Hi, scouts and parents,

By any measure, we had a successful Pancake Breakfast fund-raising and community-building event on Patriots Day.  Thank you, scouts.  Thank you, parents. You all know that we couldn’t have pulled it off without everyone putting in their best efforts and working as a team.  One scout came up to me and told me that he overheard someone in the waiting line said that it was getting better every year. Operation this year was indeed smooth, but not perfect.  We had a few minor glitches here and there but they were all taken care of with no impact on the event.  For more details (like how my mistake led to a frantic hunt for dollar bills), you can read the attached pdf.

Special thanks to our SM Hank Manz whose knowledge of where things are is very much the reason the operation ran so smoothly, and to Co-Manager Katie Sultan who was able to hunt down everything we need, and to our SPL Ben Estabrooks who directed the scouts to work efficiently and really well and smoothly.  I can probably go on for a long list of scouts and parents who did an amazing job but I think anyone who was present at the Pancake Breakfast saw first hand how well it was run — I even had plenty of time to talk to customers and scout parents, and even gave an interview for Lex Media (not sure if I made any sense).  So, again, a big thank you to all scouts and parents, including those who helped out ahead of time.

This year, we sold 926 adult tickets and 376 child tickets, plus an estimated 200 VIP and 40 Minutemen, for a total of 1542 paying customers.  Add in ourselves: I estimate about 50 scouts and 60 parents, we served about a grand total of about 1650 people.  For those who care, the estimate of 1650 is good to +100, -50.)  In comparison, last year we sold  950 adult tickets and 425 child tickets, plus similar numbers of VIP and Minutemen and ourselves.  So, this year we sold 24 fewer adult tickets and 49 fewer child tickets, which might have been due to one or two visiting groups last year.

I would love to hear from you, scouts and parents, about things you like, things that can be improved, and things that were awful. (See attached pdf Highlights of 2010 Pancake Breakfast for some of them.) Parents, if you want to find out more, come to the troop committee meeting this coming Tues. at 7:30 pm

Franco Wong
Manager, Pancake Breakfast

PS: a separate email will go out about the Maine maple syrup.

As promised, here is the link to the longer slide show.  It documents many of the activities of the weekend.

http://www.hankmanz.phanfare.com/4646775_5133571#imageID=98102921

It has 263 photogrpahs and takes about 30 minutes start to finish.  There is a sound track although how well it syncs to the pictures depends on the speed of your connection when you are watching it.

-Hank

There is a quickly edited bunch of photos to be found at:
http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/Sf6y0eyY/1/4644423

which will show you all a little bit of what local Boy Scouts were doing this Patriots’ Day weekend.  If you want copies of any of the photos, you can download a high-res image or you can send the photos off to any one of several services.  Click on Start Slideshow to see the movie.

A much longer video record of the entire parade is on the editing table.  It will have several more photos of our own “float” as well as everything else in the parade.

Thanks to all who participated in the events.  Once again Franco and his cast of thousands did a marvelous job of serving breakfast to 1,800 or so of our closest friends and we couldn’t have done the Tower Park Battle cleanup, the brass polishing, and the pumper pushing without participation from both troops.  You all added a whole bunch of planks this weekend to the very strong bridge which connects Scouting to the community.

Thanks for everything!  (and I can’t wait to read all about it in the troop newsletter)

-Hank Manz

I have put some photos of miscellaneous spring Boy Scout activities on Flickr (see the “March-April” set):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46810699@N05/sets/72157623893636282/

They include a few pictures of the cleanup at St. Brigid’s after the flood, some of Tobin’s Eagle project (some T160 and some T119 scouts) and a bunch from the pancake breakfast and parade.

Steve Schaffner

The last word on our “float.”  Our starting spot will be very close to the East Lexington Fire Station, but I really need a crew of Scouts at Wilson Farms by 1:00 PM so we can move the pumper into position.  Even that will be a bit late so let’s try to be on time.  If you must come late, then join us when you can.  Our spot is very close to some portapotties, by the way.  A big cheer for Mrs. Barry for giving us an excellent spot.

We will meet on Pleasant Street at the entrance to the Wilson Farms overflow parking lot.  I will get there as soon after noon as I can.  Again–try to get there NLT 1 PM and earlier if you can make it.  We need to get the pumper into position.

Bring a water bottle and dress appropriately.  And have a personal dismissal plan in place.  We will end at the Hancock-Clarke House so start making your plans now.

My cell phone number is 617-620-5011.  It will be active at all times, but if you don’t get an answer the first time, don’t hesitate to call back in a few minutes.

Again–adults are welcome.

We haven’t been in the parade since 2000 when we did a huge float.  Then in 2001 we helped with a Girl Scout float.  So this is a return to something Scouts used to do every year.  See you all there!!

I found the wall hanging, by the way.  Somebody had it.

-Hank