October 2015
 

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In This Issue:
District Chariman's Minute
Roundtable
Advancement News
Merit Badge College
Cub Scout Program Changes
2017 National Jamboree
DE's Note
Unit News
Dates to Remember:
Quick Links
Conestoga District Leadership

 

District Chair

Robert (Bob) Booth

 302-319-0095

[email protected] 

 

District Commissioner

Dave Zimmerman

484-410-7415

 

District Executive

Jarred S. Barnes

484-654-9232

[email protected]

 
 

District Committee:


 

Advancement Chairman

(& Eagle Project Approval)

Paul Dallatore  

 

Eagle Board of Review

Robert Wetzel

610-328-4429

 

Training Chairman

Jim Foster 

 

Membership Chairman

Barry Walsh

  

Family Friends of Scouting Chairman

Currently Vacant, please inquire if interested

 

District Camp Card "Coach"

Linda Graeff 

 

Scouting for Food Chairman

Frank Dewan 

 

District Dinner Chairman

Judy Neiman

 

District Camping Chair

Richard Blank

 

Day Camp Director

John Thomas 

 

District Camporee Chairman

Jim Fitzgerald 

 

District Cookoree Chariman

Michael DiStefano 

 

Order of the Arrow Adviser

Jamie Flick

 

 
 Roundtable Commissioners:

Cub Scout:
Ed Vogel

Boy Scout: 

Venturing:  
Angela Margavitch

 

 

Unit Commissioners:

 Michael DiStefano 

P54, T54

 

Jim Foster 

P37, P503, T375

 

Jim Fitzgerald 

P44, P355, P485, T43, T44

 

 Joel Jeffries

P92, C32 

  

Josh Nay

C32, T355, C355

  

John Seng

P375, T32

 

Barry Walsh

P240, T503

 

Dave Zimmerman

P111, P339, T2

 

District Chairman's Minute
Hello Conestoga District,
I hope that in the past few weeks, you all had successful Welcome Back nights for your Packs, Troops, and Crews, and that you picked up lots of new members. Many of you took advantage of the September 30 Blast off into Scouting events, and Conestoga District picked up almost 150 new Scouts, who will all get a FREE Rocket at your next meeting...WAY TO GO!
But we're not done yet, never stop recruiting! New Scouts can still join your Pack, Troop, or Crew all year round, you can always add new Scouts to your roster. And new Scouts will still get a FREE rocket while supplies last.
 
Our next Roundtable meeting will be on October 13, at Drexel Hill United Methodist Church. Please invite any new leaders or parents so they can learn more about what's going on. It would be great to have every Pack, Troop, and Crew represented. And it's also a great opportunity to meet our new District Executive, Jarred Barnes. Jarred came to us from the Pittsburgh area and is a graduate of Lehigh University and an Eagle Scout.
At this month's roundtable you'll have the opportunity to attend BSA required Youth Protection training. And you can get answers to any questions you have on clearances required by PA's new Child Protection law.  
 
Here are some upcoming events for all Conestoga Pack, Troop, and Crew calendars:
Oct 13 - Conestoga District Roundtable meeting and OA, at Drexel Hill UMC
Oct 17, 18, 24, 25, 31, Nov 1 -Fall Fest at Musser Scout Reservation
Oct 24 - popcorn pick up take orders/turn in unsold product
Oct 25 - COPE weekend at Resica Falls Scout Reservation
Oct 31 & Nov 14 - turn in re-chartering and Journey to Excellence paperwork
Nov 14 - Scouting for Food bag drop off; pick up on Nov 21
Dec 5 - University of Scouting at Valley Forge Military Academy
Dec 31 - all Cradle of Liberty unit charters expire
Jan 22-24 - Alaskan Goldrush, joint event with Baden Powell District at Musser S.R.
Feb 12-14 - Valley Forge Pilgrimage and Encampment
Apr 22-24 - Conestoga District Spring Camporee at Musser Scout Reservation
May TBD - Conestoga District dinner
 
In September, our district had one Eagle Scout Board of Review. Please join me in congratulating Conestoga District's newest Eagle Scout, Mitch Smedley of Troop 512. Congrats to our newest Eagle and his family.
 
Yours in Scouting,
Bob Booth

Roundtable

Tuesday, October 13th  

 

Drexel Hill United Methodist Church

600 Burmont Rd, Drexel Hill, PA

 

Joint Session 7:30-8:00 pm 

Program announcements and a guest speaker from the American Radio Relay League to present the Amateur Radio Service to Scouting Award to our own Richard Blank!

 

Program Breakout 8:00-9:00pm

Program-specific discussions and presentations relevant to you.

 - Cub Scout

 - Boy Scout

 - Order of the Arrow

 

All Scout leaders and interested adults are welcome to attend Roundtable.  Every Unit should have at least one leader attend. 

 

Yours in Scouting, 

 

Dave Zimmerman

District Commissioner

Advancement News
 
-As a reminder, all units are required to report all advancement via the internet by June 1, 2016. Based on records held at Council, most of the troops and packs are currently reporting via internet advancement. If anyone needs assistance, please contact me, Paul Dallatore: [email protected]
 
The Council Advancement Committee is searching for assistance in two areas:
-Religious Emblems Coordinator for each district. If you would be interested in this position, please let me know. Responsibilities include encouraging all youth to earn the emblem of their faith and establish relationships with potential religious chartered organizations.
 -I am also looking for anyone who would like to become an Eagle Coach, which would help boys that are currently Life Scouts continue on to Eagle. This would mostly include helping them with the paperwork
 
-For all Life Scouts, requests for approval of your Eagle Project must be completed via a telephone call - please do not email. Those in the district that are able to approve projects are:
Robert Wetzel - 610-328-4429
James Gardner - 610-626-8158
Paul Dallatore - 610-888-4298
 
-All Eagle Scout Applications should be turned in to the Council office as soon as possible after the scout turns 18. The goal of the Advancement Committee is to schedule and complete the Board of Review as soon as possible.
 
-Any scout wishing to request an extension of time to complete the Eagle Requirements must send a request to the District Advancement Committee. This request will need to include the name of the scout, the reason for the extension and approximately how much time will be needed.

Merit Badge College
Cradle of Liberty Council will present a Merit Badge College on Saturdays March 19 and April 2, 2016 at the Valley Forge Military Academy. A scout will be able to earn up to four Merit Badges by completing pre requisites in advance of the first session, completing additional requirements between the two sessions, and of course by attending and participating in the two Saturday class events.
 
Fifty badges are being offered including seven Eagle Required Badges, many STEM badges, and other seldom offered badges. There will be a limit of 600 scouts so continue to monitor BSAT and the Conestoga Express for further information. The badges being offered and sign up instructions will be forthcoming shortly.
 
Registration will begin on February 1, 2016. The cost is twenty six dollars per scout which will include your lunch for both days and a patch. Last year was limited to 500 scouts and was sold out in eleven days.

 For additional information or a flyer contact Steve Perrone at [email protected]  

Cub Scout Program Updates

Exciting changes are coming to the Cub Scouting program that will make it simpler to execute for unit leaders and more fun for boys! 

The changes were outlined in webcasts conducted on January 17. Those webcasts were recorded and are available for your use below. A "History of Cub Scouting" video was shown during the webcasts and is also available at the link below.

 

2017 National Jamboree!
 
 
Calling all Troops! 
 
Registration is now active for the 2017 National Jamboree which will take place from July 19-28 2017 at The Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia, which is the fourth National BSA High Adventure Base. Cradle of Liberty Council intends to take ten contingent troops and one crew to the Jamboree. The cost for youth is $1,545 which includes transportation, food, equipment, and just about everything you will need. Campership money for those in need of assistance is available. The two step registration process to sign up for the Jamboree is described below:
 
First utilize this link http://www.summitbsa.org/events/jamboree/jamboree-registration/ to sign up on the National site. This will require a My.Scouting user name and password, go to www.my.scouting.org to create a password if you do not yet have one. Remember the account needs to be in the name of the person attending the Jamboree, not the parent, and the account has to be linked to the scout's membership id number. Chrome or Firefox may be the best browsers to sign up.
 
After you have signed up on the National System, then submit a Request to Attend Form, which can be found on the Council website, to Cradle of Liberty Council, 1485 Valley Forge Road, Wayne, Pa 19087, with all signatures and an initial payment of $245. You will need the Jamboree Registration Code that you receive from National once you sign up on their site. Further payments of $100 per month can be made by credit card through Doubleknot on the Council website.
 
Conestoga District has always had a large contingent of scouts attend the National Jamboree and we want to make sure that all of our scouts end up in the Conestoga Troop with Steve Perrone as their Scoutmaster.
For questions please contact Steve Perrone [email protected]
 
DE's Note
It has been my pleasure to serve Conestoga for going on Three months now.  I have met so many wonderful volunteers and their Scouts; it truly has been a eye-opening and learning experience for this Eagle Scout.  Please keep emailing me with your ideas, Express articles and anything you would like me to attend, do or work on for you.  Let's keep making Conestoga the best it can be. 

One of the first Units I meet was Troop 44 at Roosevelt Scout Reservation in August.  There I meet Dominic Vozzelli, a scout working on his Communications merit badge and asked to interview me for his one requirement.  Below is his interview with me...he asked all the tough questions and pulled no punches!

Getting to know our new District Executive 
By Dominic Vozzelli
Dominic- "What is your name and where are you from?''
District executive- ''My name is Jarred Barnes and I am from Pittsburgh, PA.''
D - ''You said you were originally from Pittsburgh, where do you live now?''
DE- ''Now I live in Fishtown, a section of Philadelphia.''
D-''What is your role in scouting?''
DE- ''I am the district executive of the Conestoga district -Cradle of Liberty Council. What I do is recruit new scouts/volunteers, help build relationships between volunteers and scouts. Also I help with fundraising and stuff like that.''
D- ''What made you want to do scouting?''
DE- ''The Boy Scouts showed up at the school and I thought it was interesting so my mom put me in scouts.''
D- ''How far in scouting did you get?''
DE- ''I started as a Tiger and made it to Eagle, when I was 18...got my board of review after my 18th Birthday, which is allowed.''
D- ''Mr. Barnes where do you see yourself in 5 years''
DE- ''In 5 years may be in scouting still or in politics.''
D- ''Thank you Mr. Barnes for your time and it was nice to get to know you better.''
  
Unit News
What has your unit been up to?  Anything you want to share with the rest of the district?

Send article submissions and photos to Jarred S. Barnes by the end of each month to be included.