link

Glenn Benton receiving his award from Sammy Rape

Assistant Scoutmaster Glenn Benton was awarded the BSA Shakori District’s Assistant Scoutmaster of the Year 2016 award. 

In his nomination, Troop 39 Scoutmaster Sammy Rape wrote: “Glenn Benton has done a tremendous job as our New Scout Transition Coordinator. In that position, he leads the recruiting efforts of Webelos scouts from Packs in our area. He leads the organization of our Field Day program to help prospective scouts and their parents learn about our troop. He uses extraordinary efforts to integrate our new scouts and their parents into our troop, once they have joined. His efforts have significantly increased membership in our troop over the last number of years.
Glenn Benton has made a real difference in the health and vibrancy of our troop and I am pleased to nominate him as Shakori Assistant Scoutmaster of the Year.”

Diane Meyer with Order of the Arrow Chapter Advisor Carlton McKee

Diane Meyer was awarded the BSA Shakori District’s venturing Advisor of the Year 2016 award for her commitment to Crew 39. 

Diane has always set the example of what leadership should be. Venture crew 39 has never been a large crew yet she has been diligently working to maintain the crew operational by encouraging members to attend and help expand the crew in order to ensure that everyone has the best experience possible. In addition to her dedication, her organizational skills and making herself easily reachable and more importantly, easily approachable, have had an amazing impact on Crew 39 as well as Troop 39 where she had served as advancement chair and is  now an assistant scoutmaster. Crew members would have been lost without her!

Parents and scouts

The White House

We do not know if we have been approved to enter the White House and the expectation is that we will not know until maybe as late as the week of the trip.  I appreciate that this does not give you much time for planning and decision making however it is not within our control!  I suggest you make the decision to go or not to go independently of whether we do or do not get into the White House or not and make your plans accordingly.

Transportation

Accommodation

Parking

Supervision

Bike rentals

Meals

Uniforms

• Class A will be worn for the White House tour, the service we will hold at the Boy Scout memorial and the service we will hold at the Quantico National Cemetery.
• Class B will be worn at all other times during the weekend except when sleeping, when you will be wearing Class PJs!

Provisional schedule: 

Friday: 

Saturday:  

• Tour the White House
• Pick up rental bikes
• Scouts tour DC in their patrols – parents/siblings will do their own thing.
• Scouts Own service at the National Boy Scout Memorial on the Mall.
• Dinner at a restaurant of Sammy’s choosing
• Night time tour of DC on the bus
• Stop off at Iwo Jima Memorial for reflection and night time vista of DC.
• return to Camp at Prince William Forest Park.

Sunday: 

• Break camp (not as early as Saturday!). Dress in Class A.
• breakfast locally near Prince William Forest Park. .
• Service project and service of remembrance at the Quantico National Cemetery in Full Class A uniform.
• Lunch
• Point bus in direction of Chapel Hill.
• Target to be back in Chapel Hill provisionally: 5pm. j

What to Bring:

• Class A (Shirt and Neckerchief on a hanger to leave on the bus)
• Class B for the rest of the weekend
• A day pack already packed – water bottle; snacks; clothing suitable for forecasted weather;
• Money/Debit card for vending, two breakfasts, two lunches and dinner and for any souvenir purchases.
•  camping gear – usual stuff for a regular outing.

Sign up and payment

Step 1:

 Step 2:

Step 3:

Scouts and adults from Troop 39 enjoyed a special prepreation meeting the Wednesday before going to Gettysburg for an educational event. The scouts were able to get an excused absence from school to take a relaxing bus ride. We enjoyed a weekend of camping on the historic battlefield. Saturday we visited the museum and were to spend quite some time marveling over the 360 degree Cyclorama, the largest oil painting in the USA measuring 42 feet high and 377 feet in circumference, and is over 130 years old. We were treated to have a licensed tour guide on our troop bus that spent time making this event a memory of a lifetime for us. So much information was coming forth from him that one could not help but be moved by this retired Marine. Saturday evening we were treated to some delicious ChiliMac by Mr Fitz-Simmons and cooking crew, a Troop 39’s Got Talent event, this included patrols, individual scouts, our guest parents and uniformed leaders, sorry, no video recording was made available. We were able to close out Saturday the best way our troop could at such a historical event with a flag retirement ceremony. We were up early Sunday, an hour before sunrise to break camp, have our scout zone service, eat and go over to Pickets Charge where our Mr Benton walked us thru the steps of this pivital event of the 3 day battle where we walked the 7th of a mile where 5000 Confederate lost their lives or came up missing in this event and we saw their high mark into Northern soil.

Please enjoy the photos, most of which were supplied by the scouts.

https://goo.gl/photos/kEkewnp9LBGewjY89

Scouts and leaders of troop 39 came together at Camp Reeves in August to plan the forthcoming Scouting year.  There is a lot of adventure ahead including a trip to Busch Gardens, backpacking, hiking, wilderness survival and historic trips to our nation’s capital and Gettysburg to name but a few! The capstone of the year will be a contingent heading to Philmont Scout Ranch and another heading to Bristol in England to join our brothers and sister of Troop 26!

Scouts of Troop 39 handed out 1,000s of commencement programmes today, continuing a tradition that extends over 50 years.   Here are a few photos of the Antelope patrol who were covering one of the busiest gates!  Scoutmasters received a continuous flow of comments about how smart and polite and cute the scouts were and what a good job they were doing.  Mothers beamed smiles as a scout wished them a Happy Mothers Day along with their programme!