Our third Quarterly District Committee Conference is on Tuesday March 4th at 7:30pm at Simpsonwood UMC (4500 Jones Bridge Circle, Peachtree Corners, GA 30092). This is a time for each of our District sub-Committees to breakout and makes plans and goals with out Unit Volunteers for 2014. If you are a Unit Advancement Chair, Membership Chair, Outdoor Coordinator, FOS Coordinator, Training Chair, or Community Service Coordinator, please plan to attend. This meeting will replace out March District Committee meeting. Please let me know if you have any questions.

2 Key Advancement notes for Boy Scout Leaders:

Reminder- Cooking Merit Badge is now required for Eagle. The total number Merit Badges needed did not increase from 21, but now there are 13 specifically required Merit Badges. 

     The 2014 Button Gwinnett Klondike Derby is in the books. The weather was very different from last year and worked in everyone's favor.
     Congratulations to all that participated and thank you to the Troops that sponsored the towns and activities. We ended up with 15 Patrols from nine Troops competing for gold on Saturday and concluded the day with a campfire that featured seven skits and Patrol awards for each town.
     The weather held out and we finally got the sled race in for the first time in three years. The race was won by the Troop 827 Carnivorous Pandas - Congratulations to them.
     For the Saturday activities, the top three Patrols overall were as follows: 3rd place - Troop 650 Prospectors; 2nd place - Troop 846 Cobra and 1st place - Troop 419 Spartans.  Congratulations to each of these Troops and Patrols.
     I would like to recognize and thank a few people for their efforts and dedication to help make the weekend a success: Connie Fisher, Tonie Owens and Lisa Rood for staffing the Health Lodge for the weekend; Mr. Ski for his culinary skills in feeding the staff for the weekend; Austin McGee for being the Klondike Governor and Mark Owens for assisting the Governor and being the lead youth in charge; also, the remainder of the staff - adult and youth.
     Last, but not least, a huge thank you to the unit leaders that staffed the towns and made them function so that the Scouts could have some fun!

Tom Owens
Button Gwinnett Program Chair

It's still not too late to sign up for Camp Card sale. This is an excellent, risk free fundraiser that can help Scouts earn their way through Scouting. For more information and to sign up, go to www.atlantabsa.org/campcards

I want to share with each of you that I have been offered the opportunity to serve as the Woodruff Summer Camp Director this summer. I am very excited and really looking forward to spending my summer in the mountains of North Georgia. I am confident that the Button Gwinnett District will continue to grow in success in my temporary absense under the leadership of our District Committee, Commissioners, and Unit Leaders. Please let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for all you do for Scouting!

I am excited to announce that the 2014 Camp Card Sale has arrived! What a great opportunity for your Scouts to earn their way to Camp or off-set the cost associated with any Scouting activity. Check out the attached one-sheeter to check out this years vendors, prizes, and other details about the sale. Thank you to the following units who have already signed up to participate in this year’s sale: Pack 146, Pack 608, Pack 650, Troop 419, Troop 608, Troop 648, Troop 650, Troop 846, and Crew 525!