Clarifying the flat rate fee for adult campers

Here is a message from Scout Executive Jim McMullen regarding Cub camp and leader fees...


Many thanks for your enthusiasm about Summer Camp and for helping our Cub Scouts to get the very best experience possible.

For those of you who were able to join us for Wednesday’s camp kickoff, thanks for braving another cold night out for camp conversation (plus a great bowl of chili!).

Most of our summer camp documents are already available on the council website: www.itcbsa.org under the camping tab.

In the next week you can look for anything new that we handed out last night, including the CSW Resident Camp Program Guide and some new handouts for Day Camp.

I also wanted to take a moment to clarify last night’s discussion regarding adult participation at Resident Camp and the new ‘flat rate’ fee for adults.

In no way do we want to discourage parents from enjoying the camping experience with their sons. One of the hallmarks of the Cub Scout program is that it gives parents and boys the opportunity to have fun together. As a parent, I attended Camp Sam Wood with my son Nick 5 summers in a row, and we have cherished memories of those times.

The purpose of the change in the fee structure is to simplify the payment schedule and to improve the quality of your summer camp experience.

To clarify, the old fee structure with ‘free’ and ‘fee’ leaders was terribly confusing for many of our camp coordinators who had to guess at the final ratio, as well as for us at the office when figuring out final payments due. Not only that, in some packs it created friction over the decision of who got the ‘free’ slots. The flat rate is intended to take the guesswork and the headache out of the equation.

It is true that the ratio of adults to Cub Scouts has grown steadily over the past few summers. In 2014, there were 4 adults to every 5 Cub Scouts at camp. From my perspective, it’s great that so many parents want to enjoy the experience with their sons. It does put some strain on the campsite equipment, as well as the dining hall & shower facilities, but those are welcome challenges that we’re constantly striving to improve.

When you do the final math, you’ll find that the average amount of adult fees will be a bit higher than last year. We tried to keep that number as low as possible while still being able to improve on a couple of areas that leaders highlighted in the customer satisfaction survey that we conducted last fall, including food service, not enough ‘rainy day’ alternative program equipment, and leaky tents. We’re doing our best to address each of those concerns for 2015 (we’re hoping that Mother Nature cooperates as well!).

Sorry about the long-winded message, but I didn’t want to leave anyone with the wrong impression.