I have posted over on G+ that our troop is moving charter orgs. Well, I figured that I would confirm that here, too.
We started our troop in February of 2010. Our CO had a pack already, so we used that as a catalyst to start the troop. Our growth over the years has been slow and steady. Our sister pack has gotten us a few scouts, others have come from other packs or troops, and a couple Scouts have come from just wanting to join Boy Scouts, after never being in Scouting in the first place. We are on pace to get 3-4 more Scouts from our sister pack, with the possibility of recruiting a few more from another unit. Slow and Steady…we are doing fine with the 14 that we have right now, and like I said, more scouts coming that should push us closer to the 20-Scout mark.
Our partnership with the Moose Lodge started to crumble a little bit within months of signing the charter. Nothing major, but the little cracks started to show. I really thought that the Moose was proud to have a Boy Scout troop. Heck, we even talked about starting a Crew. We planned a couple of fundraisers and helped out with the lodge’s Chicken Dinner service. We got financial help from them, which helped the scouts buy some needed camping gear. As time went on, the “hey, we have a Boy Scout troop!” turned into “oh, here come the scouts…again…” to getting the call from the CR that we would have to move our meeting for the night, as there was another function happening in the hall.
Time after time, we adjusted. We didn’t ask for anything, other than the CO to give us a monthly stipend, and in return, we would clean and set up the lodge for their Friday night fish fry. We also helped out with other stuff, and that was supposed to be it. Now, understand that the Moose is a very charitable-friendly entity. The “throw” money at every request that comes across the table. How do I know? I was the Jr. Governor (like the VP) of the lodge, hence I was on the board. At our board meetings, I wouldn’t bring up any requests on behalf of the troop. I would answer any questions that they would ask about the troop, but for the most part, nobody ever asked.
So, as of late, about the last 10 months, our relationship has gotten worse, over, you guessed it…money. The almighty dollar was one of the reasons that our relationship crumbled. We were owed monies from a fundraiser that we did about a year ago, but it took 6 months to get paid. Along with getting shorted on the amount for our profits on the fundraiser, we also got shorted on our stipend money. When pressed about it, our CR gave me a long, drawn out reason, along with trying to confuse me with the costs of the fundraiser versus what we took in. Combined with the “well, you haven’t been holding up your end of the bargain with setting up the hall” and “you guys haven’t been helping out with the food service like you said you would,” that pretty much spelled it out for me.
They wanted out of our handshake agreement…well, maybe not the lodge, but the CR was pulling that off the table without telling the rest of the board. This CR hasn’t been that great of a CR…but he made himself the CR. When we approached the Moose about being our CO, he was the one that made it happen, without the board’s approval. It’s complicated, but the way that the Moose Lodge is set up, the board approves or disapproves the bills or donation requests. The administrator is a paid position, who would be the “face” of the lodge. He does the paperwork and makes all the “deals”…he doesn’t tell the board what he does, he just does it. That’s how the lodge works here, but it shouldn’t be the case. The administrator has to answer to someone, but this one, who happens to be our CR, too, doesn’t seem to think that he has to answer to anyone…
…to be continued