Are you an Arrow of Light scout looking for a Scout Troop to cross over to? or maybe you are new to Scouting and want a great Troop to join?
Either way, Troop 437 welcomesall youth to come and experience the adventure of scouting! Visit one of our meetings to experience what Scouting is all about and what makes Troop 437 a great Scout Troop.
We meet every Thursday evening when school is in session. Meetings start at 7:00 pm at the American Legion Post 437 at 114 Dunstable Road. Feel free to contact us at info@westfordtroop437.us and let us know you are coming or to contact us with any questions. For more information about the troop, you can start at our About Us webpage.
We have an exciting weekend hike opportunity coming up this December 4th weekend. We are making a reservation in one of the AMC huts in the White Mountains of NH, which means with just a minimal hiking effort we can appreciate the grandness of the great outdoors while enjoying the comfort of sleeping cots and a full kitchen!
“Located in Franconia Notch State Park, Lonesome Lake Hut, known affectionately as “Lonestar” for generations of guests, offers big mountain scenery without the big mountain effort. Experience spectacular views of the Franconia Ridge across a pristine glacial lake.”
While we will be packing in (and out) all of our food and necessities, the trail to the Lonestar Hut is just 1.6 miles in over well-traveled terrain. If you just want to enjoy the beauty and serenity of winter in the White Mountains without a lot of effort, this base hike is for you. For anyone who wants to get out and explore the wilderness directly, hiking options abound from the comfort of the lodge.
We do need to get our head-count in soon, so let’s get those hands up for Scouts who want in on this excellent adventure. Not sure if you’re ready, or whether or not hiking in December sounds like a good idea? Talk to some of the older Scouts who did this hike in 2018 and/or 2019 and let them tell you how much fun it was. I’d love to see a dozen eager Scouts from all the patrols joining us this year.
Here's another opportunity to earn some Merit Badges, including some Eagle required ones. The Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity at Worcester Poly Tech (WPI) is putting on their annual Merit Badge University this fall over the course of two weekends. While Scouts in our Troop have attended in-person in prior years, this year will be strictly on-line.
Dates: November 6th, 2021 & November 20th, 2021
Registration opens on Saturday, September 11th, 2021 at 5:00 PM EST and will likely fill-up fast.
A reminder that this week's Troop meeting is our annual recruiting Open House. It is an important event and we need as many scouts there to help out as possible. The Troop has planned a great set of activities to showcase scouting and our Troop.
Please remember the following:
As our guests will be arriving at 7, please arrive early (6:30 pm) to set up and prepare for the event
Please remember to invite your friends to come and see what scouting is! That is the best way for the Troop to get new members!
See you Thursday evening!
Scoutmasters McKeen and McKeen
Having a good turnout from our Troop to both these events is very important. Please attend.
The October camping trip is a two-night camping adventure at Nobscot Scout Reservation in Sudbury. The Troop will be conducting fire-building, orienteering, first aid, cooking, and other scout skill activities. As usual, there will be an entertaining campfire. This will be a great opportunity to enjoy the fall in New England and get some advancement done!
This is also our fall AOL and Friends Invitational! That means we are inviting prospective scouts to come and find out what Scouting is all about and get to know our Troop. Please also invite any friends you think might be interested in joining scouts! Recruiting friends is a great way to help the Troop grow and increase your enjoyment of scouting! Anyone 10 ½ or older is eligible to going scouts.
As usual, a guide to what to pack can be found at our website at https://www.westfordtroop437.us and choose “camping essentials” from the left-hand page list. If you need to borrow any gear please speak to a Scoutmaster.
While outdoors at this event masks will not be needed but please bring masks in the event we find ourselves inside for some reason. For tents we will follow the guidelines from our council:
Tenting can now be done at 50% capacity of the tent being used.
Example – In a 2-person tent, 1 may tent. In a 4-person tent, 2 may tent, etc.
Head to Foot sleeping should be done.
Maximize ventilation in the tent. This can be done by removing the rain fly and/or opening all of the windows on the tent to allow for better air circulation.
Order Deadline moved to October 21st - Get your orders in
It's popcorn season again! Fundraising through the Scouts BSA popcorn sales is a great opportunity for a scout to gain an appreciation for the financial commitment that scouting involves while also having an opportunity for tremendous rewards. All unit commissions earned by a scout's sales (over 30%) is credited to a scout account that can be used to offset costs for summer camp, uniforms, camping and other scouting-related opportunities. This summer, the top seller for Spirit of Adventure funded his entire scouting year (including summer camp and a trip to Sea Base) entirely through his scout account that he earned exclusively selling door-to-door last fall!
All scouts that are selling must have an account set up with Trails End. After setting up an account (and linking it to Troop 437 Westford), the Trails End App needs to be downloaded onto a mobile device so all sales can be recorded. Although a paper order form if a scout does not have a device to at the point of sale, all sales must be submitted to the Troop through the App before October 21st. The App is fairly easy to use after a little training. When going door-to-door, there are two primary methods for delivering popcorn - (1) Online Direct and (2) Wagon sales. We encourage the scouts to use Online Direct because the popcorn is shipped directly to the customer so the scout does not need to worry about making deliveries later in the fall AND has a wider product selection. In addition, we recommend scouts encourage customers to pay via credit card using the Square platform directly integrated in the App. Use of credit cards increases the likelihood of higher sales amount because customers are not constrained by the cash they have on hand and reduces the amount of cash the scout needs to handle.
Thank you for your patience as we have been pulling together the details of our summer camp at Camp Moses. Attached is this year's Troop 437 Summer Camp guide with hopefully many of the details you have been looking for. Please take the time to read through the entire document as there are many differences from prior years. It is a new camp for us during a year where everything is different due to the pandemic.
In anticipation that the document will not answer all your questions and likely raise new ones, we will hold a Summer Camp information meeting via Zoom on Sunday evening.
Troop 437 Summer Camp information meeting for Parents
Sunday, June 27th starting at 7:30 PM
Zoom meeting link: see e-mail for link
We will do a quick review of the critical points from the document then open the meeting for questions and answers.
