Pack 20 Cub Scouts

Do your best!!

Since 1930, the Cub Scouts have been an organization within the Boy Scouts of America for boys younger than the age of 11. The mission of the Cub Scouts is “fun with a purpose” and, in furtherance of that goal, it offers engaging activities designed to foster physical, mental, and moral development. The Cub Scout unit is a pack, each of which is chartered to a local organization (ours is the Chamisa PTO). All Scout units (both Boy Scout and Cub Scout) in a local area are part of a district, and groups of districts make up a council. In our case, the district is Northern New Mexico, which includes Los Alamos, Española and Taos, and the council is the Great Southwest, which includes most of New Mexico as well as small parts of Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Pack 20 is completely run by volunteers, almost all of whom will be parents of boys in the pack. As you can see from the description of the organization of the pack and dens above, a significant percentage of the parents need to be involved at some level in order to have a successful and varied program at both the pack and den levels. The level of commitment can vary from that required of the den leaders, Cubmaster, and committee chair to something as simple as planning a single den meeting or outing. Volunteers with a continuing role (den leaders and committee members) are expected to complete a training series which includes Fast Start and Youth Protection training (both of which can be taken on-line as well as in classroom sessions offered by the district) as well as a position-specific training.

Pack meetings are usually held on the first Thursday of every month in the gymnasium at Chamisa. Pack meetings are designed to bring the entire pack together for advancement ceremonies, presentation of awards, songs, skits, and special pack presentations. Pack meetings are family events and anyone is invited to attend. Note, however, that Scouts are expected to sit on the floor with their den while siblings should be sitting on chairs with their parents. Den leaders will be responsible for the behavior of Scouts while parents should try to keep siblings quiet and attentive.  Pack 20 only reserves the gym for meetings. With the exception of the use of the bathrooms, no one is allowed in the hallways or any other room of the school. The stage is also off limits except when being used under supervision for a pack activity.

The pack raises money in two principal ways. The first is by charging annual dues. This fee covers dues to the national Boy Scout organization as well as part of the pack’s fees to the Great Southwest Council. The second, and largest, source of funding for Pack 20 comes from the annual popcorn sale. Pack 20 has a long-standing tradition as one of the highest-selling units in the District. As a consequence, we are able to cover a wide range of expenses for which many packs charge individual Scouts.