Hi folks,
It's recharter time, when we renew everyone's membership in the Troop, and the Troop's membership in the Denver Area Council (DAC). Paperwork-wise, the process had gotten better over the last few years, but this year, another form has been added to authorize a fresh background check on every registered leaders. This is good -- it is part of the BSA's commitment to providing safe Scouting to every youth entrusted to our programs.
Registered Adults: If you have not completed the Additional Disclosures and Background Check Authorization form, please download it from here, complete it, and return it to me immediately, as we are now in the recharter process. If you have already completed it, thanks! We need to submit one form for each adult in order to recharter you.
As you already know, the annual membership fees from the BSA National Council have gone up to $60 for youth members and $36 for adult members.
- The good news: $5/month is an enormous value when you consider that many seasonal extracurricular activities often start at $100 for programs that last a few weeks.
- The bad news: When you have more than one youth in the program, it adds up.
If this creates a hardship for your family, please quietly pull me (Ray) aside, call me, or send me an e-mail about it. We will find ways to help, because the benefits of this program are far too big to allow cost to deny those to our youth. We'll figure it out - it'll be fine.
Of course, in the midst of all this, we'll be scheduling our Investment in Character presentation soon. None of that money goes to the BSA National Council: it all stays in the DAC to take care of our camps, the HQ building, the Scout Shop, and to provide camperships to DAC camps.
Heads up: We should be done with the troop's 2020 calendar pretty soon, and then we can finish up the 2020 troop budget. As of the moment of this writing, we don't have any huge increases coming in fundraising requirements, dues, or camping costs, but the committee will meet on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 7pm, and this will be a topic of discussion. If you have some input to contribute, come join us in the Gold Door Room.
YIS,
​Ray