Tanya Leblanc – 1st St,. Lazare
At the beginning of the 2018/2019 season, we did not suspect that our Pack would have the success that we have had with growth to date. We are a new Cub Pack this season and started with 5 registered Cubs. By encouraging Bring a Friend from day one and doing our best with developing an exciting Canadian Path program, we grew very quickly to 11 registered Cubs by mid- October.
Today we are an amazing pack of 19 Cubs, and we are still growing. Each and every one of the youths bringing something beautiful to the table.
These are some of the items that we feel contributed to our growth and success:
- We focused and took note as to what the youth wanted out of scouting and the challenges that they were expecting. Then, we planned activities accordingly, based on their interests within the Canadian Path program.
- We work as a strong Scouter Team holding program planning meetings together every six to eight weeks.
- We marketed our group within the community by attending City-held youth activity registration evenings.
- We took advantage of holding more than one Bring a Friend evening which focussed on a fun & exciting event or activity. For example, we held an evening featuring dry ice experiments. The youth had a blast with this cool hands-on activity, resulting in our gaining four new members.
- Participating in the Council Valentine’s card Bring a Friend event held in February resulted in two additional members.
- Because the youth were having so much fun, word-of-mouth started to play a part in our growth, and, in some cases, even parents played a part.
- The parents are continually kept informed of the Pack program and activities. We send them emails and chat with them when they drop off and pick up their youth. We believe that this communication is essential.
- One of the major contributors of growing our pack is how we interact with our Cubs. We respect them as individuals who offer a mountain of knowledge and bring exciting ideas and thoughts to the table. These kids are fun, full of energy, and ready to soak it all in. They seem to really love being there and doing all the cool activities that are offered. There is a good chance that they go home and to school and talk about the fun that they are experiencing on Cub nights.
We believe that all of this contributed to our success in growing the 1st Saint Lazare Choctaw Cub Pack. We have an awesome team of Scouters with a common goal: creating fun and challenges for the youth with their program.
I don’t really know who is having more fun, us or the Cubs!!!
Akela Tanya