Hello Troop– As stated in nearly all communications I have received the last several days from county offices, federal courts, etc, Your safety and protection is of paramount importance during the Covid 19 pandemic. Therefore, Troop 365 will not be meeting during the next 3 weeks, consistent with public schools and state-indicated procedures. As I have recently learned, Worthington Schools is using the coming week as “Spring break” for students, which means for right now, students will likely be returning to school April 6. If that becomes the case, Troop 365 may meet that night as well, most likely as our Advancement Wrap-up meeting which was to be this Monday evening’s meeting. However, there is a possibility that things could change by then, depending upon when the risk period of the pandemic starts to recede.

For now, spend some time with your Scout handbook, learning new skills or reviewing old skills.  For our newly admitted Scouts, please review the Scout Rank requirements in your handbook with your parents/guardians, especially the requirement that you read the Scout Youth Protection insert in the front cover of your handbook with your parent/guardian. Be Prepared to review those requirements with me to complete the Scoutmaster Conference we started last Monday. If you are working, or want to work on merit badges during this time, our Troop library has nearly every badge book. Let me know what you need, and I can provide a blue card and a book for you.

For those who are now ready for a Scoutmaster conference and Board of Review, I will leave to the discretion of each ASM in charge of patrols as to whether he/she can meet to do that, and committee members as to whether they are available for Boards of Review. My information as it stands now shows no older Scout in jeopardy of missing out on Eagle Rank advancement requirement time frames. If you believe that you might be in jeopardy, please let me know as soon as possible to verify that.

Our Court of Honor was planned for March 30; that will be rescheduled to the first available date, after our Advancement Wrap-up meeting. We also have the flower sale in progress. I will leave issues of that to our Fundraising folks to see how best we can arrange for orders/payment/deliveries. Finally, we have a Chief Logan planning meeting scheduled for this Wednesday evening. That, too, will have to be rescheduled.  Payments for summer camp can still be mailed to me (993 Hartford Street, Worthington, OH 43085) or dropped off at that address. Put in the mail slot if we are not home. The cost for Chief Logan will be $300, which includes the camp fee, t-shirt and transportation.

For those who received invitations to our Leadership Retreat, we still plan to have that at a later date if possible. Arranging it depends on 1) venue availability; 2) instructor availability, and 3) Scout availability.  We wil try to coordinate that over the next week. A backup thought is to at least accomplish the “Troop Problems” with Scouts by internet; Mr. Roderick doesn’t skype, and in fact just found out skype is already out-dated, just like mp3 players apparently.

In the meantime, be safe and practice healthy procedures during this time. One thing of which we have an advantage is learning from history. And history has taught us that gatherings of people are one of the best ways to spread a health-crisis such as this one. I believe the State of Ohio is on the correct track in what those officials are advising. Wash your hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds, and use hand sanitizer as necessary, and as available. Once again, your Scout handbook has much important information, particularly relating to keeping healthy.  It’s a good read. 

Let me know if you have any questions.

Jerry Roderick