All scouts are required to complete service projects as part of their rank advancements. Our motto, do a good turn daily, illustrates how central service is to the Boy Scouts of America.
We need all hands on deck this weekend for our annual Scouting for Food service projects. This time of year, the shelves at the Bristol Emergency Food Pantry are nearly bare. Our two-weekend food drive supplies more than half of their stockpile of food for an entire year. This is an extremely important project, and we have a large area to cover. We need all scouts there to help, and we also need parent volunteers to drive the scouts around. Please let us know if you are available to help.
Meet at the church at 9:00 a.m. this Saturday. Scouts should be in full uniform for this service project. We will divide into teams and cover a large area of Bristol, Virginia. Following the service project, we will be hosting the Webelos scouts of Pack 8 for a camping and shooting trip to Kettlefoot Rod and Gun Club.
After the bag distribution, we will regroup at the church at noon for our annual Kettlefoot Fall Shooting Outing. We will be camping at Kettlefoot Saturday night and the shooting program will be on Sunday morning from 9:00 until about 12:00. The shooting program will be managed by four certified instructors along with Troop 8 leaders. We will also be joined by a United States Federal Marshal who will spend some time with the scouts. The scouts will be learning gun safety and handling and will be able to participate in activities that will allow them to earn a good portion of the rifle shooting merit badge.
We plan on returning just after lunch on Sunday, which should put us back to the church around 2:00PM.
Any scout who is unavailable for camping on Saturday should feel free to join in Sunday morning. You will need to be there Sunday before the program starts (by 8:45) in order to participate in the required introductions and safety briefings.
Scouts will only need camping gear, including warm sleeping bag and pad, mess kit, flashlight, and warm clothing for layering. Currently the weather is forecasted to be in the mid-30s Saturday evening and overcast and in the 40s on Sunday. Because of its location, Kettlefoot is usually a bit cooler, so the boys should make sure that they have plenty of warm clothing and sleeping gear. We will be having a large bonfire Saturday night. All materials needed for the shooting portion of the program will be provided, including ear and eye protection. We will be having dinner on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday.
The estimated cost of the trip is $15.00. In addition, scouts should bring pocket money for a fast food lunch after Scouting for Food on Saturday.
This is a trip requested by the scouts at the Patrol Leaders’ Council and made possible by the help and planning of Brad Baker and Phil Cavatoni. It is also a great opportunity for Scouts to learn the proper skills necessary to be safe and responsible with firearms. We hope all our scouts will come out and enjoy this fun weekend.
