Welcome to our November 25th, 2013 Monday Memo

Pack 641 Kicking Off The Holidays

Kicking off the Holiday Season – Cub Scout Pack 641of Rancho Cucamonga paid a visit to Logan’s Candies, an Ontario landmark. Twenty five Cub Scouts and their families learned about the history of Logan’s, which started in 1933, houses the biggest Candy Cane in the world  and continues to operate today. Logan’s is the only candy shop still hand rolling canes in Southern CA, with the exception of Disneyland, their only competition. The Cubs learned how the candy is made, how the color and flavoring is added and how to hand roll candy canes. Jerry Rowley started working at Logan’s in 1974, bought the business in 1982 and has been rolling canes ever since. At the end of the tour conducted by Mr. Rowley, each Cub got to make their own Candy Cane to take home. WHAT A SWEET EXPERIENCE!  

Tread Lightly! Reaches C.I.E.C.

Two Master Tread Lightly! trainers and a very knowledgeable Tread Lightly! trainer  put on the first Tread Lightly! trainers course in the California Inland Empire Council. Participants came from 5 districts to add this course to their Outdoor Ethics trainng plans.We are very pleased to have several of our key Outdoor Ethics people attend this course including 2 venturers who are also Leave No Trace trainers. Thanks to Summer Pearson and Mt Rubidoux for hosting. Congratulations to Grayback-1, Arrowhead - 1, Mt Rubidoux -1, 3 Peaks-2, and last but not least the HD district with 5.

Cub Archery Shoot Off

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous! The sky was clear and blue, the sun was warm, and the air was cool. The boys were all excited, and we had a wonderful time at the shoot-off. It was quite a competition, and all of the boys deserve kudos for being the top shooters in 2013! The encouragement and positive attitudes they all shared made it great for everyone. A huge thank you to the boys, and to the parents and leaders that brought them. We look forward to another great season next year!

Don & Laurie Curtis, Cub Archery Co-Chairs

Our trophy winners for the Cub Scouts are: 3rd Place: Adrian C., Pack 309, Arrowhead District 2nd Place: Austin P., Pack 128, Old Baldy District 1st Place: Trent S., Pack 247, Arrowhead District	Our trophy winners for the Webelos are: 3rd Place: Adrian F., Pack 520, 5 Nations District 2nd Place: Nathan W., Pack 24, Greyback District 1st Place: Joshua B., Pack 332, Tahquitz District

Tahquitz District Webelos' Open House Round Table is a Huge Success

Tahquitz District has traditionally held our Webelos Open House Roundtable in January, just prior to the bridging season. This year, we decided to realign the Open House to coincide with our October Tahquitz Webelos' Woods. The theme of our Webelos Woods was "A Green Bar Gathering" where we emphasized learning and practicing Scouting Skills that the boys will need as they transition into Boy Scouts during the coming months. In addition, the Webelos Woods staff incorporated an incentive implement which could be attached to their patch and would only for the Scouts that attended also attended the Webelos Open House in November. The Webelos Woods focus on the transition to Boy Scouts worked, as we had over 300 in attendance at the Webelos Open House where our Tahquitz Troops showcased their outstanding programs. Moving the Open House up a few months will give the Webelos a better chance to attend troop meetings and campouts before making a final choice prior to bridging. A special thanks to the creative Tahquitz thinkers, Brian Crain, Crystal Pastorian, Rice Berkshire, and all those who suggested the changes and made it all happen!  

Boy Scout Night at the Reign!

Ontario Reign Scout Night on December 7, 2013, 6pm

Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Explorers, friends, and families - Come join the Ontario Reign for our Boy Scout Night - This is a family-oriented event; non-scouting siblings are welcome to come.

Join the Ontario Reign and the California Inland Empire Council, Boy Scouts of America at Citizens Bank Arena for a fun filled and exciting game. Saturday, December 7, at the 2013 Boy Scout Night. Each ticket purchased through the registration form - includes a commemorative Reign Scout Night patch.

You may fax order tickets with the registration form or via phone number listed on the form or by the website provided on the form (website orders incur a $1.25 service fee PER ticket). CLICK HERE for FORM

Parking costs $5.00/vehicle – we encourage you to car pool when ever possible.

Monday Memo Day Camp Patch Design

Design the winning patch and you can go to Day Camp for free in summer 2014. You will receive special recognition. Submit only one entry form per Cub Scout. Your design has to be based on the theme for Day Camp, which is “KNIGHTS OF THE ROUNDTABLE”. All artwork must be done by a Cub Scout.  Your full color design needs will be completed on the official contest form and returned to the council service center by December 13, 2013. Good Luck! CLICK HERE for Form

Scouting Alumni Association Featured Offer: Save Up to $35 per Ticket at Ski Resorts Nationwide

Old Baldy Scout Shop Inventory Hours

Check Out this Month's New Products at Scoutstuff.org!

Each month, the Boy Scouts of America is privileged to bring you the latest gear and gifts. To view all of our exciting new items, go here. Shop at your local Scout Shop or visit Scoutstuff.org today! Go here to find the store nearest you.

UCI COSMOS Astronomy & Astrophysics for High School Students

Dear Friends of the UCI Observatory,

I'm writing to you because you're on the email list for notices about the our events, and I thought some of you might be interested in our summer astronomy program for talented high school students.

As part of the UCI COSMOS program, we teach Astronomy & Astrophysics to 25 high school students each summer. For four weeks, the students live in the dorms, take classes in physics and astronomy, and do computer labs in astrophysics.
Plus they get to use UCI Observatory telescopes to do their own research project. Its a lot of fun and the students learn a lot that is not offered in most high school curricula.

The program runs for 4 weeks from June 30 - July 25. Many students are given financial aid in order to attend so don't let that stop anyone from applying. Applications involve writing two short essays, submitting a transcript and getting letters of recommendation from teachers. Therefore its good to start thinking about applying around the winter holidays.
The deadline is Feb 21,2014.

For more information, see http://www.cosmos.uci.edu. Feel free to pass this along to interested students.

Sincerely, Tammy Smecker-Hane
Associate Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy Director, UCI Observatory
 

PRAY Update to Members of BSA Celebrate Scout Sunday/Sabbath Find Out What One Congregation Will be Doing in February February may seem like a long ways away, but plans for Scout Sunday are well underway for Arlington United Methodist Church. Located just outside of Memphis, Tennessee, Arlington UMC has plans to present CERTIFICATES to religious award recipients, have a YOUTH-LED WORSHIP SERVICE, and enjoy a home-cooked SPAGHETTI LUNCHEON AND DESSERT hosted by the Scouts and their leaders. Wow. Click here to read more about how the Scouting Ministries of Arlington UMC celebrate Scout Sunday. CLICK HERE for MORE Boy Scout Update - November 2013

Volunteers Needed December 26 - 31, 2013

Phoenix Decorating Company is looking for scouts and scouters to help with decorating there floats for this year’s Rose Parade. Some of the shifts are working on the floats and others are working in the flower tent getting the live flowers ready so they can be put onto the floats. If you work in the flower tent you will be working on putting the roses in tubes for at least 10 floats. Most of the shifts are only 4 hours and we are looking for anyone 10 years old and older. The shifts are during decorating week, which is Dec 26th to Dec 31st. If you have any questions please feel free to email David Peterson (714) 319-8017 or ocbsadecorator@yahoo.com.

This Opportunity Ends December 31, 2013

The U.S. Congress extended the qualified charitable distribution (QCD) provisions for 2013. A QCD is an otherwise taxable distribution from an IRA owned by an individual who is age 70 1/2 or over that is paid directly from the IRA to a qualified charity.

An IRA owner can exclude from gross income up to $100,000 of a QCD made for a year, and a QCD can be used to satisfy any IRA required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the year. 

Please note that a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) must be made directly from your IRA to a qualified charity in order to qualify as tax-free transaction.

If your tax circumstances make this an attractive option for you this tax year (2013), please feel free to contact me directly at the Jack Dembo Scout Center (909)-793-2463, ext.120

Thank you for your gracious consideration and support of Scouting!

Joseph Daniszewski, Scout Executive/ CEO Joseph.Daniszewski@scouting.org

Friends Of Scouting Report

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

Washington, D.C. October 3, 1863

This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America's national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders similar to this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a 74-year-old magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival." She explained, "You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution."

Prior to this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states. President Lincoln responded to Mrs. Hale's request immediately, unlike several of his predecessors, who ignored her petitions altogether. In her letter to Lincoln she mentioned that she had been advocating a national thanksgiving date for 15 years as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. George Washington was the first president to proclaim a day of thanksgiving, issuing his request on October 3, 1789, exactly 74 years before Lincoln's.

The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln's secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward, Secretary of State

Child’s Thanksgiving Prayer

Thank you God for all that grows,
Thank you for the sky's rainbows,
Thank you for the stars that shine,
Thank you for these friends of mine,
Thank you for the moon and sun,
Thank you God for all you've done!

Monday Memo is from Scout Executive Joe Daniszewski and contains his reflection on what is happening within the Council. The purpose of Monday Memo is to communicate information about the week ahead, to acknowledge the good things happening around the Council and to address specific issues that the Scout Executive wants to bring to your attention. Joe welcomes any comments, suggestions or recommendations on how to make this memo as helpful as possible. If you have something you want publicized in the Monday Memo, please send it to his attention c/o Monday Memo: Joseph.Daniszewski@scouting.org for Monday Memo Archives Click Here