Optional Overnight Camp Out at Hembree Park Campground

Calling all scouts and parents!

It's time for camp out and enjoy dinner over the fire. Join us on 6/13 for a new adventure.

So true! It will be an adventure!

Starting at 11:00AM on Saturday, June 13th, Pack 285 will begin tent set-up at the Hembree Park Campground located on Hembree Rd across from Sweet Apple Elementary/Elkins Point Middle School in Roswell, GA.

It will be a fun day of outdoor experiences, achievement-related activities, and companionship. We will cook dinner over a camp fire, play  flashlight tag, sleep in tents and have breakfast with the sunrise.  On Sunday we will host a short Duty to God experience and then break camp for home.  We depart no later than 10:00AM.  Bathrooms are adjacent to the campground.

THIS IS A FREE EVENT! 

To indicate your interest, please click HERE.  Remember when completing your signup to indicate the number of campers in your party and how many people your tent can hold.  If you do not have a tent, indicate 0.  Extra tents will be provided and "tent shares" can be arranged with other families.  If for some reason the sign-up is full, please email us the above information at amanacubscoutpack285@gmail.com and we will manually add you to the list.

SAFETY FIRST!

Pack 285 will be following the BSA's Safe Scouting and Youth Protection Guidelines for this event. As a result no scout may sleep in a tent with an adult who is not their parent. As a result we may establish "scout only" tents to maximize limited sleeping space.  Completing the interest form above will help Pack 285 to plan the sleeping arrangements to ensure that all boys and parents are able to participate. 

This is a GREAT alternative or addition to Bert Adams Cub Adventure Camps in July!  So please come out and enjoy this FREE, ONE NIGHT, LOCAL camping option.

Questions? Talk to Sheila Boyd.  

Pack 285 is proud of its BALD EAGLES!

Doing a Good Turn for Childhood Cancer Research!

Over the weekend members of Pack 285 participated in St. Baldrick's Day! This event raises funding for research into childhood cancers. Participants agree to shave their heads BALD if friends, relatives and complete strangers donate to this great cause.  Overall the Amana Academy team raised more than $13,886 - closer to $15,000 with corporate matches and in-kind donations!!

Representing Pack 285 leadership was our Wolf Den Leader, Roger Boyd.  He returned for a second year as a team "shavee" after an amazing first time experience last year. There's some truth to the statement that his hair grew in grayer than before but this didn't stop him from raising $335 in donations.  WAY TO LEAD!

Of course the Boyd Family was sporting their Pack 285 Class B tshirts!  Tiger Den Leader, Sheila Boyd, was the Barber Coordinator for the day's event.  This role consisted of arriving early to set-up the barber station and help with general event preparations, making copies of the barber licenses, and ensuring the barbers had water, bathroom breaks and generally whatever they needed to keep the event moving!

Wolf scout, Andrew, was so impressed by the good works of his friends and family that he too participated as a "shavee."  Also on hand for the event were fellow scouts, Arlo (not pictured), Aziz (not pictured), Tomas and Judah!  Pack 285 believes in supporting our scouts even if we aren't quite ready to have our own heads shaved.

But speaking of being a great role model, we have to hand it to Judah, a Tiger Scout, who raised $1,076 in donations for this worthy cause!  He knocked on a lot of doors to drum up these donations and really showcased what it means to do a "Good Turn."  We are so proud of you, Judah!

With Mom, Dad and Baby Sister cheering him onward, Judah took command of the stage!  He was smiles throughout his shave experience. 

GREAT JOB!

Have You Registered Yet for Cub Camp?

It's TIME TO REGISTER for NRCC!

If you haven't already done so, now is the time to register for the Northern Ridge Cub Camp at Wills Park. 

Registration closes on April 25th.

Here are the dates and times:

• Day Camp - Monday June 1st through Thursday, June 4th (8.30 AM-2:00 PM)
• Twilight Camp - Sunday, May 31st through Thursday June 4th (4:00 PM-8:45 PM)

Here are some of the exciting things to look forward to in 2015:

• BB Guns and Archery program
• Increased focus on STEM
• New programs including: Hiking, Duty to God, Cyber Chip
• A new sports program focused around the ScoutSTRONG program
• A significantly enhanced Webelos program
• For volunteers - new online training to replace in-person training
• Improved registration system

Register NOW!    $110/per cub scout

Yes! We found some FOOD!

Scouting for Food results in a VAN LOAD of food donated to the NFCC's Food Bank!!

Great job to all our scouts who participated and to the Amana Academy community!!

Scouting for food always starts the same way. A scout goes door to door in their community to distribute plastic bags and notes about the project. Sometimes neighbors will give food right away - as soon as you knock on the door.  Others will wait until the following Saturday to place a bag or box of food on their door step.  Sometimes very few neighbors participate.  What's important here is that our Scouts and their siblings are improving their public speaking skills, DOING A GOOD TURN in the community, and learning about Hunger in America.

Jaden affixes a note to the door.

Siblings are welcome to  help!

People even leave us encouraging notes!

We asked our school to help out! They sure did!! 

After collecting food door-to-door and from our school community, scouts have the task to consolidate these donations into a single Pack 285 delivery. A family usually waits in the Amana Academy parking lot to gather all the food.  This year the Boyd family ate McDonald's for breakfast and collected the arriving donations.

For the last two years the Blalock family has used their van to transport the donations from the drop-off point in the school parking lot to the Food Bank at North Fulton Community Charities.  We filled the van again.  Two years!!!  Way to go Pack 285!!

Then the Blalocks roll all the food - one wagon and cart load at a time - into the Food Bank. Melissa maintains a list of all the scouts who participated and submits the list to NFCC for patches.  These patches will be distributed at the next Pack Meeting!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED MAKE SCOUTING FOR FOOD A GREAT SUCCESS!

Optional Camp Card Sales!!!

If are looking for a way to afford cub scout camp this summer, then please consider our optional CAMP CARD SALE fundraiser.

Through this program, your scout can sell discount cards to the general public for $5 a card and receive $2.50 back towards his camp costs.  Sell just 44 cards and your scout has paid for the NRCC summer camp at Wills Park!!

These booths operate just like the popcorn booths:

• Sign up for a two hour time slot and be sure to dress in Class A uniforms if possible. If not, wear your Class B tshirt.  One parent per scout must stay for the event - so 2 scouts, 2 parents.
• Cynthia Khan will contact you individually about picking up the cards, the table cloths and the cash box if you are the first shift. Likewise she will arrange with you how to close up the table if you are last shift.
• Sell camp cards!!  
• Each boy in that shift will split their sales.

HERE's the SIGN UP LINK:

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/5080949A5AB2FA64-optional 

How do I use our "savings" to register for Camp?

When registering for camp, we will provide you with the amount earned.  If your scout has earned 100% of their fees, then we will mail a check to the camp as soon as you have registered.  Just let us know!!  If your scout has earned partial fees, we will let you know what the difference is and you can decide if he is still going.  Should you decide to still send your scout to camp, then we will collect the remaining funds from you and send in 1 check for the full amount after you have registered.

Don't worry! Melissa Blalock is our treasurer but she's also on the NRCC camp committee. So she is a pro at making sure these payments get made in a timely and proper manner.

Food Collection Drop-Off

Saturday, March 21st will be here before we know it!  

Pack 285 will be consolidating all of it's donations into a single delivery on March 21st.  Please meet us in the parking lot at Amana Academy by 11:00am. We are also collecting donations from the school community.  Please continue to encourage your classmates and teachers to place their donations in the boxes located in the lobby.

If you need to drop-off donations prior to Saturday morning, please contact Melissa Blalock at mwblalock@gmail.com .

Tropical Dreams Part 2

Exhausted but Energized

In the morning there was a quick continental breakfast, packing and dressing, and then more adventures to be had by the scouts as they delved deeper into the aquarium collections and conservation. The adults were tired and a bit stiff despite the air mattresses and sound machines. Plenty of coffee however helped to clear their minds for the work ahead.

The tour started with the tunnel and the stars of the show... whale sharks and manta rays!

Sean seems to have something in common with this little fellow!

The touch tank was a great experience. Usually visitors must hurry through as the line forms behind them. With only 110 campers on this overnight adventure, the scouts had time to really enjoy the experience and to ask plenty of questions. For hesitant guests the additional time helped them gain comfort with the idea.

There are so many good photos to share but the one below touches me deeply. I love the moment captured between one of our Bears and a Webelos scout. They are so comfortable with each other and engaged. The benefits of a small pack is that all of our boys know one another regardless of the age differences.

I love this photo as well. Sisters and brothers are important to us in Pack 285 and we were excited to welcome Loveday on this overnight. She enjoyed the experience as much as the scouts did.

It wasn't all fun and games either. The scouts listened to expert visitors who explained crucial things about the World's oceans and inhabitants. While for the Wolves some of the lectures went on a bit long, the older scouts gained so much from these professional interactions.

One more touching moment as we see again just how wonderful it is to be in a small pack!

The last conservation exercise of the day involved creating a timeline for how long it takes for items to decay in the ocean.  The scouts were given a variety of trash to place on the timeline including old shoes and diapers! They learned a hard lesson about the condition of our oceans.

While the shoe might stink, the adventure did NOT.  Everyone had a great time and we hope to do this again next year.  Thank you to everyone for making our first sleepover a success!

Tropical Dreams Part 1

Sleeping with the Sharks. Swimming with the Fish.

It sounded a bit like a gangster movie from the 1940s.  I was sending my kid to swim with this fishes, to sleep with the sharks. Can't you picture the concrete shoes, the wide brimmed Fedora, and the Tommy gun?

Actually it was the first Cub Scout Sleepover at the Georgia Aquarium!

For several of our original scouts this sleepover marked the first time that they saw the "vision" fully realized. Way back in November of 2013 during our first ever Rally Night, Pack 285 showed all interested families a short video that promoted many of the fun activities which cub scouts participates in throughout the nation. Most of these activities were beyond the reach of a brand new pack. Financially there were limits as to what we could do in that first year. Now in our second year the boys are beginning to see the full vision come to life.  For most on this trip, the annual Popcorn Sale helped to finance if not all of the trip than at least a large portion of the cost.  It sure made all those booth "show and sells" seem like a good idea.  Next year I expect families to be beating down the doors for space at the booth.

The theme of this adventure was CONSERVATION.  Much of what was discussed on the visit can be used by Webelos and Bears towards their achievements. 

After check-in at 7:00PM, the scouts were led on a Behind-the-Scenes tour of the area where they would be sleeping.  Our pack plus one additional family would be sleeping in the Tropical Diver Area. During the tour the scouts learned about how the wave action is created on the artificial reef and how the water is purified. They also spent time learning about the impending birth of a new Beluga whale calf and starting their study on conservation.

After a pizza dinner, the pack was escorted to their sleep area where preparations began to settle in for the night.  Admittedly the boys were not all ready for sleep.  In fact the other family assigned to our space moved to a ... quieter location nearby.  This event was organized and efficient with very few lessons learned coming home. Of the few things for us to remember next year was the fact that the ambient lighting in the Tropical Diver area is actually quite bright. Sleep masks would have been a good investment.

Bear Assistant Den Leader, Cyndi Said, chaperoned along with Roger Boyd, Wolf Den Leader, and Steve Jackson, Committee Chair.  Cyndi admits that she was ready for bed way before the majority of the boys! Roger stayed awake until the last scout was asleep. Needless to say he napped as soon as he came home on Sunday!

Along with our three chaperons, parents were welcome to attend. We were thrilled to have a Webelos dad, Mr. Khan; a Bear dad, Mr. Alexander; and a Wolf mom, Ms. Weimer. We also welcomed siblings over the age of seven including sisters...because everything is open to families in Pack 285!

Waiting on their sleeping bags and overnight cases to arrive, the boys get used to their new sleeping quarters! Can't you see how very tired they are?

Even in their pjs...they still don't seem quite ready for bed yet. Look at all that ambient light! No wonder!

 Just when you thought they were finally asleep...oh look! There's plenty of light to read by....

Still up.  Still light.  You have to wonder what Jaden is thinking about....Mr. Boyd said that Jaden was the last to fall asleep. We believe him.