Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Our scouts have been busy over the past few months. Check out our Shutterfly web site at http://azpack618.shutterfly.com. We also have albums highlighted on the right-side of our web site.

If you have any photos you would like to have posted, contact Scott Wiegand or your den leader.

Pinewood Derby Date Changes

The date for our Pinewood Derby has changed to March 12, 2011. Paul sent an email to the pack with details about the change. Click here for a copy of the email.

See below for a link to the official rule and please do not hesitate to ask questions of your den leader, or to contact Paul directly.

Pack 618 Pinewood Derby Rules

We are also moving the dates for construction and qualification back one week.

Date	Time	Description
3/5/2011	TBA	Derby Car Building at the Kuiper Estate
3/9/2011	6:00PM - 8:00PM	Derby Car Qualification at the Kuiper Estate
3/11/2011	7:00PM - 8:00PM	Derby Car Qualification at the Kuiper Estate
3/12/2011	1:00PM	Pack 618 Pinewood Derby at Copper Canyon
3/19/2011	7:00AM	Four Peaks District Pinewood Derby

To find the Kuiper Estate:
17848 N 52nd Place
Click here for a map.

Blue and Gold - February 26

On Saturday, February 26, at 6:00 PM in the Copper Canyon multipurpose room, we will hold our annual Blue & Gold Banquet, a cub scout tradition since the 1930s. For those of you unfamiliar with this tradition, February is the month in which we celebrate the birthday of scouting, and the means by which we celebrate is the Blue & Gold Banquet. This year, we've chosen a military theme to honor America's service men and women. As the name implies, we'll be having dinner at this banquet -- pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches, with macaroni & cheese, coleslaw, and drinks. There will also be vegetarian options as needed.

Cakes

As is tradition, part of this birthday celebration involves cake! Each scout is being asked to bake (or at least decorate) a cake, with parents' help of course. These cakes will be auctioned off during our banquet. If your talents do not include baking, buy a plain cake and help your scout to decorate it. If you haven't experienced this before, check online for ideas (like this) -- we've had some amazing cakes over the years, including a fire-breathing dragon, and a smoking volcano that my family took home last year. Remember our military theme, and have fun with this! The cakes will be auctioned using bid sheets setup next to each cake. While bidding is open, anyone may write down a higher bid than previous on any cake. All cakes start at $5, and bidding should progress in one dollar increments. As in past years, kids will be frantic to bid -- please have a limit in mind and advise your children about appropriate amounts (Paul took home $75 in cake last year...).

FOR SAFETY REASONS, PLEASE DO NOT USE NUTS IN OR ON YOUR CAKES.

Entertainment

We will have special guests to conduct our flag ceremony, the Color Guard from the Veterans Pride Battalion of the US Naval Sea Cadet Corp. In addition, the Tiger den is preparing a skit, and we've also heard rumors that the pack committee members might have something in mind... There will be no Chinese Auction or other raffle this year as you might have experienced in the past.

Honor Wall

In honor of our military, please bring pictures of any veterans or active service men or women in your family, that we can include in our honor wall that will be displayed during the banquet. If you have any military memorabilia that you're willing to share for display at this event, please contact our Volunteer Committee Chairperson, Dona Whitney.

Attendance

As with every pack meeting, entire families are welcome. This is a particularly special occasion, so please feel free to invite grandparents, aunts & uncles, and any friends and family members who'd like to see how scouting serves our sons. Your den leaders may have already asked for a headcount for pre-pay by February 18; kids under 16 eat free, and 16 and over are $10 each. Adult price at the door will be $12.

This is a great cub scout tradition that many of our pack's leaders recall from our own days as scouts. We hope you all can make it.

Scouting for Food Update

We just received an update from district about the success of Scouting for Food this year. The Four Peaks district collected 6380 lbs of food and $20 for Paradise Valley Emergency Food Bank and approximately 200 lbs for St. Mary’s.  This year, we had 9 units participating which is nearly double the number of last year.

Way to go scouts!

The results are in...

Scouting for Food was an amazing success. Our scouts collected food door-to-door in the 60th and Bell area. We collected over 2500 lbs of food for the Paradise Valley Emergency Food Bank and St. Mary’s. Thank you to everyone who helped coordinate the effort and especially to the scouts who gave up their Saturday to do their daily good turn.

Rocket Lauch is a Go for 1/22!

As of now, we are a GO for launch at Coyote Basin Park at noon!
 
Watch this web site for updates in the event of inclement weather.
 
As always, this is an event for the whole family. The pack will provide lunch (thanks to volunteers Ami Johanson & Dona Whitney) that includes subs, chips, water, lemonade, and dessert. If you want anything different for lunch for your family, please bring it. Also, please bring something to sit on, like chairs or blankets. We'll have a flag ceremony at noon, with lunch immediately following, and the Tigers eating first.

As soon as they are done with lunch, the Tigers can line up for rocket inspection and launch. We will continue to lunch & launch by den, from youngest to oldest. Once all scouts have had a chance to launch, any parents or siblings that have their own rockets to launch may do so, followed by any scouts that want to launch a second (or third, fourth, fifth...) time. The pack will provide each scout with one engine for their first launch; for additional launches, or to launch parents' and siblings' rockets, please provide your own engines (the pack may have extras, but there is no guarantee).

For scouts that have a long wait to launch, or between launches, we will be simultaneously holding a kickball game, with an opportunity for scouts to earn their kickball belt loop if they have not already done so.

Coyote Basin Park is located at 2730 E Beardsley Road, between Beardsley Road and the Loop 101, just east of Costco at 26th St. Click Here for a Map.

Please Note: Westbound Loop 101 will be closed this weekend from Tatum Blvd to 19th Avenue, so if you were planning to take the Loop 101 west and exit at Cave Creek (or anywhere west of Tatum), you'll need to come up with an alternate route.

The Rocket Launch is Almost Here! -- 1/22

We hope everyone had a pleasant and safe holiday season. Our next pack meeting is scheduled for noon Saturday, January 22, at Coyote Basin Park. This will be our annual Pack 618 Rocket Launch. We'll start with lunch, and then have our first launch as soon as the Tigers are ready.

UPDATE:

The rocket launch is almost here, and we're still in need of a few parent volunteers to serve as rocket inspectors. The job of an inspector is to ensure that a rocket is safe to launch, and we will have training for new inspectors. If you can help out, please sign up here: http://www.mysignup.com/618rocketlaunch

Webelos II Campout

The Webelos II patrol went camping with the Boy Scouts last month. Everyone had a great time! They even beat the older boys in some of the competitions.

Check out the photo album!

Discounts for Scouting Families

Scouting families are able to get discounts for these great events:

Monster Jam
Great event for boys (and girls) of all ages...  MONSTER JAM!
Saturday January 28th -- 7:00 PM

Welcome to Monster Jam, an incredible family-friendly experience starring the biggest performers on four wheels: Monster Jam monster trucks. These twelve-feet-tall, ten-thousand-pound machines will bring you to your feet, racing and ripping up a custom-designed track full of obstacles to soar over - OR smash through.

Special Boy Scout Night -- save $4.00 per ticket!  Each ticket purchased includes a free pit pass and a cool patch!

Click here for the order form and additional information.

$1.00 of each ticket goes to the Scoutreach program, which supports Scouting programs in economically disadvantaged areas.

Questions?  Contact Group Sales at 602-379-7878

Boy Scout Night at ASU Sun Devil Basketball
Tuesday December 21st  --  5:00 PM

$7.00 for Scouts -- $10.00 Adults and others in your group!

Click here for all the details.

Scouts receive a special patch, and the opportunity to have your troop name on the videoboard.  The flyer has a discount coupon for $1.00 off concessions and 20% off one item in Sparky's Stadium Shop.  DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SUPPORT ASU!

Questions?  Call 480-727-0000.

Thank you to all the parent helpers who made our December pack meeting such a success. Our volunteer committee did a fantastic job running the show. They came up with unique activities, set them up, and ran the centers for each group of kids. It was a huge team effort.

Our committee members are Kathleen Alexander-Blue, Kristi Kroener, Dona Whitney, Amy MacDonald, Cristina Carlson, Blake Kite, Kathy Wise, Michele Westfall, Pam Hoffer, Kevin Erwin, and Rich Hoey.