Cub Winter Games

I sure didn't see any slow children

Ishpeming Cubs and Scouts have been instrumental for the past five years or so in making the Cub Winter games a great success, and this year was no different. This year's event also boasted a record number of volunteers from area Troops who set up and ran a variety of activities. The weather held out, with light winds, light snow, and warm(er) temperatures reaching into the upper twenties. Of course, the boys stayed warm racing around and climbing snow mounds between events.

Highlights:

• the best Cub-run flag ceremony ever!
• nine stations
• fourteen groups
• invading Ogre army demolished
• new Cub bowling records set
• possible UP 200 entrants identified
• hot soup and hot chocolate
• the bake sale raised over $290 for Ryan Koski's recovery
• the chili sale raised $110 for Crew 356

Darryl did a great job as the event's master of ceremonies, chief judge, and media spokesperson. He even stayed late to help mop up, though I think he was avoiding the dog house at home. Thanks, also go to the Willey's who ran the obstacle course and to Carolyn and Grace who ran the bake sale - and to all the folks who brought donations. Linda also helped keep the kitchen running (we've honestly never seen a kitchen without pots) and cleaned up afterwards.

Our own Scouts helped run three events and were a credit to the Troop. This is such a change from just a few years ago when they were the ones racing around and rolling in the snow. We're proud of them and our adult volunteers. We turned a dreary winter day into something really memorable for a lot of young boys. 

We've also seen a steady increase in help from the area's Troops - with Troop 372 already volunteering for a bigger role next year. Special thanks go to Chuck Suckow who brought out a very large trebuchet and Paul Salfai who organized behind the scenes and kept registration running smoothly. I wish I could list all the troops that helped out, but I took more photos than notes. 

Speaking of photos, don't forget to check out the event's album. You'll see a lot of boys having a lot of fun. Some are even eating fruits and vegetables. 

Project Keep Kids Warm - Shopping Day!

No one should be left in the cold

The big day arrived, and a large crowd waited outside for their chance to pick out winter coats, snow pants, hats, gloves, and boots. Troop 321's Scouts lent one last hand for this most worthy project. Volunteers from many different organizations, including our own Troop sponsors, Wesley United Methodist Church, were on hand to keep the tables neat and assist shoppers.

Thanks to a very generous donation, Dick Derby, our Chartered Organization Representative, could take down names, sizes, and contact information of people who could not find what they needed. The donation will allow the project to acquire and distribute the needed items so that absolutely no child who walked through the armory doors will spend the winter without a warm winter coat and snow pants.

Hats off to our Scouts for their community spirit. I'd love to see even more boys participate next year. This is truly a worthy project.

Project Keep Kids Warm - Setup

Troop 321 Helping Sort Donations

After distributing collection bags and picking up donations, Scouts from Troop 321 helped set up for the big shopping day! Their efforts included setting up tables and signs, unloading piles of bags, and sorting through mountains of coats. Volunteers from many different groups in our community made the work go quickly.

The presence of our Class A uniforms let our community know that it is blessed with caring Scouts eager to do a good turn daily. 

UP 200

Troop 321 on station

When the days are short, the nights are long, and the thermometer threatens to crash through zero - what's a Troop to do on a Friday night?

Well, we'll stay up, head out, and help the mushers racing in the UP 200 safely cross the street. Why? Because we're short of little old ladies, that's why.

OK, we're doing it because it's a long race that crosses many roads and the organizers need all the help they can get. And frankly, it's a thrill to witness a page out of Jack London's Call of the Wild right here in the U.P. You're just not going to see that sort of race in Atlanta any time soon - though maybe next year...

And there's a McDonald's with hot chocolate just a few minutes down the road on our way home.

Scouting for Food

Tyler W brings in a donation

In addition to helping keep kids warm, today also marked the official pickup date for the "Scouting for Food" service project. Scouts who hung bags on doors around their neighborhoods spent some of their Saturday collecting their bags.

Troop 321 will be donating its items on November 9th as part of the TV 6 Canathon drive to help restock local food banks. We hope to get a bit of media coverage during the drop-off, so all Scouts are encouraged to continue their collection activities until then and then help out on the 9th in uniform. 

Project Keep Kids Warm - Part 3

Our Scouts continued their service project to help "Keep Kids Warm" this morning by hitting the streets and picking up bags of winter clothing that donors left on their doorsteps.

Gary hits it big

Pickup day is always much easier than bag distribution day. With pickups, volunteers need only slowly cruise their route searching for bags stuffed with donations left on doorsteps.

Perhaps one in seven residences donated winter clothing this year, but collecting clothing is only half the project. The other half is to get these items out to people who need them. So even though most bags we distributed remained unfilled, they still served a purpose - to get the word out that warm winter wear will be available next week.

Sure, one in seven doesn't sound like a lot, but we hung bags on nearly seven thousand doors, so we may see a thousand donations. This means that our Scouts will be called once again into action to help set up tables at the Armory and sort through the donations by gender and size.

Potato Picking

Looks like Scouting

Troop 321 invited Pack 321 to go potato picking and share a picnic lunch today. For the past couple of years we've driven down to Melvin Johnson's Farm to glean from their fields what the automated machines miss. It's a great experience for the kids and a real boon to our local food pantries. 

After walking the fields in what amounted to a great, big, dirty, Easter egg hunt (the boys were thrilled), we packed up and headed over to Dawson Lake Park for lunch. The weather held out, and a few of the kids went swimming. Others beat the cattails for frogs, grasshoppers, turtles, and whatnot. 

You can find the rest of the photos in our photo gallery.

As for the potatoes; we kept some for ourselves, but most went to local food pantries. 

Rod & Gun Club Youth Day

Tyler draws a bead

The Negaunee Rod & Gun Club hosted its annual "Youth Day" today, and both Pack 321 and Troop 321 jumped at the chance to learn more about firearms, firearms safety, trapping, and bow hunting. And by learning, we mean getting to shoot!

The boys got to shoot pellet guns, bows, shotguns, .22 caliber rifles, and a muzzle loaded .45. They also got to hand-load and shoot their own .45 caliber bullet. The grownups were invited to use their cameras.

At the end of the day, the club raffled off door prizes. Everyone walked away with something, but there were only six coveted prizes to include shotguns, rifles, and hunting bows. Happily, our kids walked away with three of these!