Pack 33 Dues & Den 6 Dues

Hey everybody. I wanted it to make sure that everything got started off on the right foot and that everybody was on the same page as far as how to get started for the year and about dues.

You can see that I will link up several different things here that you can check out and get more information for. Start of the Cub Scout Year F.A.Q.'s

DEN MEETINGS

Den 6 Wolf Calendar 2018-2019

Wolf Roster Sign Up- 2018-2019

You know where to go to check the den meetings and the calendar for the activities on this blog which is here. If you miss something, that is fine, you just check and see what was missed and work with a den leader to get it completed and marked off.

UNIFORMS & UNIFORM BANK
Another important aspect is that to run a good den and pack smoothly is to make sure that everybody has a uniform everybody is ready to go and also that everyone pays their dues so we can get the materials that we need to make the year successful.

So what I'm going to include in this post is both pack information and den information so that way everything is in one place and if you ever have questions you can come ask. You can also go to this post Start of the Cub Scout Year F.A.Q.'s to check out some beginner tips for starting out the scouting year including where to place patches etc.

 As you know we also have a uniform bank which helps you save a lot of money so you are not buying everything brand new and then have your son size up in a few months.

Here is the sizing chart for the uniform:


Here is the Wolf Uniform Cost Breakdown:
(many thanks to Lee Howard for putting this together!)

One way that we've run the uniform bank is that if you come to pick something out of the uniform bank that you bring your son's older uniform and you can swap it out.  But if you do not have the capacity to do that then you can literally buy the uniform for a few dollars per piece versus $40 and literally, the cost is what was paid at a thrift store but saves you the hours of searching at a local thrift store.

This is one way Pack 33 lives up to the scout law of being “Thrifty.”

PACK DUES

The next part is the pack dues.  The pack do help cover everything from pack events to leadership applications and training to the registration of every boy and leader as well as things like the timer for the Derby track.  But this year is that each den will get some money to use from these pack dues for what they need because we do recognize that Pack Leaders often pay for things out of their own pocket (and of course, I am one of them).

The raising of pack dues was a pack committee decision based on coming out of each year with anywhere from $0-50, the past few years-- Last year’s being around $10-$15 if memory serves right.

Here is the Full Pack Budget for the Year of 2018-2019. This lets us have money for camperships, den dues, events, community service etc without ending up at or below zero.

DEN DUES

You can see here how we estimate the breakdown of monies for the den dues-- both given by the pack and for the den 6 specific dues. To explain more, you can read below.

Pack Dues for Dens = Camp Out Food & Den Celebration (main dish) Food

$400 is broken down to $150 each camp out (fall & spring= $300) and $50 each den celebration (holiday time & end of year party-- likely will be ordering pizza)

Now for the pack money that will go directly towards our den will go directly for camp out food first and foremost. This was a den leadership decision that was made with my guidance has been a leader for the past 7 years and seeing that the person that normally buys the campout food has to rely on chasing parents for a long period of time to get that money back which is not fair to them and usually is higher in cost. The second part of the money that the den will get from the pack will go towards supplementing the potluck that we have at both the holiday party and the end of the year party as well as the goodie bags we do.  What this does is it helps establish a core use of that money that will limited cost on parents throughout the year in addition to normal pack dues.

Den Dues for Dens= Belt Loops, Materials, Door Bell Prizes, Misc Awards/Patches

$25 is broken down

~10 belt loops-$15; $5 for materials; $2 for doorbell prize; $3 for misc awards/patches expense

The Den dues, which is $25, was something that every parent voted on at the last meeting of the year last year. The dues cover several things which include belt loops,  other patch or advancements they're not covered by the pack, materials and advancement tracking. The idea was that because the pack does not cover belt loops for the boys that we would do our own den dues to cover the cost of the belt loops instead of having every parent have to go individually to pick them up and they could be awarded in the same fashion as the other advancements that they have earned. This is important for the boys! It is also something important that council stresses which is awarding boys as they earn things.

Last year we gave it our all the belt loops at the same time at the end of the year because I didn’t want to make that executive decision and felt that it needed to be a den decision to do belt loops or not. So each parent pitched in for their own son to get their belt loops. That is what was voted on by the parents. The idea is that having the den dues allows den leaders to go pick up the boys’ belt loops ahead of time so we can award boys their belt loops as they earn them and it gives an encouragement for the boys.

Now the belt loops are not expensive one by one but as a collective, over the entire year, it gets very expensive if we rely on leaders to pay for them out of their own pocket.  Last year, in the same fashion that most all dens do for the camp out expense reimbursement from parents, we did for belt loops and I ended up paying over $250 for belt loops alone. But doing ahead of time allows us to again, award them ahead of time and get it done and over with.

You can see on this spreadsheet here how I broke down how the den dues will look so that way I'm maintaining transparency for the den and so that way you know where those dues go to.

The other things that den dues cover besides belt loops (which is the biggest cost), is materials, doorbell prizes, other patches/advancements not covered by pack (which is few), and goodie bags for the end of the year stuff that doesn’t get brought in by parents.

Again, check out the spreadsheet for the exact number.