Rafting the Colorado River.
The Annual Calendar
Troop/Crew 116 follows the school calendar for the Cheltenham School District in which most of its members live, with weekly meetings and monthly weekend trips during the school year (early September to late June), and a summer camp/summer trip program in July and August.
(This also means there are no meetings during winter or spring break, and that if the Cheltenham School District has a snow day on a Thursday, we cancel the Scout meeting as well.)
Weekly meetings
Weekly meetings take place Thursdays 7:30–9pm at Calvary Presbyterian Church on Fernbrook Ave in Wyncote.
Weekend trips
We take 10 weekend trips each Scouting year.
- Half of the trips tend to be the same type of trip (ski, city, water) on the same month each year—though the actual locations, themes, and activities usually change year to year so it's always new.
- The other five trips are TBD, but we always aim for at least one backpacking and one biking each year, plus caving, hiking, rock climbing, snowshoeing, and more.
» more on 116 trips
Community Service
We also participate in several community service projects each year, several of them annually but others ad hoc as they come up, or when Scouts working on their Eagle rank arrange them.
- Scouts are required to put in at least six collective hours of service each year
- Barring a really, really good excuse, Scouts are require to attend at least the Food Drive and Flags on Graves.
» more on 116 community service
Month by month
Here are the details or trips and service projects by month.
September
- Trip: The Rodney Games: From a cabin overlooking the Chesapeake Bay, the Scouts are divided into thematic teams (pirates, Howarts, Star Wars, Camp Half Blood, etc.) to compete on a variety of scout skills at stations spread across the campus, with song competitions and ghost stories by the massive beach bonfire at night.
October
- Trip: TBD Service: Cheltenham Harvest Festival: The Scouts help the police park cars, and in return we get our own table for recruiting new members. (For date: Cheltenhamtownship.org)
November
- Punkin' Chunkin': The Scouts build life-sized medieval seige weapons and use them to hurl pumpkins across Stew's farm. It's quite the party.
- Service: Food Drive: Usually on the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, we set up outside the Jenkintown Acme and manage to bring in the most food of any council unit in the Scouting for Food drive.
- Trip: TBD
December
- Trip: The City Trip: Divided into teams, the Scouts explore new cities on challenging, weird, and fun scavanger hunts. Each year rotate through Boston, New York, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and Philly.
January
- Trip: The Freeze-Out: The Scouts learn to build snow shelters using only rope, a tarp, and the terrain and natural supplies around them, and then sleep in it. (Note: If there's not enough snow on the ground yet, we swap this with the ski trip, since ski mountains reliably make their own snow.)
February
- Trip: The Ski Trip: Learn to ski or just have fun hitting the slopes of the Catskills, Poconos, or Vermont. (Many Scouts who first strapped on skis on this trip ended up captaining the school Ski/Snowboard club.)
March
- Trip: TBD
April
- Trip: TBD
- Service: Earth Day: There is invariably an Earth Day service project or three avaiable to any Scout who wants to participate.
May
- Trip: TBD
- Spaghetti Dinner: This is our annual fundraiser, partly to raise money for the troop and to pay your dues, but mostly for each Scout to fill his or her personal troop account with enough funds to cover their weekend trips and maybe even some of the summer trip/summer camp costs. » more
- Service: Flags on Graves: In late May, the Scouts help the Jenkintown VFW put flags on veteran's graves for Memorial Day.
June
- Service: June Fete: The weekend before Abington Hospital's annual June Fete, Scouts help set it up—and as a bonus get free tickets to the event. (For dates: Junefete.abingtonhealth.org)
- Trip: The Water Trip: Canoeing, kayaking, or white water rafting, this is a fun final trip for the scout year, usually held on Father's Day weekend.
July-August
- Summer Camp: Scouts spend a week at an area Scout camp earning merit badges.
- Summer Trip: Scouts with enough experience can join the "second week trip," a high-adventure excursion that might last a week or two or as long a month (and, occasionally, a six-week cross-country odyssey). Sailing the Florida Keys, glacier climbing in Alaska, scaling the peaks of the Rockies, exploring Europe... These are the adventures they will be talking about for the rest of their lives.
