Although September is the typical recruiting month for Cub Scouts, June is actually the perfect month to join. June is the month that current scouts transition and begin working toward their next rank. As a new scout in June, your child would hop on board at just the right time to be included in all the summer fun, including Camp Roosevelt resident camps (late July/early August) and monthly pack events. Get to know your den and pack families before the new school year even begins. We would love to welcome new scouts and their families into Pack 76, which encompasses the elementary schools for RSU#34.

When you have a Cub Scout, your family will be able to experience all the typical scouting activities that you are already familiar with, but did you know that scouting can teach your child so much more? They learn about emergency preparedness. As recently as last weekend, I witnessed first aid being given by a 4th grade scout to a 1st grade scout. He cleaned the wound, applied ointment and bandaged the wound, all with a calm, confidence that had leaders brimming with pride. We’ve had a 3rd grade scout give a public presentation, by himself, on a stage, to a group of about 50 adults. They learn the importance of selflessness by volunteering at community service events. This year we’ve had Cub Scouts making blankets for Project Linus, building and donating bat houses to Hirundo National Wildlife Refuge and participating in the local stream clean up in Old Town last weekend. Every year scouts participate in the Old Town Community Food Drive where both Boy and Cub Scouts camp out in the City Park’s gazebo all night long to collect food donations.

Cub Scouting is not just for your child; it is for your entire family and is best done as a family. The scout family, den family, pack family and the community are all a part of Scouting. The more involvement you have as a family with your scout and with your den, pack and community, the more your family will enjoy scouting. What are you waiting for! Adventure awaits!

Time commitment, you may ask? Cub Scouts usually have one den meeting a week (dens are organized by grades) for about an hour. Once a month, typically the 3rd Thursday, all dens get together for a Pack Meeting, where awards are handed out and dens can talk about what they have been doing. As a bonus, there are several optional events planned by the Katahdin Area Council throughout the year, where families are invited to Camp Roosevelt in Eddington, ME, for a fun scouting day or weekend. Camp Roosevelt is where scouts can receive BB gun, Archery and Slingshot instruction from trained instructors that they may not be able to do at home.

Scouts are always in need of volunteers to help grow their knowledge base! We’d love to hear from you! Can you share a skill? It can be anything from outdoor skills, wildlife, species identification, first aid, woodworking, etc. We could use volunteers in the area of STEAM (science, tech, engineering, arts and math) to help Cub Scouts with earning their STEM/Nova awards. On the flip side, if you have a service project for your organization and could really use a group of Cub Scouts to volunteer, email us to let us know the type of service, date and length of time estimated. Service to community is a big part of scouting and we’d love to help you have a successful service project make our community a better place!

New Scouts who register for Cub Scouts in June have the opportunity to take advantage of the following events: June 3: Popcorn Kickoff at Camp Roosevelt; June 10: Pack Wagon Scramble at Doyle Field in Brewer’ July 15/16: Campout with the Pack, BBQ and Space Derby; July 27 – July 29: Small and Tall Camp for a scout and parent together; July 22 – Scouts Day at Aquaboggan Water Park in Saco, all registered Scouts (Girl/Boy and Cub) and Leaders get FREE general admission); July 30 – August 4: Resident Summer Camp Week 1.

If you want to find out what your local cubs scouts are doing, try theur Facebook page at “Old Town Area Cubs Pack 76″ or email pack76maine@gmail.com with questions or to request information.

To learn more about summer camps, and what’s happening at Camp Roosevelt, visit the website for Katahdin Area Council:https://www.katahdinareabsa.org/.

The local Cubmaster is Alisha Ryder (leelee33006@yahoo.com).