Plan for Fall Youth Recruitment Success for Every Pack!

Please take time to review the membership resources provided at www.scouting.org/membership.  This national site provides some great resources and shares best practices for success in recruitment and retention. For up to date information check out the Cub Scout Fall Recruitment page under the Resources tab of the Bay-Lakes Council website: http://www.baylakesbsa.org/resources/cub-scout-fall-recruitment/53722.  Follow these ten steps to ensure your success:

• Attend your District’s Fall Recruiting Kickoff & Training – Attendance at this training event will be critical to your Pack’s success. You will receive your Pack’s 2015 Fall Recruiting Kit containing all of the materials needed for your Pack’s successful fall recruiting effort. Your kit will also include a copy of the Your Pack's Guide to Successful Fall Recruiting. 
• Schedule your Pack’s Fall Recruiting Night sometime between Thursday, September 10 and Thursday, September 24, 2015.  Share the date, time, and location with your District Fall Recruiting Chair or District Executive by August 15, 2015.
• Meet with your school principal to share your Pack’s plan for the Fall Recruitment. Confirm his/her support for distributing flyers and conducting Boy Talks prior to your Recruiting Night. If this is not something your Pack has done in the past please contact your District Executive to discuss the best way to promote Scouting within your school.
• Complete your Pack’s 2015-2016 activity calendar.  Use your calendar to promote all the fun things new Cub Scouts will be doing when they join your pack!  Include a great October activity for new Cub Scouts to participate in right away.
• Promote your Fall Recruiting Night using at least 7 of the best methods for promotion as outlined in the Your Pack's Guide to Successful Fall Recruiting. This guide can be downloaded by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page and will also be available in your 2015 Fall Recruiting Kit.
• Schedule your Parent Orientation meeting to take place no more than one week following your Fall Recruiting Night. Use the power point provided below to ensure that you get the most from this meeting.
• Create a plan to be sure that all Pack leaders, including new leaders, complete youth protection training right away. This is a BSA requirement for all leaders.
• Order your flyers, posters and stickers on time so they will be ready when you need them. The order form can be downloaded below and will also be in your 2015 Fall Recruiting Kit.
• Get your school directory and call and invite parents and boys to join.

Recruit Den Leaders for Dens prior to your Fall Recruiting Night. Be ready to fill those dens with new boys!

Welcome the New Kettle Country District Executive

Imagine 2024 Update

The Council continues to move forward with implementation of its 10-year strategic plan called “Imagine 2024.” Details of how the plan came to be and the Councils vision for the next 10 years can be seen by visiting www.baylakesbsa.org/imagine2024. We would encourage you to take the time to watch the videos including the Plan Introduction and Town Hall Meeting.

Part of the plan calls for the disposition of some of the Councils property. The maintenance costs for the Council camps over the next 10 years is expected to exceed $903,000. After much thought, research, outside consultation, and surveys it was determined that the Council needed to reduce its assets so that we could focus on maintaining our remaining facilities at a very high level while adding new programs that attract and meet the needs of today’s youth. In addition, it was determined that a new state of the art Webelos Camp needed to be built on the Bear Paw facility to enhance the Webelos experience and increase the transition rate into Boy Scouting.

To that end, we have recently sold Camp Maywood Wilderness and 20 acres of Camp Jax. The dollars from the Maywood sale will be used for several things including the transition of our long tenured Caretaker, Howard Veldman, back to Kaukauna, investment into our Camping Trust to provide for future maintenance of the camp facilities, development of the new Webelos Camp, additional branding, maintenance, and construction, as well as the preparation for a capital campaign to raise the balance of dollars needed to bring “Imagine 2024” to life. In the case of Camp Jax, the dollars will be used to build and upgrade the infrastructure to better support and enhance usage.

Please visit the website for details and updates. To ask questions or provide feedback send us an e-mail at imagine2024@scouting.org.

Training

With Fall just around the corner, it’s time to start inviting new members and their parents to join our organization so that they might benefit from what Scouting has to offer.

The need for new leaders will surface with the addition of new youth members. Why not get these new leaders off to a great start by insisting that they become trained. Statistics show that parents want to join organizations that provides a safe haven for their child, provides trained leaders, and completes a background check on the adults that will be working with their child.

Visit the Council website at www.baylakesbsa.org/training to learn more about e-learning, youth protection training, and other training opportunities. 

Congratulations to the Units that are 100% Youth Protection Trained!