To make your son’s scouting experience as rewarding and enjoyable as possible, we need the support of all the parents in the troop. All families should participate in Troop activities during the year. Everyone is also expected to help prepare for or assist during the Patriot’s Day Pancake Breakfast, our only fundraiser.
Each scouting activity has an adult coordinator. There is always a need for assistant coordinators and transportation to and from the event, in addition to general assistance. If everyone responds, the work will be spread evenly and the scouts will see that there is broad support for the scouting program. If you have any questions about any of the activities, please contact the coordinator listed on the calendar.
In addition to the troop activities, there is a need for adult involvement in the many support functions for the troop. Most of these functions require a limited commitment. Some are for one-time events and others are for the occasional, but ongoing needs to maintain a vibrant scouting experience. Brief function descriptions are in the calendar pages.
The events and positions listed below need volunteers. If you’d like to volunteer or if you have any questions, please contact Margaret Stebbins or Bonnie Osborn, the volunteer coordinators, or John Woodhouse, the troop committee chair..
Troop Position Descriptions
Advancement Coordinator: Work with scouts on various levels of advancement, whether it is rank, merit badge or leadership skills. Coordinate assistant scoutmasters and junior assistant scoutmasters (JASM) to work with scouts on advancement skills. Maintain records for Scout advancement, troop roster and activity participation in the troop database (maintained with TroopMaster ME software). Provide to scoutmaster those scouts nearing rank completion. Schedule Boards of Review as needed and coordinates adult volunteers to serve on Boards of Review. Coordinate all advancement paperwork and prepares all earned merit badges/other awards for awarding at the quarterly Troop Courts of Honor. Attend Courts of Honor to present the badges and awards. Maintains list of merit badge counselors. Provide advancement and participation reports, mailing lists, and phone lists to troop leaders. Provide updated TroopMaster reports on an as needed basis. Coordinates with the Scoutmaster, Troop Committee Chair and Advancement Coordinator to prepare the Troop Charter paperwork for submission to the national Boy Scout office. The Troop Charter is done for submission in January of each year. Additional people can help by volunteering for:
Annual Troop Guidebook Coordinator: Responsible for getting updates to the Troop Guidebook from the Troop Committee and incorporating those updates into the Guidebook. Arrange to get the updated Guidebook copied and ready for distribution to all scout families by the first Court of Honor for the year. Send out an addendum mid year with revised scout roster, calendar and adult leader list.
Assistant Scoutmasters: Work with Scoutmaster on a weekly basis to ensure a quality program.
Climbing/Scuba Coordinator: Assist the scouts in planning weekend activities throughout the year, as well as a longer summer scuba trip when feasible. Acts as High Adventure adult coordinator to the scouts in the troop, aged 14 and older.
Courts of Honor Coordinator: Organize volunteers to bring refreshments for the quarterly Courts of Honor, as well as refreshment set-up and clean up. Ensure that the standard article outlining Court of Honor family responsibilities appears in the quarterly Troop Newsletter.
Cub Liaison: Work with local Cub Scout packs to coordinate the transition of boys from Cub Scouting to Boy Scouting. Maintain contact with pack leadership and second year Webelos scouts. Help coordinates dates for Scout/Webelos activities, including Webelos Woods, Troop visits and crossover ceremonies. Help identify scouts to act as Den Chiefs to Cub Scout dens. Oversee Den Chief training for new Den Chiefs.
Eagle Court of Honor Committee Chair: Oversee committee of volunteers who assist newly awarded eagle scouts (and their families) in organizing and holding their Eagle Court of Honor Ceremony.
Email Directory Coordinator: Maintain troop email lists for scouts and adults. Provide detail email listing by scout and adult to troop committee as needed to facilitate communication by email.
Financial Aid: Coordinate with families that need financial support to enable their scouts to attend scout activities.
Junior Leader Training Breakfast Coordinator: Work with Scoutmaster to provide breakfast for each JLT session (once in September, once in March).
Medical Forms Coordinator: Maintain official Troop binder (and one duplicate copy binder for taking on scout activities) of scout and adult medical forms. Follow up with families of new scouts, returning scouts and adults that do not have medical forms on file.
Neckerchief/Mother’s Pin Ribbon Production: Make new scout Troop 160 scout neckerchiefs. Steps involve sewing the neckerchief and getting the troop logo printed. Make “Mothers’ Pin Ribbon” for new scouts. Steps include cutting ribbon and gluing to jewelry pin. Maintain inventory of 10 or so of each at any time.
Newsletter: Edit and distribute quarterly newsletter in advance of the quarterly Courts of Honor. Solicit articles from scouts and adults.
Pancake Breakfast Coordinator: Oversee the planning and execution of the Annual Pancake Breakfast.
Quartermaster/Equipment: Oversee the purchase, inventory, and care of all Troop equipment. Work with the Troop Quartermaster (scout) to maintain records of equipment that has been checked out to the patrols, and log its return. Prepare a list of equipment that needs repair or replacement. Submit purchase requests to the Troop committee as needed. Provide equipment budget request as part of the annual budget preparation process.
Reservations and Permits Coordinator: Assist Trip/Activity Coordinators with filing trip permits with the Local/National Boy Scout Councils and making reservations as necessary. Trip permits are required when the trip is over 300 miles, or to a non-boy scout facility.
Review Board Assistants: Serve on Boards of Review for each of the scout ranks from Scout to Life.
Secretary: Keep minutes of the Troop Committee meetings, handle all troop correspondence.
Single Troop Activity Coordinator (for instance, Ski trip, Deep Freeze campout): Coordinate and plan the activity (including all paperwork, finances and volunteers) with both the Troop Committee and the Scouts. Meet with Patrol Leader Council one month prior to your activity to finalize details for activity. Prepare handout for distribution to Troop. Coordinate with the Reservations and Permits Coordinator on permits, the Treasurer for fees collected and cash needed for the patrols to buy food and the Transportation Coordinator for transportation needs. Does not need to attend the event.
Summer Camp Coordinator: Inform and assist scouts and parents. Coordinate sign-up and payments, between scouts, Treasurer, and summer camp. Work with the Medical Forms Coordinator to ensure that all medical forms are received. Work with the Adult Volunteer Coverage and Bus and Truck Coordinators.
Summer Camp Adult Volunteer Coverage Coordinator: Coordinate adult coverage at summer camp, to ensure that we have enough adults as required by the camp.
Summer Camp Bus and Truck Coordinator: Arrange for the bus (to transport campers) and the gear truck (to transport the scouts’ gear) for summer camp. Find volunteers to drive the bus and truck to and from camp.
T-shirt Coordinator: Arrange to get official scout and leader t-shirts made as needed.
Transportation Coordinator: Maintain list of transportation volunteers. Arranges for vehicles and drivers for outdoor activities. Ensure that required insurance is provided on all vehicles used in troop transport. Send the Troop’s master list of driver insurance information to the Council once a year.
Treasurer: Handle all troop funds. Maintain timely and accurate financial information. Pay all bills and requests for reimbursement. Receive and deposits all income from troop activities. Provides a bank account status report for each Troop Committee meeting. Leads the preparation of the annual Troop Budget. Review requests for financial aid with the Financial Aid Coordinator.
Troop Committee Chair: Work with the Scoutmaster to support the troop’s activities. The Chairman is responsible for the oversight of the Troop Committee that provides the organizational resources necessary to provide a quality scouting program. The Chairman prepares an agenda for the monthly committee meeting and runs those meetings. The purpose of the meeting is to receive reports from the Scoutmaster and committee members on any problems, progress and programs. The committee is responsible for supporting the Scoutmaster in delivering the scouting program for the troop. The Chairman is also available to work with the Scoutmaster in resolving any problems that may occur within the troop.
Webmaster: Coordinate activities related to maintenance and upgrading of our website, including posting Newsletters, permission slips, calendar, and so on. The webmaster positions don’t require a lot of software or technical skill, as the Troop website is updated by simply filling in online forms. We do need people who are willing to attend meetings and events to see what should be posted, and then spend a little time putting information on the site.