Thank you for your interest in Pack 51 at Elon UCC! We’re glad to share a little bit about us and invite more questions if you have any!
As far as our Pack, we are very active – we meet 1x per week during the school year on Mondays at 7pm at Elon UCC. We typically take 1-2 camping trips each in the fall and spring, as well as other activities such as hikes, etc. We also do “full” Packmeetings one Monday a month instead of a den meeting, which is basically where all the dens get together and we share what we’ve been working on with each other, hand out awards and advancements for the activities they’ve been working on (akin to patches for Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts). Our dens range in size from 3 scouts to 16 scouts, and our overall Pack is usually around ~40-50 kids.
Costs are ~$105/year for BSA National dues; $25 “new scout” fee (also to Nationals). Within our pack, we don’t have “dues” – camping trips are pay if you go and average around $25-40/person per trip depending on length and activities and then we have our annual packfundraiser dessert/cake sale the Monday before Thanksgiving. Our goal each year is to average $75-$100/scout for the pack which funds the awards, patches, belt loops, pins, and other advancements. The official “Class A” uniform can be expensive, so check with your den leaders before buying it as we primarily use it for Pack Meetings and our camping trips, but the blue uniform can be worn for 1st graders through 4th or 5th grade and the tan (optional) uniform can be worn for 5th grade as they begin their transition up to the BSA Troops. Our cubs generally only need to acquire the Class A uniform top, belt, neckerchief and slide, and wear blue jeans or whatever shorts for the bottoms (i.e., you don’t need to buy the “official” shorts). Cub Scout dens also utilize handbooks, but please check with your den leader before purchasing as each den leader utilizes (or doesn’t) the books differently. If the uniform or handbook cost is an obstacle, don’t worry about it – just reach out privately to anybody on our leadership team (Den Leaders, Cubmasters and Pack Committee), and we’ll see how we can help.
Please feel free to join us any Monday we are meeting for an evening of fun and fellowship and bring a friend! All of our Pack and Den leaders are volunteers and either have or had kids in our Pack, and we have plenty of room for additional volunteers for as little or as much as you’d like to be involved!