Cubmasters and pack committee chairs are invited to join us on February 4th at 6pm at Camp Soule Dining Hall for an evening of fellowship and information on the Cub Scout Day Camp and Family Camp.

Find out how your pack can join in the fun that happens at a WCFC camp and what you can do to make that experience even better!!! We will have a presentation with a Q & A session as well as packets to take back to your pack so you can get started on your ADVENTURE!!

Thanks to our very generous OA chapter you will enjoy a very nice dinner. Please RSVP to Cassie Riddick at mommy2littleboys@yahoo.com or 727-278-7078 by 5pm on Friday January 30th to ensure a dinner plate is waiting for you!!!

COME JOIN THE FUN!!!!

West Central Florida Council relies on our volunteers to lead many of our programs. We currently are looking for people who can commit to some key positions. These programs are vital to our Scouts and their Scouting experience. Please read the information below and if you can help, contact either Ken Knaebel at Tokala@tampabay.rr.com or Jim Watson at 94corvette@tampabay.rr.com.

Some units have requested a local location where they can turn-in their re-charter paperwork. We have the following dates and locations available where you can come and turn-in your completed charter paperwork. Please bring

1. Completed and signed charter paperwork
2. Any applications that need to be turned in with the charter
3. Your completed JTE Scoresheet. The scoresheet is available as a PDF or as an Excel workbook
4. Payment for your recharter. (Check or credit / debit card)

Charter drop-off will be by appointment only. To book an appointment, please click the date and location below and complete the VolunteerSpot form! If you have any problems with the form please call Mark Sharman at 727 342 0605. Please note that if you have not booked a time there may be no-one there to receive your paperwork!

January 19th from 5pm until 8pm at Panera Bread – 40968 US Highway 19 North, Tarpon Springs

January 24th from 2pm until 5pm at Starbucks – 33840 US Highway 19 North Palm Harbor, FL 34684

February 14th from 10am until 1pm at Starbucks – 33840 US Highway 19 North Palm Harbor, FL 34684

January 24th from 10am until 12pm at Starbucks – 5220 Little Road New Port Richey, FL 34655

February 15th from 1pm until 4pm at Starbucks – 5220 Little Road New Port Richey, FL 34655

A new Cub Scouting program is launching June 1, 2015, that will be more fun and exciting for boys, and easier to carry out for unit leaders. To make sure you are ready to make the transition, a series of webcasts will be hosted on January 17 to outline the coming changes, how to prepare, and when resources will be available.

Cubmaster Webcasts

• Saturday, January 17 at 8 a.m. (Central) or
• Saturday, January 17 at 3 p.m. (Central)

Den Leader Webcasts

• Saturday, January 17 at 9:30 a.m. (Central) or
• Saturday, January 17 at 4:30 p.m. (Central)*

LDS-Specific Considerations

• Saturday, January 17 at 11 a.m. (Central) or
• Saturday, January 17 at 6:00pm (Central)

*It is recommended that those interested in the LDS session view one of the role-specific sessions first.

Although the content will be geared to the roles listed, anyone with an interest in learning about the new Cub Scouting program is welcome to attend.

The sessions will be recorded for later viewing.

It’s easy to attend! Just navigate your Internet browser to:www.livestream.com/bsanationalcouncil and you are ready to view the webcast!

As always, for more information on the new Cub Scouting Program, please log on towww.scouting.org/programupdates.

Help spread the word about the webcasts to ensure others are ready for the new Cub Scouting program!

Please plan to attend a very special Roundtable on January 14^th. The new District Chairman and the new District Commissioner for Anclote District will host a fireside chat style Roundtable where you can share ideas to improve district support for our units.  The district leadership would like to know how we can make your job easier as Scouters, how we can develop and improve Roundtable and communications in general and how we can improve the district-level program opportunities that we offer.

The main output from this meeting with be a list of action points that summarize the main issues raised at the meeting. We will take these action points and present them to the district committee at its February meeting to formulate an action plan. We will use this action plan to report back to the district each month on the progress towards the goals via an article here on the district website.

Please make every effort to attend this Roundtable and to make sure that we hear your ideas. Your advice will set the agenda for the work of the district for the rest of 2015!!

The Roundtable will be held at 7pm at CARES, 4136 Barker Drive, New Port Richey, FL 34652.

Who:  This course is suggested for Boy Scout leaders and any interested, registered Scouter.

Date: 1/24/2015
Time:  7:45am – 3:30pm
Location:  First United Methodist Church, 501 E. Tarpon Ave, Tarpon Springs
Cost:  $20 (includes lunch).

The course is a prerequisite for Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmaster planning to attend Wood Badge.

Questions:  Contact Rick Llanas, Anclote Training Chair at (727) 207-5985 or 727ricnic@gmail.com.

Register online at www.wcfcbsa.org by clicking on the link found in the Calendar at the top of the home page and then the date of the event.

As you are probably aware the district has done really well in recruitment so far.  Cub Scout membership has grown by over 100 members since June 30^th and units are still turning in applications.

However, we have a long way to go on our mission to spread Scouting in our community!  Every new youth we bring in and keep in the program is another young life changed for the better!  We set a target of 412 new youth members in the district this year, and so far we are about a quarter of the way there – so we are asking for your help to get the rest of the way there!  More members also means more adult leaders and provides more support to your existing leadership team.

It’s proven that the single most powerful way to recruit new members is to use families that are already a part of Scouting – peer-to-peer recruiting.  We are asking every unit in the district (packs, troops, and crews) to run a peer-to-peer recruiting event before the end of the year.

This is not as hard as it sounds.  Many units already have a fun event planned that you can invite prospective members to, such as a holiday party.  If not, you can always turn a regular meeting into a peer-to-peer event just by planning some simple activities that show the “sizzle” of Scouting.

To help you plan your event with success in mind we’ve put together a How-To guide for peer-to-peer recruitment. You can download it here!

It’s Fall and as the temperatures drop outside, our Membership thermometer continues to rise.  I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you who are working hard to grow your units.  At the district level we talk about these numbers all the time, but remember each one of those numbers means a kid is getting the Promise of Scouting – a promise that helps shape the person they will become.   It’s bigger than any one of us, or any unit…it’s an investment in the future of our communities.   So again Thank You and please keep growing your units.  Here’s a few successes in Anclote so far:

If you haven’t had any luck growing your unit, please reach out to me, our District Exec Mark Sharman, or your Unit Commissioner for assistance.  This is a vital effort to the success of Scouting in our area.

Bill Haggard                                 Mark Sharman
Membership Committee            District Executive

Looking for a fun, yet effective way to sell popcorn? I’d be certain that there are family members that live out of town that would love to help out the Scouts by buying popcorn. You then ask yourself how can we touch those people? I’ve got just the way…

Have the youth make a short video about selling popcorn and put it on YouTube. Click here for a really cool example. Find someone in the unit who likes photography and ask if they would like to take on this project (this could even be a merit badge project in a Troop).

Once it is done, post it on your Facebook page and forward it to family and friends. Make sure you have mentioned the zip code of the Council (33772) and the unit number in the Facebook post to ensure they find the right Scout to buy popcorn from. Encourage other parents to create a post also. This will increase the online ordering.

To sell online, the Scout must first create an account with Trails End. Here’s how you do that:

1. Go to sell.trails-end.com
2. Top right of page, Create an Account
3. Choose Scout from the options
4. Complete the information and click submit

To sell, go to trails-end.com and start to order. Choose the Scout who you want to order from and go from there.

Let’s get popping.

Earlier today, revised and final requirements of the new Cub Scout program were released by the National Office. The new program and these requirements will be effective with the 2015-2016 Scouting year. Handbooks, den leader guides, and other affected materials are on schedule to be in Scout shops no later than May 1, 2015.

These requirements will form the basis of the new Cub Scouting program that all packs will have to follow from June 2015. This is a very extensive change to the program and is designed to make it easier and simpler for unit leaders to deliver the program and deliver the promise of Scouting.

You can view all the new requirements for cub scout ranks by clicking here.

We are planning a series of Roundtables on the new Cub Scouting program for early next year. Information will be published on the district website later this year.

In the meantime, keep on Cub Scouting!!