Friday, October 31, 2008

Spring Hornaday registration is now open

Hornaday registration is now open for April 17 - 19, 2009. This will be a Troop 399 major campout.

Each parent will be required to register their Scout individually using the Hornaday website. Information on this campout can be found at www.troop399.org under the Announcement tab.

We were told at Fall Hornaday that 80% of the Hornaday classes fill in the first two weeks of registration. Call or e-mail if you have any questions.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Northern Tier High Adventure June 7-16

Good evening Scouts:

The Troop 399 Northern Tier High Adventure will be June 7-16 in Minnesotas Boundary Waters. Northern Tier is a rigorous wilderness canoe trip requiring the strength to carry heavy packs and canoes and paddle six hours a day.

We have room in the canoes for 12 scouts and 4 adults. Scouts must be 13 years old and scout-certified swimmers. We may need to travel the days before and after the above canoe trip dates. Well make travel plans later.

The cost is $500 per person (not including travel expenses) and we will fill positions on a first-come, first-served basis. Please make checks payable to Troop 399 and write (scouts name) on the Memo line. Please deliver the checks to Allen Faries at an upcoming scout meeting or call 892-1307 if you wish to make other arrangements. For more information about Northern Tier, see www.ntier.org.

Monday, October 20, 2008

T399 Parent Meeting, Tues, Oct 21st @ 7 pm, TUMC

T399 Parents:

Reminder about our T399 Parent meeting scheduled at 7 pm tomorrow
evening at TUMC. Hope to see you there!

---Dues are due; if you prefer not to pay on-line, then bring your checks to the meeting.

---Popcorn forms are due.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Venture Crew Announcement from Suzanna Marshall

Troop 399’s Venture Crew will be traveling to the YMCA of the Rockies, Snow Mountain Ranch, in Colorado from December 28 through January 3. There will be lots of fun winter activities, including skiing at nearby Winter Park. This trip is intended to be a family trip and we would like to invite other families to join us for some winter fun, including celebrating the New Year. There are 3 rooms currently available for families. Reservations must be made by October 27th to hold the rooms. Scouts must be at least 14 years old to attend and must attend with at least one family member or adult. All family members, regardless of age, are encouraged to come with us.

Average cost per family will be between $1100 to $1400 for lodging (depending on how many people stay in one room), two meals per day, and all YMCA activities. Extra charges include ski equipment rental, lift fees, cost for the noon meal each day, transportation, and spending money. We are planning on renting 15 passenger vans to substantially reduce transportation costs; however, you can fly into Denver and arrange for shuttle transportation to the YMCA if you prefer. One family is planning on flying. If you are interested in participating in the trip, please contact Suzanne Marshall at smarshall14@austin.rr.com as soon as possible for further information.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

T399 Activities and Actions

T399 Parents:

1. If your Scout is planning on attending the October backpacking camp-out at Lake Summerville on Oct, 24, 25, 26 --- please go to www.troop399.org and register and pay! The cost is $25. An information packet for the camp-out is in the Announcement section of the Web site. It should be a beautiful weekend to be outdoors!

2. There is a Sea Base meeting on October 14 @ 8:15, immediately following the regularly scheduled Tuesday night Scout meeting. Come learn more about the High Adventure trip! If anyone is interested I recommend you and your Scout attend this meeting. Register for Sea Base at www.troop399.org and pay the $100 deposit. The deposit is due to the Boy Scout Sea Base Camp no later than October 21, 2008.

3. Popcorn Selling. Please encourage your Scout to sell at least $150 of popcorn. This is our only fundraiser and our troop functions well if each Scout sells $150. Please contact, Chuck Robertson, Popcorn Colonel (Kernel) for any questions and to obtain a take order form.

4. Are you having difficulty using our new website to sign up for camp-outs? We would welcome any suggestions. Hit us! Please hit us!! We would like to move towards our website as the source of information and registration, etc. by Jan. If you experience difficulties or perhaps just haven't gone there yet, please do so and give us your feedback.

5. Have you signed up for my Blog? As Committee Chair using the Blog will simplify my life and yours. Please sign up to the Committee Chair Blog. Starting January 2009 I will not be sending emails as you are accustomed, all my communications will be sent via the Blog. Stay in the loop, and sign up for my CC Blog.

6. Service opportunity!! TUMC needs Scout to unload the Pumpkin Truck on October 19th at 3 pm. Barbara Klitch will be coordinating this event and recording all participants service hours. Please be sure and wear your Class B t-shirt so she can identify you as a Troop 399 Scout.

7. Dues are due! Please go to www.troop399.org and pay your dues of $85 on-line, or bring a check to the parent meeting on October 21, 2008 ; please make checks payable to Troop 300.

Thanks for all your help!!!

Don B. Maurodmauro21@gmail.com512/657-0195"It is the mission of the Boy Scouts of America to serve others by helpingthem to install values in young people and, in other ways, to prepare themto make ethical choices over their lifetime in achieving their fullpotential.The values we strive to install are based on those found in the Scout Oathand Law."

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

T-399 Hornaday Unit Award Information

The following message is from Matt Love. Matt has agreed to take on the task of organizing the Troop for the Hornaday Unit Award. This is a big responsibility and he deserves our assistance and our thanks.
Congratulations Matt!

Dear Scout Parent:

The Patrol Leader Council has decided that Troop 399 wants to try for the
Hornaday Unit Award but our deadline is the end of October. I know it is
really short notice but we can do this!! We are working with the City of
Austin who has identified 3 special areas for our attention.

Three Scouts will speak at tomorrow night's meeting about the projects for the next 3 Saturdays - October 11, 18 & 25. They will explain what our Troop will be doing. The first part of the Challenge is to work the Tarrytown neighborhood to recruit homeowners to have their yards certified as Wildlife Habitats. The 2nd & 3rd Saturdays are workdays where we will be clearing land in 2 separate areas in Central Austin.

All we ask is that your son come and spend one hour of his weekend so we can earn this Award and our troop be recognized.

It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that we have HUGE participation for this
Challenge. This is where numbers really do count. We must have 60%
participation of enrolled Scouts. Enrolled Scouts includes Crew members and
all the older scouts who are working on their Eagle rank. That means we
must have 52 Scouts participate at any of the 3 dates. It only takes one
hour of your Scout's time to help the Troop achieve its goal of winning this
Award. We cannot double up on any one Scout's participation so we really
need you all to come out for this. Your Scout will earn service hours for his time on this project!!!

Troop 399 has always been a big supporter of the Hornaday Awards for individual Scouts but this is our first attempt at the Unit Award. Only 1
troop in all of Texas earned this Award last year. This is one of the
highest awards for a group in Scouting.

It would be an incredible honor for our Troop to earn this Award. Only one was awarded in Texas last year. Mr. Marshall was one of the first supporters of Hornaday at the Capital Area Council so this award means a lot to him. If he has helped your Scout achieve his goals during his time as a Scout, I hope you will strongly encourage your Scout to help the Troop achieve its goal in earning this Award to share with Mr. Marshall this year.


If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 329-5186 and either I or my parents can help you.

Thank you for your time.

Matt Love
Star Scout
Troop Quartermaster

"It is the mission of the Boy Scouts of America to serve others by helping them to install values in young people and, in other ways, to prepare them to make ethical choices over their lifetime in achieving their full potential.

The values we strive to install are based on those found in the Scout Oath and Law."

Monday, October 6, 2008

T399 Parent Meeting Recap

9/23 Parent Meeting Re-cap

Volunteer * Pay Dues * Visit our Website * Leave No Trace training * Sell Popcorn

Our Scout year is off to a great start! During the weekly Scout meetings and at Blanco State Park, our Scouts completed their Camping merit badge (Eagle required). Thanks to T399 Scout leadership for doing such a great job on teaching the younger Scouts.

Volunteering: Volunteer positions are filling up nicely. Contact Leslie Benitez Benitez, lab@ctw.com, for volunteer opportunities. We would like to see each parent take a volunteer job; we depend on the T399 parents to make the program function. And thanks to Julie Baselice for keeping us organized with those parents that have already volunteered! "I love those red checks."

Training Needs: We need parents to become trained in Leave No Trace. This is important training for various Scout camping areas like Griffith League. We had to change the location of the last camp-out because too few parents are Leave No Trace trained parents. It is not difficult to become trained. Our Scout's experiences rely on our ability as T399 parents to support their program. The same applies to Climbing Instructor Training and Wilderness First Aid. Lack of trained parents will limit our Scout's experience.

Website: www.troop399.org. Go there and use it! Pay your dues on-line, check the calendar, find contract for leadership. Thanks to Dirk Heinen and Barry Books for spending light years of time on building and maintaining its data. We're counting hits, so make some hits yours.

Dues: Dues are Due! Pay on-line or at the next meeting. Dues are due by October 21, 2008 so we can recharter.

Popcorn: Take order has started. $150 in sales is the goal for each T399 Scout. Our Troop requires a successful popcorn sales campaign to maintain the costs of our program. Contact Chuck Robertson to receive an order form for your Scout. Or obtain one at a Scout meeting. Deadline for sales is Tuesday, October 21st.

Camp-out Dates: see our beautiful new website for the calendar: www.troop399.org. Attend a camp out. Drive for a camp out .... We need more parent participation in camping.

Summer Camps: We are scheduled for Buffalo trails for July 12th - 19th. And we have now scheduled a second summer camp session at El Rancho Cima for June 22nd - June 27th.
We need parent participation in both these summer camping opportunities.

High Adventure: Sea Base and Northern Tier were discussed at this parent meeting. Sea Base is scheduled for July 28th - August 3rd. A $100.00 deposit is due October 21, 2008.
Northern Tier is June 7th - 16th.

That's the recap of the 9/23 Parent Meeting! Remember, Troop 399 has a parent meeting once a month. The dates are on the calendar at www.troop399.org .

Thanks!!

Don B. Mauro
dmauro21@gmail.com
512/657-0195

"It is the mission of the Boy Scouts of America to serve others by helping them to install values in young people and, in other ways, to prepare them to make ethical choices over their lifetime in achieving their full potential.

The values we strive to install are based on those found in the Scout Oath and Law."

Thursday, October 2, 2008

T-399 Hornaday Unit Award Opportunity

Troop 399 has an opportunity in October to earn the Hornaday Award, Scouting's highest conservation honor, for the troop. This award is in addition to the individual awards earned by several scouts in our troop.
Only one unit award was given in Texas last year.

At the PLC meeting on Tuesday the Troop 399 Scout Leadership Team decided this was an opportunity they did not want to miss. Various Eagle Scout aspirants will be making presentations to Troop 399 over the next few weeks to discuss the details of the awards. In a nutshell it is as follows:

To earn the unit award, at least 60 percent of the registered unit members in Troop 399 must participate (52 scouts). The project is the City of Austin's National Wildlife Habitat Challenge, which ends October 31. Troop
399 has three scouts leading conservation service projects in October under the Challenge. This will allow us to meet the Hornaday Unit requirements, if we can recruit a total of 52 scouts to work on at least one of them:

1) Saturday-Sunday, October 11-12- National Wildlife Habitat Challenge - recruiting Tarrytown residents to certify their yards as wildlife habitats
2) Saturday or Sunday, October 18 or 19 - clearing non-native invasive species from the back of Congregation Beth Israel's property at 38th and Shoal Creek
3) Saturday, October 25 - clearing non-native invasive species from the Casis Forest

Let me know if the troop would like to commit to this effort - it would be a terrific honor for the troop, and additional recognition of your involvement with the Hornaday program.

Don B. Mauro
dmauro21@gmail.com
512/657-0195

"It is the mission of the Boy Scouts of America to serve others by helping them to install values in young people and, in other ways, to prepare them to make ethical choices over their lifetime in achieving their full potential.

The values we strive to install are based on those found in the Scout Oath and Law."