The Boy Scouts of America has been teaching patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues to America’s youth for more than 100 years. It is an organization that children have been proud and happy to join for generations. Believing that scouting is a tradition worth supporting, local Cub Scout Pack 401 is raising money to build a scholarship fund to ensure no child is excluded from scouting due to the family’s inability to pay. This is a new project for the Pack to address a new need. According to Assistant Cubmaster Jessica Collins, last year there were 78 kids involved in scouts. This year, following a reported increase in council dues last October, the number fell to only 32. Collins feels that this sharp decline is directly related to the costs. When asked about the recent negative publicity about the scouting program, she felt that it had no impact in this community.

The pack committee has been busy working on ways to raise money to expand participation. On Nov. 16, 2020, Pack 401 held a fundraiser by selling concessions at the school and raised approximately $300. On Feb 22, they hosted a Chili cook-off that charged a $5 entry fee for the contestants and $8 per bowl or $20 per family for the public. They also auctioned off themed baskets that the Pack put together as well as basket items from local businesses such as Food City, Home Depot, 33 Diner, Halls Cinema 7, Lil Joes BBQ, No Wake Bar & Grill, O’Reillys AutoParts, Foxy Crafts, Union County Opry, Union County Chiropractic Clinic Dr. Johnson, Princessbug Botique, Rabbit Express, Mr. & Mrs. Shreves, Heather Basta of DoTerra, American Legion Post 212 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8682 of Maynardville. 1st place went to Frank DiGennaro with American legion post 212, 2nd Went to Brandon Brown, 3rd went to Heather Stinson. Homemade trophies and aprons made by Samantha Shreves and Jessica Collins. A scout is thrifty after all. Angelina Basta, Amelia Basta from the pack, won the art contest we had for the children that came to the 2020 Chili-Thon.

Beginning February 27, 2020, and continuing through May, the scouts are selling merchant discount cards. For each discount card sold, the Scouts Echota District Council gets 50% of the proceeds and the scout gets 50% to use for scouting expenses, such as camp, uniforms, etc. This July they will host a Barbeque cook-off, so please watch for future announcements and plan to support that delicious fundraising effort. On September 12, 2020, they will participate in First Responders Day at Wilson Park, the community is invited to share that with this pack. Later this year when Scouts sell popcorn at Food City, 28% of the proceeds cover the costs of the awards received as they accomplish different tasks, and the balance goes to the council. Each scout needs to sell about $200 worth of popcorn to cover the cost of awards, which are displayed in different ways depending on the Pack level. For example, the youngest scouts, the Lions, Tigers, Wolves, and Bears earn loops to place on their belts, and the Webelos earn pins they wear on their shirt sleeves.

For anyone who needs to know how a child goes about enrolling in the scouts and the cost involved, any child, male or female, can join scouts at any time of the year. Collins suggests parents and guardians have their kids first attend a meeting as a guest to get an idea of whether it is something they would like to be involved in. Each school has scouting applications and can direct you to the appropriate leader for your child’s age, homeschooled children are also welcome, just come to a meeting. Pack 401 meets at Paulette Elementary School on Thursday from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm each week. Paulette Elementary is the charter organization the Pack is organized under, which is a non-profit. Should a child decide to join, the $62 annual council fee will be prorated based on the number of months left until next December 1. There is an additional cost of $60 for the uniform and a $15 fee for supplies.

If you have items you would like to donate to help keep costs down for our scouting youth, Pack 401 would greatly benefit from arts and crafts supplies such as crayons, pencils, construction paper, wood, ivory bar soap (for whittling), pocket knives, basic toolkits, etc. As an example of such support, for which the scouts are very grateful, Home Depot donates wood for birdhouses. Scouts use your donations to learn and also to give back to the community; last year the scouts created ornaments to decorate the Christmas tree at Willow Ridge Nursing Home. The pack is also in great need of a utility trailer to house their supplies due to not having a place to store their packs items. If you would like to donate, donations can be dropped off at a scout meeting or delivered/mailed to Cubmaster Chris Demetroff at 259 Brock Road, Maynardville, TN 37807. (Please make checks payable to Pack 401.)