Troop Meeting - Thursday, 10/1 5:00-6:30 at Pratt Farm

 Hello Troop 20!

We will have our regular Troop Meeting this Thursday, October 1st, at 5:00pm at Pratt Farm.  We will meet in the parking area.

Please remember that we will line up for our opening ceremony at 5:00pm so you need to plan to be at Pratt Farm 10 minutes earlier.  Please arrive wearing your Class A uniform.

Pratt Farm is located at 110 E. Main Street, Middleborough

We hope all Scouts who participated in our opening Troop meeting this past Saturday at camp Norse had a great time being outdoors and searching for geocaches!  A big thank you to Mr. Cassady for setting up and running the course!  Remember that you need to show Mr. Cassady a completed workbook if you wish to receive the geocaching merit badge.

We look forward to seeing our Scouts on Thursday!

2020-2021 Opening Troop Meeting

 Hello Troops 20 & 96!

We hope everyone has had a wonderful and safe summer.  We would like to let everyone know that we will be holding our opening Troop Meeting for the 2020-2021 Scouting Year on Saturday, September 26th at Camp Norse.

We are asking all Scouts to please arrive at Camp Norse for 9:30 AM sharp in Class A's with a Class B t-shirt.  If you do not have a Class B t-shirt, any Scouting appropriate t-shirt will be fine. Our current plan is to have a quick opening and then the Scouts will work on a compass course and the Geocaching merit badge.

We are planning to run two sessions.  In the morning, one Troop will work on the compass course while the other works on the geocaching course. We will have a break for lunch and then the Troops will switch so that everyone gets to complete both the compass course and the geocaching course.

IMPORTANT: Immediately following our opening ceremony, Mr. Holt would like to meet with all parents briefly to give everyone an update on what to expect this year while we navigate the ongoing COVID regulations.

Some important requirements to be aware of:

1. All Scouts must have an appropriate mask.
2. All Scouts must bring a full water bottle.
3. All Scouts should have a day pack to carry gear.
4. The Troop cannot provide food so every Scout must bring a lunch in their day pack.
5. Wear appropriate footwear.
6. Dress for the weather. Wet weather gear, sweatshirt, etc. as appropriate.
7. Bring bug spray.

If you wish to earn the geocaching merit badge, there is some prerequisite work you will have to complete before you arrive at Camp Norse on the 26th. Below are links to three videos we would like you to watch.  These explain how to use the GPS devices that will be used for this course.  There is also a link to the Geocaching Merit Badge worksheet.  You should print out the workbook and complete as much of it as you can before the Troop meeting.

1. Introduction to the GPS unit

2. How to set a way point

3. Going to the way point

4. Geocaching merit badge worksheet

For help answering the merit badge questions, a version of the merit badge pamphlet is available as a pdf here:  Geocaching Merit Badge Pamphlet

      We look forward to seeing our Scouts on September 26th!

Opportunity for Community Service Hours

 Hello Troop 20!

We hope everyone has been doing well, staying safe, and enjoying the summer months.  As we get closer to starting up the Scouting year, we wanted to let everyone know about an opportunity to pick up some community service hours.

The Stewardship Group for the Pratt Farm will be out at the Farm on Saturday, September 12th, from 8:00 - 11:00 AM to do clean-up and trimming of the trails.  This is a great opportunity for all of our Scouts to earn some Community Service hours while performing a valuable service that's really appreciated by all who enjoy Pratt Farm.

If you're interested, please be at the Pratt Farm on the 12th for 8:00 AM.  Remember to bring plenty of bug spray (Recommend 40% DEET), wear long pants and long sleeves weather permitting, bring a full water bottle, and some work gloves would be a good idea as well.

Pratt Farm is located at 110 East Main Street (Rt. 105) in Middleborough, MA.

We hope to see a lot of our Scouts on the 12th to help clean up Pratt Farm!

Best,

Troop 20 Leadership

REMINDER: Citizenship Merit Badge Zoom Meeting - July 30, 2020, 7:00-8:30PM

Hello Troop 20!

There's still time if you would like to participate in our Zoom merit badge meeting this Thursday.  If you would like to participate, please email Mr. Pierce asap so that he can send you the Zoom meeting details. Remember, the Citizenship merit badges are Eagle required merit badges so this is a great opportunity to get them done ad off your to-do list!

Mr. McKinnon would like to hold a Zoom meeting next Thursday, July 30th from 7:00 - 8:30PM for any Scouts working on the Citizenship Merit Badges. We don't want to post the Zoom meeting details online so if you would like to participate, please email Mr. Pierce with your intention to participate and he will send you the Zoom meeting details via email.  As always, please be sure to include a parent on the email as we need to be sure we are observing 2 deep leadership rules.

To anyone attending, please be ready to present your material for Mr. McKinnon to review.  Eagle Scout candidates will be addressed first, followed by everyone else.


Thank You!
Troop 20 Leadership

Summer Camp 2020

Hello Troop 20!

There We just wanted to reach out one more time to see if we have any Scouts interested in attending Summer Camp at Camp Squanto this summer.  As a reminder, we had set aside July 12 thru July 17 for camp.  There are a few Scouts from Troop 96 who will be going and if we can get a few from Troop 20, we would be able to have our own site.  If anyone is still interested, please reach out to Mr. Holt right away.

Thank You!

End of Year Camping Trip - Update

Hello Troop 20!

It's been a while since we last connected. We hope that all of our Scouts and their families are doing well and staying safe and healthy. As we had originally anticipated having an end of year camping trip 6/19 - 6/21, we wanted to reach out to everyone to let you know that, unfortunately, we will be unable to have our trip as planned. The state/DCR is cancelling all group camping reservations for the remainder of 2020, which means the weekend we had reserved for Myles Standish has been officially cancelled. The state/DCR will only allow individual site tent camping for the rest of 2020, starting July 1st, but only after re-configuring what sites will be available for camping to allow for sufficient distancing between campsites. There will also be no camping allowed on Washburn island for the remainder of 2020.

We will continue to try and update all of you as new information comes to us. The leadership of Troop 20 wishes all of our Scouts and their families a healthy and happy summer vacation and we hope to see all of you in the fall.

Have a wonderful summer!

Summer Camp and Merit Badges! - 4/2/2020

Hello Troop 20 & 96!

We hope this note finds you and your families healthy and successfully coping with the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 crisis. We certainly understand how tremendously disruptive of everyone's lives and plans this has been, on so many different levels. We hope the impact to our Scouts and their families has been manageable and that you all continue to fare well until this is resolved.

That said, we wanted to reach out on a few topics to keep everyone in the loop and to make sure we're all keeping Scouting in our thoughts and using this time to take advantage of some opportunities.

Summer Camp:  Mr. Holt is still looking to see if there is any interest in attending Summer Camp.  If there is, can you please reach out to Mr. Holt as soon as possible via email, rholtelectric@yahoo.com.
We need a minimum of 5 Scouts to commit before we send a $250 check to reserve a spot.

Herring Run Festival:  This likely isn't a surprise but unfortunately, the town has had to cancel this years Herring Run Festival.

Citizenship Merit Badges:  For those Scouts that have been working with Mr. McKinnon on the Citizenship, and other, merit badges, we would like to know if you would like to keep working on these while we're all socially distancing ourselves. If you would, we can look into some Zoom conference calls to help everyone continue making progress.  Please reach out to any of our leaders and let us know.  We'll work on the arrangements and get back to everyone.
Mr. Holt: rholtelectric@yahoo.com
Mr. Cunningham: dcunningham56@verizon.net
Mr. Pierce: larry@pierce-family.net

Virtual Scouting Program: On Sunday, March 29th, Narragansett Council sent out an email, 'Virtual Scouting Programs Announcement'. In that email, there was a section on Virtual Merit Badge classes. One of the offerings was Citizenship in the World.  If you still need this merit badge, and the class hasn't filled up, you may want to consider this option. 

Virtual Merit Badges

Registration Is Now Live for Salesmanship, Chess, Citizenship in the World, Geocaching, Fish & Wildlife Management!

More than 24 Badge Offerings Are in the Works!

 Our team is working hard at organizing dozens of virtual merit badge workshops for troop members over the next several weeks.  We already successfully offered Personal Management and Law.  Registration is now live for Salesmanship, Chess, Citizenship in the World, Geocaching, Fish & Wildlife Management.  20 more are in the works!  

Badges are limited to 12 Scouts in order to provide an INTERACTIVE and QUALITY experience.   All badges will have an instructor and a staff moderator to assist with technology and questions.  Staff will be updating Scouts' advancement records via Scoutbook. 

Our first badge offerings filled up in 24 hours-Register quickly!

To keep abreast of new badge offerings, follow us at FaceBook or visit Virtual Scouting Page or Online Calendar.  



That's all for now. We hope to see everyone again soon. Stay safe.
 
Yours in Scouting,
The leadership of Troops 20 & 96