Update on the Troop...
 

Got a check from the ward for summercamp.

Remaining scouting budget and young men's budget for 2006: $-200 (yes, you read that right, a deficit).

Assistant Scoutmasters: 0.

Success rate in recruiting Assistant Scoutmasters: 0% (0/2)

Don't the kids have to put anything in for scout camp? they do in my neck of the woods. you can do fundraisers (phone books eehhhhhh)

we always required a small down payment by the kids families, mainly just to show that they were serious about going. Something like $25-50 per boy.

We always had 2 separate accounts - one for YM and one for other/scouting. That was basically our scout camp fund. Easier to keep records that way.

I assume you'll be doing some fundraisers???

we required $25/boy. We have 4 boys going.

In covering the costs, with only 4 boys going, we depleted the scout fund ($500) as well as the young men's budget (less than $250).

They covered my costs as well.

Mike, I've been wanting to throw this out a while... does your company/institution/whatever have employee service project benefits? When I was at Safeco, they would match me hour-for-hour or something like that for community-related service activities. Can you use that to only use half your vacation days as needed for campouts?

Also, it seems like the Church has gotten away from fundraisers for scouts lately, which irritates me. It creates a greater haves/have-nots situation or it forces the ward to subsidize scouts more heavily. Make the boys work a little!

The YW have been notorous for ward-subsidized fundraisers in my last few wards. THey have "spaghetti bizarres" (on St. Patty's Day for crying out loud) or some crap like that where they make a luxurious meal of noodles and sauce, get others in the ward to donate service such as cakes or cookies and then expect those same people to bid in auction on others' donated crap. It's basically a roundabout way of just getting the people in the ward that don't have kids or have fewer to pay for the YW to go to camp. And then it's the leaders that do most of the work. I boycott those by staying at home and watching TV.

GM and Ford (if someone in ward works there) have some plan where they give money to the scouts based on the employees volunteering. For example, in my ward we had a bishop and YM president who worked for GM we were eligible for something like $300 for scouts.

i basically work for a charity myself (public hospital). i doubt they give money to anyone else. or provide for any benefits. starting in July i work for the state of Texas.

Its worth looking into.

The military has a similar program. When I lived in Nebraska, several of the YM leaders were officers. They never had to use personal time for scout camp or temple trips, as it came out of some bank of service hours they had access to.

And yes, Parrot Head, nothing tastes quite as good as a $35 Betty Crocker chocolate cake.

just checked with my new employer. No service benefits.