To the many Veterans in Troop 1344, THANK YOU for your service and everything you have done and still do for our country and freedom.

And thank you to the Scouts who supported the American Legion Post 176 Veterans Day ceremony today.  Post Commander Kevin Gaddis was most appreciative of your fine performance on the Color Guard, support to the setup of the ceremony, and entrance greetings and thank you cordon for the Veterans coming into the ceremony.

See photos here:  [ LINK ]

Thank you to the Scouts who assisted the Scouting for Food annual BSA food drive on November 9, both at the Troop collection point (Cherry Run Elementary School) and District collection point (by the District's and Troop's Order of the Arrow Scouts).

Troop 1344 partnered with Cub Scout Pack 1344 AOL and Webelos to collect 246 (2,500) bags of donated food around the neighborhood for our local food bank.

Special thanks to Mr. Frank Hughes, who organized and directed this event.  His outstanding leadership every year on this effort has resulted in year-after-year increases in level of participation and amount of food collected.

See below for statistics of past 3 years.  See photos here:  [ LINK ]

With the Thanksgiving break approaching fast, now is a good time to plan ahead for what you want to get done before the December holiday break.   This also includes early decisions on January and February activities.

There are only 2 more troop meetings after tonight (11/28 and 12/2) and 1 more monthly leadership meeting (11/25) left prior to the Court of Honor (COH) on December 18 to recognize everybody's hard work and achievements.

- Completion and Approval Deadline Prior to COH

____==  Dec 9 Last Day

____- Rank advancement Boards of Review
____- Merit Badge and Awards approvals

- Winter Caving Cabining (Jan 24-26) Participation

____==  Sun Dec 1 End of Thanksgiving Break  ||  YES/NO Sign-up Deadline  [ LINK ]

- Merit Badge Weekend (Feb 14-16) Merit Badges Scouts Want to Have Available

____==  Nov 25 Monthly Meeting Decision  tell your Patrol Leader and Senior Patrol Leader if you have specific preferences

- National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) Summer Courses (Staff and Students)

____==  Council Registration is Open!  fills up fast  [ 6/15 - 6/20 LINK ]   [ 7/27 - 8/01 LINK ]

For most families, please renew your Scout and BSA registered adult memberships (item #1 below) by Dec 1 to avoid technical problems prior to the troop renewing its annual Charter in December.  Do not wait until the Dec 31 deadline.

1.  Oct 31 BSA National E-mail Notification to Families  ||  For Dec 31 Expirations.  BSA national should have already individual e-mail notified all families approximately 60 days prior to the Dec 31 membership expiration for Scouts and BSA registered adults (leaders, committee, adults allowed to overnight).  That will include a BSA national renewal notification link so families can renew their BSA national membership and pay annual BSA national Council fees to BSA national (troop fees will be a separate payment process to the Troop Treasurer).

_____- Spam Prevention Action.  Add "@scouting.org" to safe senders list.

________- Dec 1 Please:  District asks that you please renew by by Dec 1 (not the Dec 31 deadline) to avoid technical issues with the troop's upcoming December annual recharter