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This year, as I was going over plans for our annual Blue and Gold Banquet, I thought of all the activities our Cub Scouts (1st through 5th grade) and families were involved with over the last year. At the time, I said to myself, with all the support and encouragement the citizens of Millstadt provide to the Cub Scouts (especially buying popcorn) we are your family so you should know what your scouts did over the last year.
In January 2009, Cub Scout Pack 622 conducted its Pinewood Derby at the Millstadt Consolidated School on Saturday Jan 17, 2009. Weigh in of the cars was Friday night. Following the weigh-in, the cars were judged for Best Design, Most Original Design, and Best Overall Appearance. The derby features races for varying age groups: Tigers, first grade; Wolves, second grade; Bears, third grade; and Webelos, fourth-fifth grade, and an open class for parents and siblings. The top three winners of each den receive a trophy, and the top four cars from the pack go to the district race.
The Blue and Gold Banquet was held Saturday, Feb. 14 at St. James Elementary School, with Cub Scouts completing the “Cross Over” Ceremony to become Boy Scouts. The dinner meeting celebrates Cub Scouting's birthday as well as the "bridging over" of the oldest cub scouts into Boy Scout troops. More than 170 Cubs, parents, and Boy Scouts were present at the celebration. The Hall was festively decorated in blue and gold streamers and balloons; table decorations included decorations and displays completed by the scouts. Songs and skits were provided by the Scouts. The Pack also provided the Troop with the funds to build and outfit a new patrol box for the new Boy Scouts.
In March, we hold our silent auction. The scouts get “Scout Bucks” all year for attending events, wearing their uniform, and bringing their scout book. They can then spend these bucks at the auction. The auction went very well. Every kid won something! A special "thank you" goes to Jack Tastad for chairing this event. Also, thanks to everyone in the community who donated items and money for the auction.
April's pack meeting was held at the Belleville YMCA. Climbing safety and skills training was provide by the YMCA instructors. When not climbing Scouts and family enjoyed splashing in the pool. Swimming is very popular among Scouts. It was a lot of fun for the kids and the ‘big kids’ that came along!
June 20th was our pack fishing derby. Sorry we cannot give out the locations because it is the best fishing hole in the area. Drinks and hotdogs and brats were provided by the Pack. Many thanks to the owners of this property. Fishing safety and rules and regulations was provided so the Scouts earned their Fishing Belt Loop. Prizes were given out for the first fish, smallest fish, most fish, and the biggest fish. Many scouts attended and caught multiple large fish.
Summer Camps are a big deal for Cub Scouts. Practically all of our Scouts attended one or more camps with the Pack funding part of the camp cost through popcorn sales. Camps included Fun with Son Weekends at Camp Vandeventer and Camp Joy, three-day Cub Scout and Webelos resident camps at Camp Vandeventer, and several sessions of Cub Scout Day Camp. Activities included swimming, games, BB gun shooting, archery, sling shot shooting, crafts, and eating lots of great camp food.
July included the annual pool party. It was a big hit. We had a very nice turn-out. The Pack provided pizzas for the swimmers. Swimming safety was taught by the Pack Leaders and Scouts earned their Swimming Belt Loop.
Our August event ended the summer with a Pack bike ride around Millstadt. Due to rain earlier in the day and the threat of rain during the ride we had only about 20 riders. The Scouts that did attend learned bike safety and earned their Bicycling Belt Loop
The Homecoming Parade went well. We intended to pass out freezer pops but changed our plans to beads and due to lower temperatures. Next year we will consider freezer pops.
September pack meeting was a Party in the Park”. It was a huge success with our new Tiger Cubs coming on-board. We recruited over 25 new Cub Scouts in the Pack this year bringing our total to 74 Scouts. A big thanks to Kevin Early of Troop 622 and all the scouts that helped put this together. The Troop ran all the games
In October we went to the Millstadt Coon Club on Urbana Road. The meeting began at 6:00 pm and featured a hayride & bonfire. Scouts, family and friends’ roasted hotdogs and smores provided by the pack. This was a great event and will be back on the schedule for next year. The Coon Hunters are great host.
The Pack operated tricycle races at the Millstadt Daze Festival. It was great fun however some of the Scouts appeared to be too big to ride tricycles. We will need to have a scale and a weight limit next year. Too bad for them because they had such a good time racing against other kids.
Our November pack meeting was a skating party at Fun Spot in Belleville. We had about 60 kids participate including siblings and a few parent. Everybody came home with bones intact.
One of our most satisfying activities is scouting for food. We had a big turnout from the scouts and the community. The Millstadt food pantry was happy to have their cupboards filled to capacity.
Parades, parades, parades. Cub Scouts love marching in parades. Pack 622 participated in the Weinacht Fest parade on Sunday, Dec 6th as our last Pack activity of the year. The scouts passed out green and red beads to onlookers.
Finally, the Pack is sending a Big Thanks to the Millstadt Optimist. The Optimist purchased a new Pine Wood Derby track for the Cub Scouts this year. This new track is fantastic and includes six lanes for racing and an electronic scoring system with racing sounds. We just used the track last week for the first time and the racing action kept Scouts and parents on the edge. Again, many thanks to the Optimist.
Along with these activities, our scouts work on rank advancement, community support, and numerous other activities in their individual dens. Another great year of Cub Scouting fun and adventure.
Well there you go. Along with my son Joe, I will be crossing over to Boy Scout Troop 622 during the upcoming Blue and Gold Banquet. Our theme this year is BSA2010; 100 Years of Scouting. Boy Scouts of America is celebrating 100 years of scouting and Pack 622 is starting its 40th year in Millstadt. I leave the Pack with the knowledge that the great leadership remaining in the Pack will carry it another 40 years and many more.
Edwin Beussink, Cubmaster (soon to be emeritus) can be contacted at 476-3142 or Beussink@yahoo.com
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