Troop 463 Sunnyvale

Over the 50+ years Troop 463 has had involved parents and excellent fund raising. Although Boy Scouts is a Boy Lead? program, a troop can not be successful without the full involvement from the parents, committed other adults, good fundraising and of course eager participation from the scouts themselves.

FUNDRAISING

Our Troop does not sell Popcorn to earn funds (although we may do this to support the High Adventure program or for individual scouts to earn money towards their scout activities). We have two major events that cover all our troop expenses. Hands on the Arts (May) and Art and Wine (1st weekend of June). Hands on the Art is a Saturday event. Our scouts sell ice cream and water. Working this event helps promote our troop and gets our scouts out into the community. Adults are essential to assist with the set up and sales support. Shift are usually only a couple hours and a lot of fun! Earnings at this event are very contingent on good weather.

Art and Wine Festival is our primary source of income. This is a weekend event and is an “ALL HANDS ON BOARD” event. Scouts with 1 adult are expected to work two shifts during the weekend. Full participation at this event is what keeps our outing and dues cost low.

High Adventure does separate fundraising to support the activities and trips it offers.

These fundraisers may include: Gift Wrapping during the holidays, sell of Scout-a-Rama coupons, popcorn sales, pasta fundraiser, or any other ideas that the youth get excited about.

PARENT EXPECTATIONS

A troop can not functions without all the hard work that our adults put in behind the scenes. The troop has many roles of support that parents fill including; On the Program side, our Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters and on the Business side, the Committee Chair and the Committee (ALL parents). Many parents are needed to fill specific jobs within the Committee (Outings Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Fundraising coordinator. just to name a few) and our goal is to always have someone in “training” who can step in should the current parent retire. These jobs are critical to a smooth flow of the troops organization and success of the Scouting Program. Even parent who do not hold jobs are part of the Committee and should be active at the Committee Meetings. We ask that a parent attend at least one Committee Meeting a quarter although regular attendance will keep you aware of troop decisions and events. Parents are also critical to the advancement of each scout. Not only do the parents need to support their son’s advancement by showing interest and encouragement, they also need to help on Board of Reviews. No experience is needed and you learn a lot about the scouting program through the words of the scouts. As a scout completes his requirements for a Rank, he next needs to schedule a Scoutmaster Conference and then a Board of Review to secure the achievement of his Rank. Parents cannot sit at their own son’s BoR so are asked to attend at least 1 BoR per quarter for one of the other scouts..

Parents are often needed to assist with driving for our monthly outings and other activities. We encourage adults to join in on the fun outings while supporting the transportation efforts.

History has shown that the more involved the parent/s are in the scouting program, the higher the participation and advancement we see from the scouts.