It was great seeing so many people at our Family Picnic a few weeks ago!  We hope you all had a fun time!  Here is some new information and a few important reminders for all of our Pack 375 families.  As always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Where do elves go to school?

First Pack Meeting this Thursday

Pack Meetings are a time to come together as a Pack and to celebrate our Scout's achievements.  Parents are reminded that "A Scout is Courteous" and Scouts learn from the examples that their parents set.  Please refrain from using cell phones during the meeting (except to take pictures). If you must use your phone, please leave the room.

 New Registration / Registration Renewal

BSA Application

All new Scouts must complete a BSA Youth Application to join the Pack.  We will have paper copies available at the meeting, however if you want to fill it out ahead of time (recommended), you can download the application at the link below.

https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/524-406.pdf

Note that the PDF has the same form twice.  It is not necessary to fill out both copies.  Just the "Council Copy"  will suffice.  

Returning Scouts DO NOT need to complete a new BSA Application.

Pack 375 Order Form

This is something new this year.  Rather than having several stations for ordering scout books, t-shirts, paying dues, etc., we have condensed all of that on to one form that each family will fill out.  The form is being finalized now and will be e-mailed out before the meeting.  Each family will need to complete the form to register new scouts, renew returning scouts, order Class B shirts and to order Boy's Life*.  The Order Forms will be collected  by leaders at the conclusion of the Pack Meeting on Thursday.

* Boy's Life is an optional, but highly recommended  monthly magazine geared towards Scouts. It is full of stories, games, activities, jokes and informative articles relevant to Scouting. 

Payment Methods

New this year - Pack 375 will be accepting payments via PayPal and we will be able to accept all major credit cards via Square.  Of course, we will still accept cash and checks.

We have added PayPal and Square as a convenience for Pack 375 families and to eliminate a barrier for our fundraising efforts.  These conveniences come at a slight cost to the pack however.  We are asking families who choose to pay via PayPal or with a credit card to please consider adding 3% to your total to help defray those costs.  

Note that our PayPal account will not be ready before our Pack Meeting on Thursday.  If you would like to pay for the items on your Pack 375 Order Form via PayPal, please indicate that on your form and we will contact you once the account is ready.

Popcorn Sale

Trial's End Popcorn Order Forms were distributed at our Family Picnic, the sale started on September 1st and it is already off to a good start!  Each Scout that attended the first Show & Sell at Sam's Club will receive a sales credit of $100 for each 2-hour shift that he or she attended. That means that the Scouts who stayed for 2 shifts (4 hours total) already have enough sales to throw a pie in the Cubmaster's face!  

There are still spaces available on our remaining Show & Sell sign-up's.  Please visit our Show & Sell sign-up page for complete details and dates.

Additional order forms will be available at the Pack meeting on Thursday.

A few questions have come up that we would like to address:

Q: Do we accept checks for popcorn?

A: Yes!  Please make checks payable to "BSA Pack 375."

Q: Can we accept donations?

A: Yes!  However, per BSA guidelines, we may not solicit donations for the Pack.  If we ask for a donation, it must be used for the "Popcorn for our Troops" fund.  If someone offers a donation without us asking for it, it can go directly to the Pack or to the "Popcorn for our Troops" fund, depending on the intention of the donor. 

Q: Should we take payment at the time of order.

A: There is no "rule" for this, however we DO recommend taking payment at the time of order.  We like to think that everyone has the best intentions, however there are people out there who will order popcorn and then decline to accept it when Scouts attempt to collect their payment at the time of delivery. 

Q: Can the Special Edition Tye-Dye Pack 375 Class B shirts be purchased?

A: No.  This is a special incentive to recognize Scouts who go above and beyond in their fundraising efforts.

Please see our 2018 Opening Newsletter for additional information regarding our Trail's End Popcorn Sale and our ongoing First Aid Kit sale.

Scoutbook.com

It is critical that at least one parent from each family has an active Scoutbook.com account. We have created at least one parent account for each Scout, however many of them still need to be activated by the parents. For those of you who have not activated your account yet, you should have received an e-mail this past Sunday morning with an invitation.  If you did not see it, please check your SPAM folder.  If you still can not find it, please e-mail Joe Zanghi at cubscouts375@gmail.com.

Bonus Points

Please consider uploading a picture of your Scout to their Scoutbook.com profile, and a picture of you to your profile.  This will help new leaders learn everyone's name and face.  The pictures will only be visible to leaders, so hopefully that will alleviate any privacy concerns. 

Volunteers Needed

Betsy Ross

We are looking for someone to make flags for each of our Dens.  This could be as simple as white felt with the Den name or as artistic as you desire!  

Pinewood Derby Pitt Crew and Pitt Crew Leader

We are looking for some parents to help prepare for our Pinewood Derby competition in February.

Blue & Gold Committee

We are looking for a group of parents to organize our annual Blue & Gold Banquet in March

If you are interested in any of these positions, or have any questions about them, please see Joe Zanghi.

Calendar

Here is an updated list of Pack 375 meetings and events for the coming year. Information for Den meetings and events will be coming from your Den Leaders.

There have been some changes to the calendar since the last newsletter.  These changes are highlighted in RED.

Contact Information

Cubmaster - Joe Zanghi

cubscouts375@gmail.com

(814) 862-9616

An elf-ementary school!