NW Scouters’ Club: Minutes
January 27, 2010

11th Kitchener Scout Troop

Robert MacDonald

30th Kitchener Scout Troop

Steve Freure

38th Kitchener Scout Troop

Bill Yurkiw

43rd Kitchener Scout Troop

Daniel Sheppard

9th Waterloo Scout Troop

Terry Warner

21st Waterloo Scout Troop

Liam Morland

Resource Persons

Bruce Boehmer, SC NWA DAC-Program

Tony Skells, SC NWA Troop Section Service Team

Regrets

• Terri Rau, 1st Lexington Scout Troop

• Successful weekend @ Camp Heidelberg
• Rob, Ted Claxton, Liam, Daniel met with Optimists ahead of event to clarify ground rules for use of facilities after some misunderstandings the previous year.
• 20 attended, representing 4 of 17 Troops within K-W.
• Heidelberg negatives: downstairs kitchen was dirty and the stove didn't work, no Leader sleeping facilities, no sleeping segregation for females.
• The other cabin at Heidelberg, Coker Building, is an option for future camps.
• Terry raised value for dollar and brief discussion ensued of options; Camp Everton is cold at time of year when PL weekend held and heaters are noisy in Cub Barn. No motion raised; info only.
• Troop representation summary: Need to extend invitation to more Troops. Bruce suggested using newly formed Service Team to notify of similar events. Additionally, all present should buddy with another 2 Leaders to fan-out; personal touch as email may have some I.T. issues, though not discounted.
• Action: none, info only at this time.

• Location and Theme required
• Accept: Everton as location and Olympics as theme
• Action: Rob to book Campsites and Kiwanis Activity Centre
• Action: Bruce to investigate price break for entire Camp.
• Action: Bill to inform Bob Thorn, webmaster, to put onto nw.scouter.ca
• Possible Activities (Olympic biased)
  • Canoeing (Peacehaven canoes? anybody know what happened?)
  • Hockey
  • Skiing
  • Biathlon (using Archery range)
  • Snow Snake
  • Iditarod
  • Archery
  • Scavenger Hunt - flags of Countries
  • Toboggan
  • Zip Line
  • Climbing Wall
  • Fire Hose
  • Fire Lighting - lighting Olympic flame - highest flame for time
  • Buck saws
  • Snow Ball fight
  • Bottle Rockets
  • Trebuchet
  • Lacrosse
• Crests Summary; Standard NW Camporee Crest with yearly updates most practical. Current cost for qty 200 is $1.89 ea. + $15 shipping and %5 GST. Action: Bill to investigate and provide various designs from Zone West.
• Attendance; solicit other groups to see WHO will come out and WHO can run an activity. Action: none, info at this time only.
• Saturday Morning Activity suggestion: tin foil oven to bake and decorate a 100 yr of Scouting-in-Ontario cake - to be judged. Action: Bill will make oven prototype.
• Medals Ceremony; Dollar Store - Ribbons?
• Wheeler Award for best Overall Troop. Other awards / prizes of substance mentioned i.e. tent, stoves, knifes etc.
• Discussion of Individual and Troop efforts, awarding points. Action; none, info only.

Proposal for Scouters' Club Meeting Dates

Consensus that forward-planned dates by week is most convenient. Accept: Proposed Meeting and Event Schedule for North Waterloo Scouters' Club pending below Action. Action: Rob to review September and January dates for conflict with holidays and to revise schedule table to include exception statement.

NW Scouters' Club General Discussions

• 10th Anniversary
• Mandate Review necessary: Critical review required as to purpose and whether needs are being met. Mission Statement?
• Rob outlined the results of his analysis of group participation in NWSC. Over the last 10 years and 43 NWSC meetings, out of 26 Troops attending (only 16 of which are currently active), one Troop had perfect attendance, one Troop was represented 74% of the time, one Troop (now defunct) was represented 51% of the time, seven Troops were represented between 25% and 50% of the time, and 16 Troops were represented between 0% and 25% of the time.
• Suggested reasons for apparent NWSC ineffectiveness include:
  1. NWSC not fulfilling a need
  2. NWSC fulfilling a need, but not all Troops pulling their weight
  3. Some combo of #1 and #2
• NW Scouters' Club has evolved into handling all NW-wide, Troop-level events whereas individual groups handled events in past years.
• Goal is to pool time and energy from all groups.
• Concern is that a small limited number of people are handling the majority of work for events which can lead to burn-out.
• Discussion suggested that, in addition to these functions, the NWSC should additionally provide an educational and social outlet; it must provide "attendance value" to attendees to survive and thrive.
• Suggestions to promote this included: motivational speakers, presenters, ice-breakers to take back to Troop.
• Rob will strike a committee to review the NWSC mandate, develop a new 5 year plan, and solicit suggestions from all Troops for What NWSC can do for you?, via survey and phone call, personal drop-in.