Camp Chesebrough Update

We are breaking ground!  That’s right, this September we will be breaking ground to build a state of the art 2,400 square foot facility and renovate the current administration building.  We have contracted Barry Swenson Builders to do these capital projects.

While Chesebrough will remain open, from groundbreaking in September until completion and opening day in June both the administrative building and the new lodge (formally called the pole barn) will be unavailable and closed for use. 

Go to the website for latest plans, updates and giving opportunities at www.scccbsa.org/html/about/ChesebroughCapitalCampaign.html

Coyote Creek Cycling Classic

On October 13, 2007 we will be having our 15^th Annual Coyote Creek Classic at the   Santa Clara Model Aircraft Park, 10250 Monterey Rd. in Morgan Hill.  There are three options of routes:  12, 25 and 50.  The courses follow the  Coyote Creek trail and  the 50 miler traverses a beautiful loop in the Chesbro and Uvas areas. 

This is a great cycling family fun ride which includes a BBQ lunch, t-shirt, and patch.  It is a charity event benefiting the Outreach programs of our Council.  Rest stops, SAGS, and maps are included.

Start times are open to the rider.  Riders must be on courses by 9am and complete mileage by 2pm. 

Fees: 

Single Rider postmarked by 9/19/07:  $27

Groups of 4 or more postmarked by 9/19/07:  $23 per rider

Single rider after 9/20/07 and walk-in:  $32 per rider

Contact:  Walter Mueller 408-280-2154 ext. 16 for more information

Popcorn 2007

The best fundraiser of the year is fast approaching and we want to include all districts in the opportunity. In 2006, Santa Clara County Council sold almost $600,000 worth of popcorn. This resulted in an almost $200,000 paid out to the Packs, Troops, Teams and Crews of our council.  This year we project to be even more successful.

There will be trainings this month on the following dates: 

• Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 1:30pm
• Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 7:30pm
• Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 7:30pm
• Friday, August 31, 2007 at 7:30pm
• Monday, September 3, 2007 at 7:30pm

No registration needed, please just join us at the Council Service Center at any of the above dates.  All unit leaders and unit popcorn chairmen are strongly recommended to attend.  An extra one percent unit commission will be earned if a representative attends a training and all popcorn accounts are closed on time J

Please contact Jonathan Leder at 408-280-2154 ext. 34 or jonathan@scccbsa.org

SPECIAL EVENTS

Boy Scout Golf Tournament – Monday, September 17, 2007

The Boy Scout Invitational Golf Tournament presented by Bridge Bank will be held at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club.

You are invited to come out with a foursome or individually for a fun day of golf at one of the most challenging golf courses in Northern California.

The day includes an outdoor barbeque, on-course contests, a player bag, and 19^th Hole dinner reception.

Please contact Walter Mueller at 408-280-5088 x16 or walter@scccbsa.org for more information.

Distinguished Citizen Dinner – Thursday, November 15, 2007

The 33^rd annual Distinguished Citizen Dinner will be held on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at the Marriott Hotel in Santa Clara.

This year, the Boy Scouts are proud to honor Eddie and Helen Owen – two longtime Silicon Valley residents who have been active business and community leaders in the valley for over four decades.

For more information on being part of this special night, please contact Walter Mueller at 408-280-5088 x16 or walter@scccbsa.org.

Coyote Creek District

The Coyote Creek District has started very well!  With this change there is a stronger committee and Commissioner staff to support the units, and we’re looking forward to a very exciting future.

Roundtable will be held at the LDS building at 3060 Patt Ave, San Jose on the 2^nd Thursday of the month starting at 7:30PM.  This is a great place to get program ideas for your unit, brainstorm solutions with other leaders, and just fellowship.  Watch for information on our barbecue on August 9^th.  Please join the yahoo group to keep informed, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Coyote_Creek_district

Key Three

Our new District Chairman is Cecil Lawson

Our new District Commissioner is Mario Smalls

Our new District Executive is Ken Schott

Order of the Arrow

The chapters formerly known as Chesimus and Shalako have combined.  Our new District’s OA chapter is Tindeuchen (which means “Fire Maker”) and the Chapter Chief is Eric Liaw.  The Chapter Advisor is Gary Hendra.  All members of the OA are encouraged to attend the chapter meetings, which will be held in conjunction with the roundtables, on the Second Thursday of the month at the LDS building on Patt Ave in San Jose.

We are just getting organized, so more details to come soon regarding the activities in our District.

Pioneer District

Membership

 The 2007 Spring recruitment drive is now coming to a close. Pioneer has shown a membership growth in June once again and  we will have 88 units and more than 2000 youth members. This has been a team effort from units, leaders, parents and of course our District Membership Team.

“I have no problem doing recruitment. In fact, I love it because it means we can get more parents to help out in the pack. The more, the merrier!!” said one of the leaders, whose pack grows consistently every year. 

Once again this Fall we will have a Fall Membership Drive on September 20, 2007.  This will once again be Council wide!  All schools will be hosted by our units, leaders, volunteers who believe they can create an opportunity for a boy to join Scouting.

Units should designate a committee member or other adult leader to act as a membership/recruiting chair for units. Trainings will be provided to all units from July to September with support materials. If you would like assistance with recruiting or membership training or planning, please do not hesitate to call  our Pioneer District Membership Chair, Derek Riehl at  derekriehl@hotmail.com 

Popcorn

Did you go to the June Popcorn Kick-Off? Has your unit set out a plan for your unit fundraising?  If you have not set out your yearly fundraising goal and plan, now is the time. There should be a lot of additional commissions this year to assist you. Please have a designated person as a Popcorn Chair to attend the training in July or August so that this year’s Popcorn Campaign will be successful.

Polaris District Update

Polaris Email Group

The Polaris District Email group is used to send monthly Roundtable Reminders, our monthly newsletter "The Polaris Star" and many special announcements each month. You can join the group if you would like to stay in the loop on all that is happening in the Polaris District. If you know a fellow Polaris Scouter who is not a member of the list, please invite them to join.

If you are not currently on the Polaris Yahoo Group mailing list and would like to receive the Star each month, please subscribe to our list by sending an email to the following address:

SCCC-Polaris-RD-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Silicon Valley 1500
This fall the Council is encouraging a simultaneous recruiting drive throughout the county on September 20^, 2007. There are a lot of materials prepared for this event, along with council support and trainings (July 18^th ; August 14^th, 15^th, 16^th, 18^th, 27^th, 30^th ; September 8^th). Packs should start preparing to have a representative/team at each school for recruitment and begin to gear up to be as visible as possible in the community that week. Now is a great time to check out the resources and start planning your fall recruitment night.

If you need help, ideas, or you already have parts and pieces planned for Fall recruiting please contact Dylan Hendrickson at Dylan@scccbsa.org or call him at 408-280-5088 ext. #41.

New On-line Unit Finder

As an aid to matching new members with units, the district is preparing to implement a web-based unit finder service. Part of this process involves loading a database with profiles of the units in the district.

Mark Ellson will be contacting each unit to obtain current profile data to go into the database. The plan is to start with Cub Scout packs. Boy Scout troops and Venturing crews will follow. The objective is to have this service available in time to support Fall recruiting. Your cooperation in promptly returning data to Mark will help us to meet that objective. Profile worksheets will be distributed starting in the second half of July.

Friends of Scouting

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  We have eclipsed our goal of $170,000 and raised $173,284 for scouting in Santa Clara County. For anyone who has not had the opportunity to pledge their support for this very important campaign, now is the time to do so.

We have had many units reach goal and a hearty congratulations is deserved by each every one of them. Polaris had the top three fundraising troops in the whole council. Troop 407 raised $10,856, Troop 508 raised $14,320, and Troop 476 raised $15,522. Troops who made goal were Troop 127, 400, 407, 408, 443, 452, 453, 463, 468, 476, 479, 485, 494, 498, 495, 508, 535, and 566. Packs who made goal were Pack 127, 408, 415, 426, 433, 457, 462, 468, 471, 476, 505, and 581. Crews who made goal were Crew 127 and 479.

If your unit has not reached 100% participation, there is still time to contact those who did not contribute.  The 2007 FOS campaign continues until the end of the year.

Remember that a lot of companies match charitable gifts. If your employer is one that does offer matching, please contact your Human Resources department to potentially double your gift! For more information or materials, please contact Debbie Jancis at Debbie.Jancis@sbcglobal.net.

Fall Popcorn Sales

It’s that time of the year again! It’s time to get your creative juices going and sell popcorn. Popcorn sales help the council, your unit and your son to make extra money for the Scouting program. Get your unit involved today!

Sales training opportunities are coming in August and September (listed on the flyer!). Training covers item prices and sales methods that are the keys to success. If you are interested in earning enough money to pay for your youth’s scouting expenses for the year, come join in the popcorn fun. The scouting program is designed to pay for itself; help be a part of that experience.

Each unit needs to select a popcorn chair as we gear up for this year’s fundraising campaign. Contact Debbie Jancis for further details or to answer questions at debbie.jancis@sbcglobal.net or she can be reached at 408-245-2745.

Quicksilver District Update

New District—new meeting places and times

Welcome to the Quicksilver District, comprised of the former Mene Oto and Gavilan Districts.  The merger of districts allows us to consolidate resources to better support packs, troops, teams, and crews.  There will also be two people at the Council Service Center to help you. 

The district meeting will be on the first Tuesdays of each month, starting in August.  Roundtables (and Order of the Arrow chapter meetings) will be on the second Tuesdays of each month, also starting in August.  Meetings will start at 7:30PM at the Bernal Bible Church at 160 Bernal Road in south San Jose.  The major cross streets are Bernal and Santa Teresa.  As you travel eastward from this intersection, watch for the traffic signal at Realm.  Two more driveways past the shopping center driveway will get you into the church parking lot, which has limited spots.  You may park on Santa Teresa, or turn into the next driveway to the LDS Church where our 237 units meet.

The Key District Leaders

Hal Hendrickson is the new District Chairman and Dolores Bergen is the new District Commissioner.  A transition Nominating Committee, composed of key volunteers in Mene Oto and Gavilan Districts, suggested Hal and Dolores for the positions. Eilo Betoushana, 408-280-5088, ext. 40, eilo@scccbsa.org ; and Alan Young, 408-280-5088, ext. 22, alan@scccbsa.org are the contacts at the Council Service Center.  A contact list for all of the district officers will be distributed soon.

Popcorn

As you budget for your activities for the 2007-2008 year, remember to make efficient use of fundraisers.  Selling Trails End popcorn through the council-coordinated sale can help you fund your ideal year of Scouting.  By figuring our your expenses for registration, Boys’ Life magazine, program supplies, camp, monthly activities, awards, and any other items your unit wants to include, you can find out how much it costs to run your unit program for a year.  Divide by the number of youth selling and you have a target for each Cub Scout, Scout, or Venturer to reach to pay for his or her program for a year.  To learn more about the sale, including inventory tracking, making sure you have very little excess popcorn at the end of the sale, and how successful units raise a lot of money, look for the Popcorn Training sessions in August.

If your unit is participating in popcorn sales this fall, or if you need some more information, please contact Madelyn at 408-629-9618.  We have confirmations from the following units: Packs 218, 234, 272, 274, 281, 709, 780; and Troops 212, 218, 219, 227, 233, 234, 262, 286, 287, 730. 

School Night for Scouting

The 2006 School Night for Scouting was such a huge success council-wide that we are going to do it again in 2007.  This year’s date is Thursday, September 20^th.  We are promoting this night as an opportunity for families to go to their nearest public elementary school to learn more about Scouting and register.  By having coverage at each school, we are able to provide an event that bigger media—newspapers, radio and television stations.  The challenge is to have someone (or even better a team of people) at each school to answer questions and recruit new members.  We will have training sessions in August and early September that will teach pack membership coordinators how to set up and run a successful school night recruitment.  For schools that have Back to School Nights on the 20^th, it is best to have a small information table at the school and use it to invite families to an information night the next week.  Over the next few weeks we will be asking for help with coverage of schools in your area.  If your pack recruits out of certain schools, please let Alan or Eilo know so we can help coordinate this campaign.

There is talk of following the School Night for Scouting with a similar event aimed at Boy Scout recruiting.  Are there any troops interested in a coordinated recruitment event?

Centennial Quality Unit Award goals

We are missing a number of Centennial Quality Unit Award goal sheets.  Remember that this year, units have the opportunity to set some of their Quality Unit goals.  A worksheet and the form to submit goals may be found at http://www.scouting.org/awards/centennial/14-190.pdf .  The Centennial Plus Award (formerly known as the Commissioners’ Challenge) requirements may be found at http://www.scccbsa.org/files/Centennial PlusAwardv3.pdf .  Thanks to the following units for submitting their goals: Packs 204, 218, 224, 234, 272, 274, 278, 281, 282, 286; 700, 780, 794; Troops 200, 218, 220, 232, 233, 234, 260, 266, 271, 286, 287, 730, 799,  1304, 1305, 1312; Teams 1304,1305, 1312; Crews 200, 286, 1304, 1305, 1312.  If your unit has submitted their goals, and your number does not appear here, please contact Burt Corsen at 408-264-4526.  We need your forms if you have not submitted them.  Kindly call Mr. Corsen to arrange to exchange information.

Trained Unit Leaders

Are your leaders delivering a dynamic program?  Do they know where to get information when it is needed?  Could they use new ideas?  A full set of training sessions are coming up this fall, starting in September.  We also want to keep the training record data base current.  We will have unit lists for registered leaders, and markings for whether they have taken the courses to be considered trained starting at the August Roundtable.  If your unit keeps records of trained leaders, please bring your list to the Roundtable to help update the Scoutnet database.

Order of the Arrow Fall Ordeal campout

If you were in a troop or team and were elected to the Order of the Arrow (Scouting’s Honor Society) this year and did not have an opportunity to attend the Ordeal campout (needed to actually become a member of the Order of the Arrow), mark the weekend of September 7-9 in your calendar.  This will be the only other chance for you to become a member this year.  Keep an eye out in the mail for your registration form, contact your Order of the Arrow representatives at roundtables, or contact the Council Service Center for information.  All Arrowmen are encouraged to attend the campout as well.  See the lodge website for information.

Endowment

New James E. West Recognition Levels

An integral part of the Santa Clara County Council's program to expand its endowment trust fund and ensure the future financial stability of the council is the James E. West Fellowship Award. Named after the first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, it is a national recognition for those who contribute $1,000 or more in cash or securities to our council's endowment fund.

Recently, new levels of giving have been established at $2,500, $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000 minimums.  Even if you are already a James E. West member, you can continue making gifts to reach the next level and specialized recognition.

Organizations or individuals may contribute an award in honor of someone, an Eagle Scout, a Silver Beaver recipient, or significant Scout leader, or in memory of a departed loved one, business associate, or special Scouter.

Each donor will be recognized with a personalized 8 x 10 certificate, distinctive lapel pin/charm and an embroidered square knot.  To make a James E. West gift, contact Walter Mueller at 408-280-5088 x16 or walter@scccbsa.org.

Religious Emblems

Congratulations to the following Scouts, who earned their religious emblems award recently:

Learning for Life

Learning for Life is now collaborating with Steve Johnson, Director of Character Education at the Markulla Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.  We are combining Steve Johnson’s Character-Based Literacy with Learning for Life’s Career Education Components in order to serve local public and private schools.  Our first collaboration is planned for The Terra Bella Academy, a Santa Clara County Charter School.

We were recently invited to present Learning for Life at Santa Clara University’s Ethics Camp.  In our 2 hours session, we presented the Learning for Life programs as well as conducted hands-on lessons with the attendees.  There were 46 teachers and administrators present and we received very positive feedback regarding our program.

We are looking to further expand our program where students will grow in character and involvement in the community.  If you are interested in Character Education and would like to get involved and/or support our comprehensive program, please call Adam at 408.280.2154 ext. 23 or adam@scccbsa.org