All of troop 39 family would like to express their heartfelt congratulations to the nation’s newest Eagle Scout, Sam Long.  Sam who was previously a scout with Troop 39 was recognised at his Eagle Court of Honour today in Henderson, NC.   Sam, congratulations – you have truly earned to keep your Troop 39 neckerchief!

Sam is pictured with (from L to R) his father, Nick Long, Mr FitzSimons (ASM Troop 39), Sammy (SM, troop 39) and Glenn Benton (ASM, troop 39).

Summer Camp is so nearly upon us.  We need scouts to make their decisions on the electives that they will take.

For all the new scouts, they will take the New Camper program that takes them through a lot of the requirements for Tenderfoot, second class and first class material.  For them, there is no need to respond.

For all other scouts attending, please complete the form below and send back by 6pm on Sunday

YiS

Chris FitzSimons
ASM Troop 39

Troop 39 performed one of its annual service projects yesterday handing out programmes at the UNC commencement ceremony.   The troop has done this each May (and December for Winter Graduation) for over 50 years.

UNC recognised Troop 39 in its “Commencement by the numbers” feature.

Glyn Tomkins
ASm Troop 39

yea, but no, but yea, but no …. this is just totally amazing …

Here also are some photos of the weekend … our first outing with some of our newest scouts – a great weekend to remember!  enjoy!

This weekend we spent and unseasonably cool weekend at Camp Campbell with the Mawat/Orange District Camporee.

Troop 39 did really well winning several honours:

We entered 6 dishes into the cooking contest.  All of them were dutch oven recipes.  We won 5 of the 18 cooking prizes on offer:

1. Naticus Minimus won 1st place in the Youth Dessert with his Green Monster cobbler made with Montain Dew.  This was despite one of the judges being overheard saying that he prays before he eats anything green!  Way to go Mr Minimus.
2. James J earned a 2nd place award for his Chili in the youth main course.  Very tasty James!
3. Mr Jennings earned a 2nd place for his bean feast (see the picture) in the Adult side dishes competition.
4. Mrs Meyer (technically entering for Crew 39) earned 2nd place for her most delicious Bread pudding in the adult desserts category.
5. Mr Tomkins earned 3rd place for his popular Pollo Alla Cacciatore in the adult main course event.   Recipe is on the troop site if you want to make it at home!

Troop 39 has a fine pedigree of dutch oven cooking and, as a leader, what is most rewarding is seeing the youth of the troop being so enthusiastic about cooking in dutch ovens.  Some great photos of the guys cooking.

Troop 39 also won first place for making a PBJ sandwich blindfolded and 2nd place for one of the other events (ribbon ilegible!)

Mr FitzSimons did a totally amazing job building a Monkey Bridge for the entire camp to enjoy.

The troop wrapped it up by coming 2nd in the campsite cleanliness category – losing by only one point to the 1st place team.  Note the the quartermaster, we were docked that one point for not having our propane tanks in crates (for stability).  We have the crates but they are bolted to the bottom of the trailer!  Great job Troop 39 and thanks to Mr Tomkins for building the camp gateway single-handedly which earned 5 bonus points for the troop.

Note to leaders – next time we are in Campbell, we need to camp on the sheltered side of camp – not on the peninsula!

Parents,

I will not be at troop meeting next week and we need to start to firm up plans for the DC trip.  Please read this note carefully and respond expeditiously – i want to get attendees for this trip firmed up by the end of next week – February 1st

We have limited accommodation for this trip – it is possible that we could get more but be aware that if everyone decides to go, then we are likely to be oversubscribed and we will work to do what we can to take all.  Priority will be given to those who previously responded to the call for information last year that was needed for the Whitehouse tour then on a first to respond basis then we will take names on a first come first served basis.

thanks

Glyn Tomkins

Assistance Scoutmaster,  Troop 39

What are we doing in DC?

we will be biking about the National Mall and all of its attractions – the monuments, the Smithsonian, the Whitehouse, the Capitol, the National Archive etc.  Scouts will break up into patrols and patrols will (within reason) determine their own schedule and itinerary.  We did request important personal information for scouts last year.  This was to go to the Secret Service for clearance to tour a Whitehouse tour.  We will not hear back if we have been selected for that until a week prior to our outing.  Keep your fingers crossed.  If you did not respond to the Whitehouse tour info request and we get confirmed on that trip, your scout will not be able to attend the Whitehouse  tour – Secret Service rules, not Troop 39′s!

Costs

If you respond positively to this then you are committing to pay the outing cost.   These are approximate costs – final costs are yet to be determined.  Please talk to Sammy confidentially if there is an affordability issue for this trip – the troop has funds to provide financial assistance if needed.

Food money

• Scouts should have had dinner or bring a brown bag dinner for the journey up.     We will stop to vend on the way up.
• breakfast is included.
• Scouts will make packed lunches for Saturday by patrol – food will be purchased beforehand so expect about $5 to be paid to PL/grubmaster.
• Dinner will be at a restaurant – suggested budget $15
• We will stop for lunch en route on Sunday – suggested budget $10
• Other spending money for gifts.

Taking your own bike

we have very limited number of spaces to take your bike with us – based on bike carriers – maybe 7 maximum.  If you take a bike then it must be roadworthy and servicable and you must have a lock and key, a helmet and a spare inner tube, tools to remove the wheel and tyre and the skills to repair a flat   – it is not courteous to others on the trip to be slowed down because a scout takes a bike that is not roadworthy and doesn’t know what to do to repair it.

All scouts will need a small backpack (school pack is fine) to carry their gear in on their bikes that they will need for the day – leaders will not be carrying scouts cameras, coats, lunches, etc etc etc … !!!

Please respond by February 1. 

 If I have not heard from you by this date, then we will be assuming that your scout is not attending.  I would like a response for every scout – it makes life easier

Please fill in and send this form to register your desire to go on this outing by February 1.   Remember places are limited but we will do what we can to accommodate everyone – so earlier responses are to your advantage.

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Folks, some photos and a video of this weekend’s fun at Organ Cave, WV. When you watch the video you must turn the volume up and listen to the scout carrying the camera!

Tonight, a handful of the superheroes of Troop 39 who raised $8000 for the UNC Children’s Hospital presented a check to Dr Wesley Burks.

The scouts were also treated to a guided tour of the hospital to show how their hard earned dollars that they raised are put to good use.