Cub Scouts and Geocaching

[+Jedi Cacher]

First off I know there are probably allot of geocachers out there that were once scouts or are affliated with scouting. I am thinking about putting together a little geocaching adventure for our pack and having them go out in groups or by den. We have a small pack consisting of about 6 boys per den. Has anybody out there done this or could give me some suggestions?

 

The second thing is going to blow some of your minds and I am still mad about this. Recently our treasurer from the cub scouts stole our entire account ($3,000). We even owe the bank $450 in overdraft fees so we are in the hole. There is no money to finish out the year with activities, so that is why I am trying to come up with some things we can do that won't be spendy until we can raise some cash for camps, activities and awards. The justice system is not swift by no means and could take awhile to get the money back or may not ever get it back from this individual. Does anybody out there have any ideas on what we can do to raise some cash for these boys. Your suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

[+halffast]

1st question: sounds like a good idea.Might end up with some local comatition if they get into caching.

2nd question.Its the time of year when a carwash would be good.Our local carwash is always lined up.Good luck and I hope they get the creep who took the money.

[+mommio]

1. I think it's a wonderful idea! I was a Cub Scout leader for years and wish geocaching had been around then. Might I suggest teaching the scouts how to find caches by placing some around your yard for them to find for practice. That's how I taught a friend's kids how to use the GPS. You could also set up some practice caches that would have Cub Scout related prizes in them.

 

2. Cake sales, garage sales with donated items from parents, friends, relatives, neighbors, etc., a raffle (if permitted in your community - sometimes if raffles are not allowed, you can get around this by taking "donations" for raffle tickets, spaghetti dinner (or some other type dinner) prepared by scouting adults at a locations whose use is donated- like a church or school, auction of donated items--many businesses will donate stuff for good causes (you can even combine a dinner, auction, and raffle), a weekend box lunch auction at a local park (if you can get permission from Parks Dept). Just be sure to advertise any activity that can involve members of the community other than your troop's members.

We used to pick up recyclables in our neighborhood to sell, i.e. newspapers and aluminum cans but that isn't really an option anymore. At the time we had everyone saving and putting out their stuff once a month for us to pick up. Really was a good money maker in its day and provided a service.

 

3. Why not get with the bank manager and see if he/she won't "forgive" the overdraft fees under the circumstances? I can understand ta bank charging individuals, but a Cub Scout troop? Surely, there is some leeway that the bank can manage in this case.

[+Moore9KSUcats]

As far as a geocaching activity with cub scouts, here is what we did several years ago with my son's den. They were on a campout at a lake (two dens together), and we (hubby and I) created the activity. First, we purchased several small items... and made up a prize pack for each scout. We included a knit beanie (stocking cap), a whistle, and a small inexpensive pocket knife. I think the total for each pack was less than $2. The knife was 88c at walmart. When the scout found the pack, we told him that the knife was for use with their parent's permission only. (We probably spent $20 maximum on the prize packs.)

 

Anyway, we set up 5 different waypoints and hid a goodie pack at each point. The hides were fairly simple, but still fun. We explained geocaching to the scouts, and had our son go in the first group and lead the way to the first waypoint. He showed the rest some on how to follow the arrow, and then found the cache. A different scout led the way for each waypoint, and got to have the fun of finding the cache. I think there were 10 scouts total, so we went back and hid a new cache at each spot and took a new group out.

 

We explained at the beginning of the hunt a little about the satellites and how the GPSr works, and told them the basic rules of geocaching, that you left the cache there, but traded out something and signed the log.

 

They all really enjoyed the hunt, and the hats came in handy.... they also got a polar bear badge at that campout... sometimes a treat in central Texas.

 

I hope things go well with your pack.... some people have no conscience!

[+knitter]

One thing one of our local troops did was to approach a wholesaler that dealt in water softener salt, and work out an agreement with them to buy the salt at the wholesale price. They presold the salt for about the same price as the dealers do, with a delivery date scheduled, but the delivery included taking the bags right to the softener. They sold a lot of salt to the seniors in this town, and it was one of the most profitable ventures they tried.

[+Jedi Cacher]

Thanks everybody for all your ideas. This has really been a tough week for us knowing we face an uphill battle to finish out the cub scout year. I can't believe this guy can sleep at night knowing what he did to these children. On top of that he also stole an additional $2000 from our local Elks club that was intended to go to our pack.

I think with all your ideas I can plan a little geocaching adventure for these guys. Thanks again!

[+MREAGLEWO1]

As i cs leader, iwent thru some training, they said that you can prevent this by having atleast 2 signatures to write a check from the account. this is to prevent any money going to the wrong places.

 

anyways,i hope you and the pack get back up and running. Why would a guy or girl steal from little kids. I could see a company or a store but a non profit orgization that is for the benefit of the children....rrr

[crawil]

I agree with the above comments on fund raisers and think that the boys need to understand that money does not grow on trees. Since they had already done the work to earn the money and it is now gone through no fault of their own, contact the local media with your plight. Whenever something like this happens around here, a kind-hearted soul (or two) with a bulging wallet often steps up to help out.

 

Good luck!

[chuckr30]

Candy bar sales usually go over well. Try to get not just chocolate, but low-fat things like Skittles or Gummi Bears.

 

Also, a few churches around here do garage sales to raise money. Everyone donates goods for the sale, all proceeds go to the church. On the last day everything gets a 50% discount to sell quick. Anything not sold is donated to Goodwill.

 

I offered some live red cherry shrimp to a church garage sale to use as a door prize or just an attraction. They are to be used as pets. But the church refused. I guess it's too specialized, recipient must have an aquarium.

 

Let me know if you want some shrimp. I'll give you a good deal. My son (age 10) has been in scouts for 5 years and just became a boy scout.

[+DudleyGrunt]

I've been a den leader for 5 years, but have only been caching since May 06. I've tried to work some GC activities into a couple of our camping trips. I've just found caches that were in the parks were stayed at and taken den sized groups on a hunt. Of course, I had to take another adult to maintain 2 deep leadership. The boys have seemed to enjoy it. A lot of the ideas above seem to be good.

 

Can't believe the ******* that would steal from the boys like that. I'm sure the committee is already looking at ways to prevent it from happening in the future such as what MREAGLEWO1 mentioned, but also agree with crawil that the community would probably be willing to help scouts that have been victimized like this.

 

Actually, could let me know what your pack number is and if they have a website or other contact information?

 

Dave - DudleyGrunt

Web II Scorpions

Pack 62, Laurel MD

[+Leaky Spoon]

I think the geocaching with the scouts would be very cool. I don't have much in specifics to add, but (as the mother of a soon-to-be Eagle Scout) I think it would be cool to invite the local BSA troop to help??? They may even get service hours for it. A couple of things might make this appealing to the cubs ... the older boys are so awesome in their uniforms and they're so tall!! It gives the younger scouts something to see and model after. Additionally, it may help to have the older scouts help teach them some rudimentary compass skills, beyond that of geocaching ... things that are used very often in the Boy Scouts. I know my son loves teaching the younger scouts; they are so much more receptive than the older, jaded, big boy scouts

 

I hate candy sales and any door-to-door type sales; they're unsafe and cost more than they're worth. We don't even participate in our district's popcorn sales. We host a pancake breakfast with the Kiwanis club at a huge local event and then support the main scout office through other fundraisers. In your situation, I might even be more inclined to just state the facts and accept donations (as adults, since the kids are so young). Even approach that BSA troop for assistance in fundraising. A non-fundraiser type of fundraiser -- there's nothing to lose and no expenses.

 

Just a thought or two.

 

Pam

[+Leaky Spoon]

Sorry, I just thought of this, too. You could do a geocaching event for the scouts and make it a fundraiser somehow -- donations accepted???

 

Also, there are many adult Eagle Scouts all over your community; you just need to ask. There are so many willing to help and have great resources and ideas to help you recoup some or all of they money you need. Your Scout Council office would have the names of former scouts willing to be contacted. You never know, some of these adult Eagles may have just the business to help you out. Never fear asking for help!

[+cantuland]

As far as cache sites go with the cub scouts, a bundle of "marker flags" from the hardware store does wonders. You don't get the prizes in a box like permanent caches, but the first "trainer" finds could be just a little flag stuck in the ground letting them know that they found the right spot. You can put the flags anywhere. Perhaps a spot on the side of the road. The kids in the car can tell you which way to the flag as you are driving. You take a wrong turn "by accident" and see how long until they figure out that the numbers are increasing instead of decreasing. When you get to the right area, they can see the flag coming. If not, you pass it up, and then they say oops we passed it, and then you backtrack until they see the flag.

 

You can get bundles of small flags at the hardware store in groups of ten or twenty or so for not too much money.

 

cantuland

[+Aiden's Cachers]

The last time we had gone to a local park we saw a few logs and sig items from scouts

[+DudleyGrunt]

Have you checked out GeoScouting - http://www.geoscouting.com/?

[+Jedi Cacher]

I've been a den leader for 5 years, but have only been caching since May 06. I've tried to work some GC activities into a couple of our camping trips. I've just found caches that were in the parks were stayed at and taken den sized groups on a hunt. Of course, I had to take another adult to maintain 2 deep leadership. The boys have seemed to enjoy it. A lot of the ideas above seem to be good.

 

Can't believe the ******* that would steal from the boys like that. I'm sure the committee is already looking at ways to prevent it from happening in the future such as what MREAGLEWO1 mentioned, but also agree with crawil that the community would probably be willing to help scouts that have been victimized like this.

 

Actually, could let me know what your pack number is and if they have a website or other contact information?

 

Dave - DudleyGrunt

Web II Scorpions

Pack 62, Laurel MD

 

Thanks allot for all of your input. The link to geoscouting was very helpful.

 

Black Hills Area Council

Rapid City SD

Pack 74-cub scouts

[+Jedi Cacher]

I would like to personally thank everybody for thier ideas and concerns. Even after all the problems the show must go on. Right now I am putting together a little navigation lesson and a geocaching event for the cub scouts.

 

I do agree with what allot of you are saying about contacting the media. I wanted to do this this from the get go but for some reason the scouting council wants to sweep it under the rug. I do not know if this is because of embarrassment or to hide this from the boys that this was done by one of thier own leaders. I think that this should be public knowledge and that this guy should face the humilation of everybody knowing what he has done. There is a possibility of not ever getting the money back from this guy if he is prosecuted. But for now we have to put our ideas together for the big scoutorama event on April 14th to try and raise some money.

Thanks again

[+moonlighting]

I am a cub scout leader and have already approached our local council about placing a geocache at our local camping areas. They have agreed to let me do this. This one will entail giving the cacher a starting waypoint on the boyscout property, however, from there they will have to use a compass and navigate a compass coarse to find the actual cache. As good as GPSr's are (and I do love my Magellan Meridian Color GPSr), they do run on batteries which don't last forever. I still beleive that scout's also need to know how to use an "old time" compass and map to navigate. I am still trying to figure out a way to "tie" in some other scouting skills like tying knots or using lashings to actually retrieve the cache. We have introduced our some of the scouts in our Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop to geocaching and how to use a GPS on a few of our campouts in the local area. They really seemed to enjoy it.

 

As for the money you lost, I hope you have already contacted the local police department. We require two signatures on every check, just as was suggested in the past. It is also in our Pack's bylaws that the books be audited at the minimum, once per year. Just tonight, we had a parent/son bake off. All the scouts baked a cake and were each given a golden wooden spoon as an award for the cakes they made. Each spoon has written on it what the award was for. We do this each year. The categories for the cakes and spoonds include, but are not limited to: The longest cake, the most delicious looking cake, the wormiest cake, the most creative cake, the most realistic looking cake, the most patriotic cake, the cubbiest cake, and list goes on and on. The kids have a great time making cakes that look like worm hills with gummie worms crawling all around and cakes decorated like flags, etc. After or normal run of the mill activites like awards and announcements, we auction off the cakes. A friend of mine who is an Eagle Scout comes in and auctions off the cakes. As he auctions them off he calls the scout up that made the cake, presents them with their golden spoon, cracks a couple jokes about the cake, then auctions it off. Most of the time the kids want their cake back and the parents usually end up getting it for them. We try to let the kids to the bidding though, with their parents guidence and limits they have placed on how much they can spend. We raised a little of 450.00 tonight at our auction and were done with our meeting in about an hour. We did get a gift card for the volunteer auctioneer and his family to go to a local restaraunt for dinner as a way of saying "Thank You". The kids and parents all have a great time at this yearly bakeoff. We also do our popcorn sales in the spring. All the other packs in our council do it during the winter. It works well for us, because so many people run out of the popcorn before the years end and want to buy more. Just don't sell the choclate covered popcorn in the spring as it has a tendency to melt. I hope some of these suggestions help. If you want to contact me/us. Our geocaching user name is moonlighting, or you can visit our packs website at www.pack64amarillo.com.

Good Luck!

[+jrm1963]

Sorry to hear about your financial problems. We had the same issue a few years back, but fortunately she didn't clean out the treasury completely. But she was treasurer for Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Little League and Softball. Restitution will take years.

 

We hold a fundraiser every year selling hanging flower baskets on the Saturday before Mothers's Day. A local greenhouse provides them to us at their cost and we double it. We typically start around 8:00 AM and will sell out our 150 baskets by 10:00. It's usually good for close to $1K including donations and it takes very little time.

 

As for Geocaching with the group, Mid-Iowa Council is holding Geocaching events at their upcoming Camporees in May. You might check out http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...d5-417d4d11812e and contact The NVG for some help. This isn't the only event they are doing this spring, so there may be others that could provide info as well.

 

Good luck with the boys and the funds. Just remind everyone that the boys are the only thing that matter. Some of the best events don't cost a cent.

[+Osoling]

Don't charge for your car wash. Offer to do it for donations. Some folks like to feel good and help out. They'll chuck $20 into the till. Some people will just donate as they drive by. We did a car wash in the rain one time and still raised $400!

 

Bikinis help too! Boy scouts have moms, right!?!?

[+jcblough]

I just did this last night for some cubscouts. We found 3 caches in a local park. Just make sure to have enough gps'es to where they can get their hands on them. We had enough adults to help teach them how to do it and a couple of the boys already knew then we just cut them loose - kept an eye on them mind you - it went great. If you don't have a park w/ several caches there, just place some temporarily. Or if you have a snack for them for the meeting, hide that and have them hunt it down.

 

That is just awful and disgusting on the treasurer problem. Spring is coming up, maybe have the boys do some garden work - planting beds, etc. Short of that try to do a raffle or a silent auction. Horrible to hear someone would do that to a scout den - good grief!

[crawil]

Don't charge for your car wash. Offer to do it for donations. Some folks like to feel good and help out. They'll chuck $20 into the till. Some people will just donate as they drive by. We did a car wash in the rain one time and still raised $400!

 

Bikinis help too! Boy scouts have moms, right!?!?