Tuesday, March 31, 2009

District Pinewood Derby

Hi all!
I know this is a little late, but I wanted to put a little something out there about the Pinewood Derby District Race on Saturday, March 14th. Race day went very smooth and fast actually. We were surprised to find that when we arrived, Webelos I had finished racing early and there was a lot of down time between their race and the start of the Bears race. I'm not sure how the rest of the day went, but Bears were able to do 2 full race sets before their time was up. That meant that the boys' cars were in 8 races instead of the 4 we are used to.

The results are posted on the district website, although I was disappointed to find out they only listed the top 3 finishers in each race. Here is the link to the results: http://manitou.nsbsa.org/pinewood_results.html

Congratulations to the Bears as all 3 of our boys finished in the top half of the competition out of a total of 38 racers in this rank.
Jacob Galatzer placed 5th
Ethan Menne placed 8th
Garrett Johnson placed 13th

Anyone else that has their placings, please send them to me and I will update this entry to include your results.

I also want to send a special thank you to Tom Dalhoff for collecting the recycling at the Armory during the races. It was a surprise that recycling wasn't set up at this District event but Tom did a great job getting things going for the rest of the day. Thanks again!

Thanks everyone for a great race and for representing Pack 437 in Districts! We're excited to see all the cars again next year!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

March Newsletter

Here is the Scout Shout Newsletter in text format. Please feel free to email Caryn Henriksen or me for a PDF or Word copy of this newsletter. I will be working on getting a better format on here. Thanks everyone!
Shauna



THE SCOUT SHOUT NEWSLETTER
CUB SCOUT PACK 437
MARCH 2009
No Pack Meeting in March
Pack 437 hopes you enjoy your Spring Break with your family!
NEXT PACK MEETING
Monday, April 13 at 6:15 PM
OLE School
Birthday Bag Assembly
Scouting for Food Preparations
Set-Up: Wolves
Opening & Closing: Tigers
Clean-up: Tigers
Snack: Webelos I
Skit/Song: Webelos I

LEADERSHIP MEETINGS
All parents are welcome to attend the monthly Leadership meetings. Our next one is scheduled for Thurs. 4/2/09 from 7-8:30 in the OLE Teacher’s lounge. Fresh ideas are always welcomed! Come check one out and help us support our Scouts!

2008/2009 Pack 437 Leadership Team
Committee Chair Ken Purdham 653-4271 kpurdham@comcast.net
Cubmaster John Mercier 407-6462 john.mercier@hmshost.com
Asst. Cubmaster Tom Dalhoff 653-0890 tomjill_dalhoff@msn.com
Treasurer Shauna Galatzer 762-7645 thegalatzerfamily@msn.com
Camping Chair Marc Johannsen 653-5697 rovinglion@aol.com
Advancement Coor. Tom Dalhoff 653-0890 tomjill_dalhoff@msn.com
Activities Coor. OPEN
Newsletter Coor. Caryn Henriksen 407-9532 kchenriksen@msn.com
Scouting for Food Christy Bartlett 762-7455 bartlett_five@yahoo.com
THANK YOU!
…to the many, many individuals who helped to make our Blue & Gold dinner a wonderful event. Whether your contribution was large or small, everyone’s assistance was appreciated. Please accept Pack 437’s thanks!!
…to Deb Clarke for her fabulous coordination of the Blue & Gold Dinner.
…to Troop 494 for providing excellent table service at the Blue & Gold. Our dinner was enhanced by your involvement.
. . . to Ken Purdham for managing Pack 437’s rechartering & Friends of Scouting paperwork.
…to Barb Rodriguez for supplying photo copies and for the rechartering prizes for the Blue & Gold dinner.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING
Get all of your leader training completed in one day at one of these March events:
University of Scouting on Saturday, March 21 from 8:30-4:30 pm at Lakeville South High School.
Link to info: http://training.nsbsa.org/info/UniversityOfScouting.aspx
OR
Manitou District Training Day on Saturday, March 28 from 8:00-5:00 pm at First Lutheran Church White Bear Lake.

SAVE THESE DATES
April 13 - Pack Meeting 6:15 p.m.
Birthday Bags
Scouting for Food Preparation

April 25 - Scouting for Food 9 a.m. – noon
May 11 - Pack Meeting 6:15 p.m.
Graduation
Aug. 16 - Summer Picnic (tentative date)
Mark your calendars!
More details to come
.

SCOUTING FOR FOOD
Mark your calendars for the Pack’s annual Scouting for Food drive.
Saturday, April 25
9:00 AM – Noon
More details to come…

NEW BLOG
Shauna Galatzer is working on a new Pack 437 Blog. She will be updating it after every Pack Meeting, special activity and leader meeting.
The website is
http://pack437.blogspot.com/
Check it out!

PINEWOOD DERBY
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 2009 Pinewood Derby! Pack 437 would especially like to thank all the friends and family that came to cheer on our Scouts! We got off to a rocky start but we made it through.
Here is a re-cap of the winners this year:
Appearance:
Tiger
1st place- Henry Bridgeman
2nd place- Gabe Bartlett
3rd place- Tyler Mattson
Wolf
1st place- Nathan Zerwas
2nd place- Josh Peterson
3rd place- Kyle Maxson
Bear
1st place- Mitchell Hanson
2nd place- Zach Toner
3rd place- Connor DeBoer
Webelo 1
1st place- Spencer Monson
2nd place- Matthew Baumgardner
3rd place- Sam Henriksen
Webelo 2
1st place- Wyatt Newman
2nd place- Will Golding
3rd place- Nathan Schlief
Speed:
Tiger
1st place- Jonathon Jamieson
2nd place- Tyler Mattson
3rd place- Henry Bridgeman
Wolf
1st place- Tryg Solberg (This was the fastest car of the day)
2nd place- Nathan Zerwas
3rd place- Michael Cogan
Bear
1st place- Jacob Galatzer
2nd place- Garrett Johnson
3rd place- Ethan Menne
Webelo 1
1st place- Matthew Baumgardner
2nd place- Jacob Dalhoff
3rd place- Max Risdall
Webelo 2
1st place- Wyatt Newman
2nd place- Will Golding
3rd place- Nathan Schlief
We will also send out a big congrats to Jenny Golding for taking home the coveted Open class trophy!
We hope everyone enjoyed the event this year and that the Scouts took pride in their accomplishments!
A HUGE THANK YOU to ALL that helped make this year’s derby a success. Here’s just a few:
Jim & Shauna Galatzer, Jim Golding
Sidge Bridgeman – Emcee & his wife, Carla
Kurt Henriksen & Dan Baumgartner – Car runners
Stephanie Peterson & family, Kelly Deery – Concessions
Mike Cerney – check in, Ann Cerney – getting us in the building!
John Mercier – helping where needed.

SCOUT BUCKS!
Shauna Galatzer, Pack 437 Treasurer, would like to remind you that all Scout Bucks accounts must be paid to zero if they are in the negative by the May Pack meeting. She will be sending emails out to those families that still owe Scout Bucks. Please be sure to bring your check books to the April Pack Meeting to settle your account if you are in the negative. Thanks to all the families that have promptly responded and gotten their Scout Bucks up to date! Should anyone have any questions or if you would like to see you son's Scout Bucks report, please feel free to contact Shauna at any time!
thegalatzerfamily@msn.com or 651-762-7645 Thank you!

BOOK DRIVE
Are your children’s bookshelves full of forgotten books or books that they’ve outgrown? North Metro Pediatrics, a medical clinic specializing in serving uninsured & underinsured children and teens in our area, is in need of books for children of all ages. To promote reading, each child seen at the clinic is encouraged to pick out a book to bring home & keep.
If you have any new or gently used books that you would be willing to donate, please bring them to the APRIL 13th Pack meeting. We will have boxes to collect them and will donate them on behalf of Pack 437!

Polar Camp FUN!
Great camp, lots of participation, all cabins were full.
Everyone dealt with being out of water from Friday night through mid-day Saturday. No whimpering, everyone pitched in, Mr. Cerney and Mr. Golding were excellent water haulers. Outdoor toilets were exhilarating!
Fun activities throughout the day, which finished with a great all-Pack dinner and some skits by the Boyscouts and followed by toasted marshmallows by the bonfire.
Sunday morning hike to Friendship Point was a big challenge but everyone made it!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Pinewood Derby Manitou District Race

Here is the Pinewood Derby Districts Race info. Please feel free to attend and cheer on your Pack-mates! I have a list below of who will be attending also. Congrats to all those going to Districts!!!

The 2009 Manitou District Pinewood Derby will be held on Saturday, March 14, 2009 at The White Bear Armory in White Bear Lake Minnesota. 2228 4th Street, White Bear Lake, MN
Race and Registration times-
1. 2nd Year Webelos- Registration 8:00 AM, race time 8:45 AM
2. 1st Year Webelos- Registration 8:45 AM, race time 10:00 AM
3. Bears- Registration 10:00 AM, race time 11:30 AM
4. Wolves- Registration 11:30 AM, race time 1:00 PM
5. Tigers- Registration 1:00 PM, race time 2:30 PM
6. District Championships 3:30 PM

Scouts Attending:
Tigers:
Jonathon
Tyler
Henry Bridgeman

Wolves:
Tryg Solberg
Nathan Zerwas
Michael Cogan

Bears:
Jacob Galatzer
Garrett Johnson
Ethan Menne

Webelo I:
Matthew Baumgardner
Jacob Dalhoff
Max Risdall

Webelo II:
Wyatt Newman
Adam Cerney
Nathan Schlief

Polar Camp

What a great weekend everyone had at Polar Camp!

Thanks to Marc Johannsen for setting up a great camp experience and pulling everything together! The weather was warm and it was a little bit sloppy, but the boys had a ton of fun! Due to the warm weather, the much anticipated tubing hill was closed, but the boys were still able to do some sledding down the big ice hill and the daycamp had a really fun visit from a sled-dog team. From what I hear, that was the high light of most of the kids day! Lunch during camp left a lot to be desired, but as those of you that attended dinner on Saturday night know, DINNER WAS AWESOME! Thanks to Tom DeGayner from Troop 494 for getting dinner for us! We had a lot of help from our dad's as the Troop help was pretty scarce this year. Watch for the pictures on Shutterfly - dad's CAN do dishes! No need to leave all the work to the mom's anymore! Thanks Dad's! In all seriousness, everyone at dinner was very helpful and it was a great success because of all the parent help we had. We couldn't have done it without such supportive families! For those of you that missed it, we had lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and brownies with ice cream! YUM!!!

Friday night, the boys got up to camp and got settled. The cabins they stay in are heated with wood burning stoves so the first order of business was getting a fire started for each cabin so they didn't freeze to death overnight! After that they just relaxed and hung out for the night.

Saturday was the day camp. The day campers from our Pack all arrived and joined the boys that were staying the weekend for a day of fun activities - from making bird feeders to rock wall climbing to sled dogs... It was a full day of really fun activites! After camp, everyone started getting ready for dinner with the Troop.

Before dinner, the kids were able to go sledding, check out the Trading Post and buy some candy, practice their whittling skills, and just plain run around in the warm weather! After dinner, there were a few skits, a bonfire with s'mores, and a late night trip to the snow tunnel hill at the camp.

Sunday morning after everyone got up and had breakfast, some of the boys went on a hike to Friendship Point. It's about a 2 mile hike (?) and according to Jacob Galatzer, they saw raccoon tracks and a raccoon that had been eaten for breakfast. This translates to some raccoon tracks near some fur! After that, it was finally time to head home.

It sounds like everyone had a really great time! Thanks to everyone that helped organize this, pitched in to help with dishes, cooking, cleaning, and watching over our boys. Like I said, these activities wouldn't be the same without our wonderful Pack Parents!

Remember to check back in after Pack meetings, Pack activities, and Leader meetings. I will update this whenever something seems interesting to our Pack. Again, if you have any questions, please ask! I'll post them here with answers and I'm sure many other parents will be wondering the same things!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Welcome!

We have heard that there are a lot of people having a hard time keeping up with Pack 437 activities. I have decided to start this site in an attempt to open up the communication to more families on a hopefully more convenient level. Please come to this site to find out about the upcoming events, date and time information, and various other helpful tidbits. Please feel free to contact me with any questions - chances are if you have a question, it's the same one many other parents have! I'll be happy to answer them or find the answers for you. Happy Scouting!
Shauna Galatzer
Pack 437 Treasurer

UPCOMING EVENTS
3/6-3/8 - Polar Camp Weekend
3/7 - Polar Camp Daycamp
4/2 - Pack Committee Meeting at OLE Teacher's Lounge 7pm - ALL leaders should attend, all
Scouting parents strongly encouraged to attend!
4/13 - Pack Meeting at OLE 6:30PM - Birthday Bags for Food Shelf
4/25 - Scouting for Food at Polar Lakes Park 9am to Noon
4/30 - Pack Committee Meeting at OLE Teacher's Lounge 7pm - ALL leaders should attend, all
Scouting parents strongly encouraged to attend!
5/11 - Pack Meeting at OLE 6:30PM - Graduation
5/21 - Pack Committee Meeting at OLE Teacher's Lounge 7pm - ALL leaders should attend, all
Scouting parents strongly encouraged to attend!