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Scouts BSA Troop 773
On Saturday, March 23rd, the troop will offer Horsemanship Merit Badge followed by a campout. We will meet at the PUMC shed at 7 am on Saturday and return on Sunday afternoon. Bring a bag lunch with a beverage for Saturday. We will car camping. See troop email for details.
Our winter backpacking trip will be on Saturday, March 2nd to Sunday, March 3rd. We will be hiking in the George Washington National Forest. We will meet at the PUMC shed at 8 am on Saturday and return on Sunday afternoon. Bring a bag lunch with a beverage for Saturday. This will be a dry campout; all Scouts should carry 3 liters of water. Prepare for a low of 20 degrees. Bring the same clothes and gear that you brought to Klondike. Sturdy hiking boots are required. This hike does have a stream crossing, bring two pairs of extra socks. We will stop for a fast food lunch on our way back.
The younger Scouts will hike 3 miles to the campsite and 3 miles out. Older scouts we will hike 8 miles in and 3 miles out.
See troop email for details.
Boy Scouts Troop 773 will host their 61st annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser on Saturday, March 9, 2019, from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Potomac United Methodist Parish Center, 9908 South Glen Road.
The all you can eat dinner selections are prepared and served by Boy Scouts and Scout parents in casual, family style seating. No reservations are required.
Tickets may be purchased in advance HERE or at the door for $10 per person or $40 per family.
Anyone interested in supporting Troop 773 but unable to attend the dinner we welcome to purchase tickets that will be donated to the local first responders
Welcome to High Adventure Sea Base planning for 2020!! Scouts who are 13 years of age at the time of the trip are eligible.
The Summer of 2020, Troop 773 will go to Seabase. Registration opened last week, and we reserved spots for 5 crews, each sailing for 6 nights on a 40-foot sailboat.
Each crew will consist of 8 participants: at least 2 adults, and up to 6 scouts. Total max per boat is 8, no exceptions, but the boat can go with 6.
Dates for all groups are: Fly out of DC on August 15, meet the boat August 16, and fly home August 22.
Our troop is planning two trips:
Key West group will fly to Miami, drive rental cars to Keys, stay at a hotel/condo for the night and go to Seabase location on the 16th to meet their captain. The Key West location sails for six days, with a one day, stop at a national park. Sailing days are shorter and distances are shorter.
St. Thomas group will fly to Miami, and then take a connecting flight to St. Thomas, get a ride with the resort transfer, and stay one night in the condo on site for the Seabase location. The USVI group will sail for six days around St. John, which has a large national park. Sailing days are longer, and scouts who go to the St. Thomas location can get the 50-mile badge. This would be a better trip for older scouts, or scouts who have experience sailing.
Sailing without landfall is a different kind of environment than hiking at Philmont, but can be equally as challenging. From the Seabase website, please see the eligibility requirements: http://www.bsaseabase.org/Resources/Eligibility.aspx
Spots will be saved on a first come, first served basis. See emails for details.
Registration has begun for the Goshen Scout Reservation. Our troop is registered for Camp Bowman the week of June 30-July 6th. This is a great opportunity for Scouts to earn merit badges, bond with other troop members, and enjoy the outdoors! Parent volunteers are needed and encouraged to help for the whole or part of the week. Please see the website for more information: https://www.gotogoshen.org/camps-programs/camp-bowman/. Contact any scoutmaster with questions you may have about the camp.
See troop email for registration and payment details.
Goshen forms and documents may be found HERE.
Goshen payments may be made HERE.
Scouts should have a full schedule including predominantly Eagle required merit badges and a few “fun” badges.
The troop merit badge sign-up will be April 30th.
The Klondike Derby 2019 is here!! The Klondike Derby is a fun campout where patrols compete against other patrols from other troops. Patrols go around to stations and, using the gear in their survival kits, do challenges that require teamwork, scout skills, and creativity.
Sign up quickly to secure your slot! The deadline of sign up is Tuesday, January 22nd. Don’t wait until the last minute. This is a fun and easy campout that your son will not want to miss. Troop 773 won 1st place in the sled race last year.
We will need at least a half-dozen parent volunteers to camp the entire weekend. We are also hoping to volunteer the troop to run a station. We need a minimum of 8 parent volunteers for our troop to participate in running a station.
This campout provides good “cook” and “assistant cook” opportunities for Scouts needing the “cook” and “assistant cook” requirements. This is car camping. Food may be packed in coolers. Cooks should prepare four meals. Saturday, breakfast, lunch, dinner and Sunday breakfast. The breakfasts and dinner should be hot. The Saturday lunch should be a quick cold lunch (sandwiches and such) which maybe includes a hot drink.
Signup here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0A4AABAF2BA3FE3-2019
Where:
Little Bennett Regional Park, in Clarksburg MD. We do not yet know which campsites we will be in, but I will let you know as soon as we have that information.
When:
1/25/2019 5:00pm to 1/27/2019 11:30am.
Drop-off:
We will meet at the PUMC shed at 5:00 PM on Friday, January 25th. We need to depart the shed ASAP, so we may arrive at our campsites, unload, and register our sleds and survival kits at the Nature Center before 9:00 PM.
Drivers:
This event requires packing more troop gear than a typical camp out (3 wood sleds, 3 survival kits, firewood, etc.). Therefore, we will need more drivers and vehicles than usual on both Friday evening and Sunday late morning. It’s not too far, if you don’t want to camp there, you can just drop off kids and gears and go home on Friday. You also can just drive to the campsite and help to pick up kids and gears on Sunday.
Friday night dinner and snacks:
Dinner will NOT be served at camp Friday night. All Scouts should bring a bag dinner.
Departure/Return:
We plan to depart our campsites around 11:30 AM on Sunday, January 28th and will need to return the sleds and survival kits to the PUMC shed. I think we will not stop for lunch on Sunday.
Costs:
Scouts and adults should bring $25, including small bills, to pay the cooks. Cook will give the final $ number on Friday.
More info:
Timberline Four Seasons Resort
• Located in West Virginia, about 3 – 3½ hours from Potomac.
• Timberline is a mid-sized ski area with equal amounts of beginner, intermediate, and advanced terrain. Information about the resort is at http://timberlineresort.com/
• We will stay in a bunkhouse with rows of bunk beds. Meals are included in our package so we will not be doing any cooking on this trip.
• Beginners must take a ski lesson on Saturday morning. The beginner lesson is included in the base package.
• The scouts generally ski in groups that may or may not include an adult chaperone. Periodic check-ins and headcounts are conducted. As noted below, parents are highly encouraged to participate in this activity.
Deadline to Sign Up: November 19, 2018. This date cannot be extended due to Timberline Resort rules.
Trip Dates: January 11-13, 2019
Departure: January 11, 2019
• We will meet at the PUMC shed at 5 pm and depart promptly at 5:15 pm.
• We will stop for a fast food dinner on the way to Timberline. Please have your son bring money for dinner.
Return: January 13, 2019
• We will leave Timberline between approximately 12:30-2 pm.
• Pick-up of your scout will be at the driver’s house (or, at the driver’s option, at the PUMC shed).
• Your son will call you regarding the pick-up time and location once we hit the road for the trip home.
Parent Chaperones: We need parents to drive and chaperone to be able to run this event. It’s a fun weekend for the parents, so please consider joining us.
Cost: The base package is $260 and includes 2 nights lodging, 2-day lift ticket, 2-day ski rental, 5 meals, some snacks, and a beginner lesson. This package cannot be altered. Optional items, which you must sign up for and pay with your registration.
See email for full details.
The troop will travel for a day trip to the Udvar Hazy Museum on December 1: pick up at the shed at 9 am, drop off shed/pick up by parents at 2:30 pm
This trip includes an engineering project, a docent tour, bring your own food for McDonald’s on site for lunch (sorry its the only option) and an IMAX show. Price is 10.00 only payable on www.troop773.com/payments. Please bring extra money for lunch, and if you wish to do a flight simulation ride.
Scouts who participate may also use the trip as part of the Space Exploration Merit badge
Because of the limits on tour size, we can only accept up to 20 scouts. Parents please also participate. We need drivers!
Our November campout will be a caving trip on November 10th and 11th. We will meet at the PUMC shed on Saturday, November 10th at 7 am and return late on Sunday afternoon.
We will be visiting three caves. Grand Caverns and Fountain Cave on Saturday. Luray Caverns on Sunday. We will be car camping in the Shenandoah National Park at Big Meadows. Fountain Cave is a wild cave and Grand and Luray Caverns are commercial caves.
The cost of this trip is $80 per person (including parents). Fountain cave requires a signed waiver (parents too). To attend this trip you must sign up, pay and complete the waiver. Please note, once you commit to the trip there are no refunds. The sign up will end on Tuesday, November 6th at 11 pm. See troop email for details.
Fountain Cave requires long pants, long sleeves, boots, and an extra flashlight. Jeans are good for caving. Fountain cave will be somewhat wet. Scouts should bring a change of boots/shoes and clothes. Fountain cave will provide helmet, lantern, coveralls, gloves and knee pads. The Fountain Cave tour will be about two hours so Scouts may wish to bring water into the cave.
Scouts should bring three sets of clothes on this trip. One set for Fountain, one set to change into after Fountain and a spare set. Since we are car camping don’t forget your chair.
Luray Caverns will include the Garden Maze and their car museum.
It’s time for the Potomac District Scouts’ annual Scouting for Food drive! I’ve taken on the role this year from the amazing Denise Schleckser. Please help your scouts step up to this food drive challenge with a generous grocery contribution yourselves, and help your scouts organize for the drive in your own neighborhoods. THIS FOOD DRIVE REPRESENTS 1/6TH OF MANNA FOOD CENTER’S FOOD DONATIONS EACH YEAR! Nearly half of all food collected goes directly to children. Last year, our overall district was considerably down from our 2012 high donation levels of 63,000 pounds donated. That means we served 250 plus fewer families in need last year than we did in 2012.
Manna is a lifeline to our neighbors who are hungry, and this food drive is poised to help so many in need. From now through November 6, I challenge us all to bring in at least one bag of groceries. If every family in our troop donated one bag, it would help so much. Asking neighbors to donate as well as multiplies our success! I will pick up donations and keep them in storage until our collection day on Saturday, November 10th.
New This Year: Acting on a tip, and after asking other councils, we found that many councils have eliminated using plastic bags, and are now using Post-it notes for promoting the drive, with good success. Neighbors provide their own bags and boxes for their donations. Scouts might also bring their own bags with them, in case some food donations need to be packed. The advantages of the Post-it notes are that they are easier to distribute to units and allow the note to be transferred from neighbor front doors into homes and kitchens as a reminder of the donation day coming up.
Saturday, November 3rd is the date Scouts should distribute their solicitation letters/Post-it Notes to their neighbors and friends (see two Word document samples for your use below – both a neighbor solicitation letter and a thank-you letter).
Saturday, November 10th is our collection day. Scouts can attach our brand new colorful 4X6 Post-it notes to their neighbor letters, or use the Post-it notes as a letter, and write their names in the blank space. (see the Post-it note graphic below).
Manna Food Center especially needs healthy, non-perishable items such as canned fruits and vegetables, tuna and other canned meat, whole-grain foods such as oatmeal, and organic foods. (Please do not encourage donations of perishable items.) Boxed and canned items, not bagged items, are easiest to keep safe.
Our collection sites remain the same this year, and volunteers are needed at each location to collect food, sort, pack the Manna truck, record pounds collected, and thank our donors, from 9:00 am – 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 10th:
– Our Lady of Mercy in Kensington parking lot – 9200 Kentsdale Dr, Potomac, MD 20854
– Loehmann’s Plaza in Bethesda – 5296 Randolph Rd, North Bethesda, MD 20852
– Bolger Center parking lot – 9600 Newbridge Drive, Potomac, MD 20854
Safeway is our corporate sponsor again this year. Safeway typically does not allow storefront promotions or their parking lots for collections. However, you might consider making local contact with store managers to see if individual stores will allow such use, or check with owners of the shopping center where Safeway is located. Headquarters can try to assist you with this if you make contact. The council level will offer limited promotions on TV and radio and in social media, but the best way to drive the campaign is for you to promote the food drive in your own local media, create signage, and tell as many friends and neighbors as you can personally.
Please start promoting Scouting for Food among your friends and neighbors. Word of mouth is the best way to encourage donations. Road signs can often help drive donations as well.
Don’t forget to begin recruiting scouts to help at the collection sites. We always need plenty of unloaders from cars, loaders for the food trucks, donation counters and recorders, and scouts to thank the families that drop off donations at our collection sites. Scouts can earn service hours and SSL hours for this volunteer time. Please consider taking photos of your scouts at work; we will publish a collection at the conclusion of the food drive.
Thank you for everything you do for our scouts! Let’s make this a hugely successful food drive this fall!