Pursuing the Charter of Pack 2019 - Join Along With Me As I Figure Out How to Start a Pack

In November I wrote here on the Akela’s Council blog about my intention to start a pack. I had found some instructions that said successful new units are organized in these steps:

·      Identify the prospect.

·      Approach the prospect.

·      Make the sales call.

·      The organization adopts the program.

·      The organizing committee meets.

·      Help the organizing committee select and recruit unit leaders.

·      Help train the leaders.

·      Help the unit plan and organize programs.

·      Recruit youth members and provide parent orientation.

·      Complete the paperwork.

·      Attend the first meeting.

·      Present the charter.

This list is a salesman’s approach to starting a pack. It’s probably super successful. I have worked with sales people, and I like them; but I am not a salesman. I was determined to succeed anyway.

I had identified a few prospects, and even talked to one. My #1 prospect, the PTA president at my kids’ school, seemed interested and agreed that they would like to charter a pack. The principal agreed that would be a good thing. When I brought up the topic again in February, the principal had changed his mind and the PTA was not going to support anything that the principal didn’t support.

I went back to my friends with this sad news: my number one prospect did not adopt the program. Step 4 was a bust.

At University of Scouting I attended a class about chartering a new unit. It was fantastic to be in a room full of people who are going through the same process and asking the same questions – and who have answered some of my questions for themselves.

Julia, who was leading the discussion, showed the process that is recommended. She called it a top-down approach. Julia had success developing her troop and her venture crew from the bottom up!

She started in response to youth that asked her for a quality troop, and they knew she would do it right. The parents of those young men were happy to support their sons and were willing to serve as leaders. Once Julia and her committee were agreed on the plan, and she was willing to meet in her own back yard, it was easy to find an organization to support a charter. With time, as they grew, they were able to find a location that was better.

What a great story!

University of Scouting had ended a week before, and my good friend Valeriia was at my house. “Hey, when are we going to get going on our pack?” she asked.

We counted the leaders we absolutely knew were on board. We had five for sure, and six more interested.

We counted our youth. We had four for sure, and probably three more.

Let’s look at what steps should be taken, and what we already have.

Identify the prospect. Approach the prospect. Make the sales call. The organization adopts the program.	These are four steps to say, “get a charter organization.”
The organizing committee meets. Help the organizing committee select and recruit unit leaders.	Our organizing committee is going to include the adult leaders we already have.
Help train the leaders.	Most already have YPT and more.
Help the unit plan and organize programs.
Recruit youth members and provide parent orientation.	We have the beginnings
Complete the paperwork. Attend the first meeting. Present the charter.

I was open to Julia’s approach… so what do we still need to charter a pack? Minimum requirement is five adult leaders, five youth, a charter organization, and some fees. We had five adults. We probably had five kids. We still needed a Charter Organization and some registration fees. The new unit charter costs $40 plus the application fees of each founding member.

What does the charter organization have to provide? They don’t have to have a place, they just help you find one if you don’t have it. They don’t have to spend a lot of time or money. They do need to provide a representative, the COR, who is one of the key three and has an important role in the pack; but the organization itself does not have to take on significant risk or expense.

Furthermore, if we find an organization willing to charter that can offer resources like a building to meet in during the winter, then we can actually change our charter and COR without changing anything else in the pack.

“My husband’s company will do it. We already talked,” Valeriia told me. We got in the car to go start on the paperwork. At the scout office, we asked a few questions and got a pile of youth and adult applications. We filled out the New Unit Application, paid $40, and selected our pack number.

Pack 2019 seems a pretty auspicious and meaningful number. The year of our founding and the year that Scouts BSA welcomes all youth to participate. Our charter isn’t complete, but searchers on www.beascout.org will find our pack coming soon.

We left the scout office in high spirits, and I sent an email to our organizers. It was a long email with lots of details, but essentially I asked three questions:

1. Are you in?

2. When can you meet to plan and organize?

3. What role do you want to fill?

Most responses are in, and here’s what we for sure have now:

Five Youth

Seven Leaders (Cubmaster, 2 committee, 2 den leader, 2 to fill where needed)

One Unit Commissioner

One of the steps to organizing a pack is to help train the leaders. Of our eight adults, I know that seven have current youth protection training and most of them are trained for their current positions. Some may take different roles and may need to take additional position-specific training. Most have taken additional trainings including University of Scouting, EDGE, Wood Badge, and more.

Six of our leaders have attended Akela’s Council advanced training. One more is registered for Akela’s Council this summer. We will continue to recommend Akela’s Council for our leaders because it offers specific information on every aspect of cub scouts, including the vision, purposes, and methods. With highly trained leaders, we will be well positioned to offer a quality program for our children.  ** Akela’s Council is ALL ABOUT the Cub Scout program. If you are interested in knowing how to run a quality program that delivers the promise of fun, adventure and character development for 5-11 year-old Scouts, Akela’s Council can launch you in the right direction by immersing you in the purposes, methods and excitement of Cub Scouting.  In 2019, Akela’s Council will run June 19-22 and will fill in any gaps in your Cub Scout toolkit.  CLICK HERE 

Next, we will meet to plan our first activities, probably with the sketch of a year calendar, and to organize our vision, policies, and process. We will also to gather our applications to complete the charter.

Other tasks on the to do list: find premises. We need a park during fine weather, and a building during winter.

Stay tuned for more adventures as we pursue the charter of Pack 2019.

 ~ By Merinda Reeder who is a Cubmaster from Pack 466 in the Orem District, Utah National Parks Council.  She attended Akela's Council in 2017 served on Akela's Council Staff in 2018, and will serve on Akela's Council staff in 2019.

To see other articles by Merinda, CLICK HERE