October 2024 Newsletter

Greetings Pack 428!

We hope you are all getting settled into your new routines. We had a great time at our camping outing recently at the new location, Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, and had a lot of fun at our first pack meeting! We especially enjoyed welcoming our new scouts. We are still signing up scouts, especially Kindergarteners and first graders, so if you know anyone who is interested, please invite them to our next pack meeting on October 16 at 6:30PM at Ben Rush Elementary (6101 152nd Ave NE, Redmond). Interested families are always welcome to attend any pack meeting. You can also point potential scouts to our website at www.pack428.com.

In this issue:

  1. Upcoming Pack Meeting
  2. October Pack Outing – Camp Halloween
  3. November Pack Outing – Klondike Goldrush Museum
  4. Employee Volunteer Matching
  5. Volunteers needed to fill committee roles!
  6. Local and district scouting events
  7. Pack Calendar – check out awesome events to look forward to!
  1. Wednesday, October 16, 6:30-8:00 at Ben Rush Elementary
    Professional/hobby fair!

Our pack meeting theme this month will be a professional/hobby fair. The dens will go around to five different stations to learn about different professions and hobbies in a fun, interactive way. We need five parents to volunteer to lead a station. This is a fun and easy way for you to fulfill one of your five hours of service to the pack.  Do you love music? Teach a simple song or bring a variety of instruments scouts could try. Are you an engineer? Have scouts build a simple structure out of pipe cleaners. Do you love history? Host a short “story time” with a riveting, but true story. Are you a fitness nut? Show scouts how to stretch and get their heart rate up. Do you have a cool rock collection? Do you work for Waste Management and can explain where our garbage and recycling go? You get the idea – the sky’s the limit. Each parent would prepare something interactive and/or interesting for scouts when they visit their “booth.” Each station rotation will last about 10 minutes, and you’ll host your station 5 times.

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  • Saturday, October 12, 10am to 4pm

Camp Halloween 

Camp Edward (25600-B Monroe Camp Rd, Snohomish, WA 98290) (map)

Members from our pack will be attending October 12 for this district sponsored activity – registration is still available! It should be a lot of fun with archery, bb’s, pumpkin decorating, scavenger hunt, and games.  Sign-ups are open now and done by families individually: https://seattlebsa.tentaroo.com/admin2/login -$35/scout, $10/ adult, $40/non-scout youth over 5 years old.

  • Saturday, November 16

Klondike Goldrush Museum

For our November pack activity, we’ll be going on an urban outing to the Klondike Goldrush Museum.  We’ll meet at 10 am at Joy Lutheran Church (map) to park.  From there, we’ll ride bus 550 to the museum.  We aim to take the bus back to our Bellevue meeting spot around 12:30 and arrive back at 1 pm.  Please let us know if you plan on joining us through the sign up genius link.

  • Volunteers needed to fill committee roles!

Hi Parents. At the end of February, we will be losing three of our committee members because their scouts are “crossing over” into Scouts (for 6-12 grades). Our pack really relies on parent volunteers, so please consider filling one of these positions!  These three positions are going to be vacant in March whether we like it or not, and we need three of you to step into these roles. It will be so much easier for you AND the pack if you raise your hand now for one of these roles. You can train with the current person for four months to learn the role and feel comfortable in it before the official hand off. Please consider volunteering for one of these roles. Serving on the pack committee is a fun way to give back to the pack and support the program that your child enjoys. Please contact Miriam if you are willing to consider a new role. Even if you are brand new to scouting, you will have four months to get up to speed! Both new and “seasoned” parents are welcome to volunteer.

Committee Chair

The committee chair is a key administrative role in our pack. They run the monthly leadership meeting and make many of the decisions regarding the pack. They host the annual planning meeting, often help with reservations or organizing outings and camping, and recruit volunteers for open leadership positions. This person handles the annual pack recharter process and is the pack representative to local BSA council.

This leader must wear the brown leader shirt and take 2 or more hours of job-specific online training. Attendance at the monthly pack leadership meeting is required.

Time commitment: 1-2 hours per week.

Events Coordinator

Each month the pack coordinates at least one outing and one pack meeting. The pack leadership organizes the schedule each year, but the Events Coordinator makes it happen. They are often responsible for researching and coordinating/confirming monthly pack events. This can include payment, reservations, and other pre-planning logistics such as SignUp Genius, event fliers, etc. Also includes soliciting parent volunteers to lead specific event logistics. This person is NOT responsible for planning every event the pack participates in, but rather finding parent volunteers to spread the workload.

Attendance at the monthly pack leadership meeting is required.

Time Commitment: 3-4 hours per month average.

Awards Chair

Collect award information from den leaders and Scoutbook. Buy awards and supplies from scout store in Seattle or delegate the shopping. Organize awards for distribution.

Attendance at the monthly pack leadership meeting is encouraged.

Time commitment: 2-3 hours per month.

  • DISTRICT NEWS AND EVENTS

Pack 428 is part of Chief Seattle Council. Our local BSA council also hosts many day and overnight activities that you can sign up for on your own. Look at email newsletters from the district and regularly check the district site: More information can be found at Home – Chief Seattle Council (seattlebsa.org).

Upcoming:

Scout night with the Kraken: While still a little way away, the Kraken have released their Scout night tickets.  It will be March 12, 2025 (a Wednesday night).

Ticket price includes a patch, as well as a small donation to the local district scout council. We are looking into if we can reserve a section together- look for more details to come.