Clean out the closet: Give used shoes for the Charity Soles 4 Souls®

Here is something that the Franklin community can get behind – Postalcenter has teamed up with a Millis high school student who is collecting used shoes for the charity Soles 4 Souls®. 

There is a Postalcenter in Franklin that will collect until Apr 30: https://www.postalcenter.com/business-and-home-office/solesforsouls.aspx

https://www.facebook.com/postalcenter.franklin/

Franklin cub scouts running registration event after tying up shoe drive loose ends

Franklin Packs to hold Spring Registration May 20th on the Town Common after a successful 5-week shoe drive.

Franklin Cub Scouts have Fun!

FRANKLIN, MA – May 15th, 2012 – This past Saturday marked the fifth and final weekend of the Franklin Cub Scouts’ shoe drive.  During this town-wide drive, the five Cub Scout packs in Franklin collected hundreds of used shoes that will be finding new homes and keeping our landfills a little less full.

“If I had to make a rough guess, I would say the packs collected at least 500 pairs of shoes,” said Chris Botchis, cubmaster of Pack 17.  “I believe we can call our community service project a success.  Our thanks go out to the Franklin community and to those volunteers who both manned the stations and spread the word to family and friends.”
 
On Sunday, May 20th, the five packs will be hosting a membership registration event on the Franklin Town Common from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  This week the packs are taking a final tally and will reveal the number of shoes collected during the event. The lucky boy who guesses the closest to the actual number of shoes collected will win a free registration to Cub Scouts for a year, a prize worth $60. Additionally the pack that’s collected the most shoes will win an ice cream social, courtesy of the other four packs.

“We will have a number of fun and interesting Scouting stations set up for the boys to sample,” said Botchis.  “One of the more popular events for Pack 17 is our annual Rocket Night that we hold each summer.  I think the parents are as excited as the Scouts to see the rockets take off, and it becomes a competition of who spots the parachute first.  We will be displaying some of the models that have been built, along with examples of the launching systems at the event on the Common.”

Kids will also be able to participate in a “Rain Gutter Regatta” that involves actual rain gutters filled with water on which the boys race small boats that they build themselves.  The event is one of many that Cub Scout packs across the country include in their annual programs.  The goal of the Regatta and other Cub Scout competitions, such as the famous Pinewood Derby, is to stress the Cub Scout motto of “Do Your Best.” While learning good sportsmanship, the competitions give the Scouts a chance to learn new building skills. At Sunday’s event, there will be both pre-made boat kits as well as some that kids will be able to build and race themselves.

Other events that day will include a compass course, a knot tying demonstration and an interactive animal tracks display.

“Our goal is to include a number of activities that touch upon the skills the boys will acquire and some events in which the boys will participate while in Cub Scouts,” Botchis said.

Boys currently in kindergarten through fourth grade will be able to sign up right at the event.  One important benefit of signing up on Sunday is that they will be able to start participating in all of the summertime activities that all five packs have planned right away, including marching in this year’s Memorial Day parade through downtown Franklin.

Like the other packs, Pack 17 already has a number of activities planned for the summer.  In addition to the parade, the Scouts will do their part during the Memorial Day weekend and join all the packs and Boy Scout troops in town to honor veterans by helping replace worn flags on veterans’ graves.  Later in the summer, Pack 17 will take part in a two-night sleepover at Cub World in Rhode Island.  Additional activities will include day hikes, the July 4th parade, a fishing derby and plans to see a Brockton Rox baseball game with a sleepover in the outfield.  Other events from throughout the past year include the Pinewood Derby, a sleepover on the USS Massachusetts and their annual holiday party in December.

Pack 17 is chartered by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge 71 and is made up mostly of boys from the Helen Keller and Davis Thayer schools’ neighborhoods. The Pack meets one night each month from September through June to present awards earned the prior month, perform skits, and generally to have a great time together.

Of course, while having fun in Cub Scouts is an important aspect of the program, just as important is the goal of the Boy Scouts of America, which is to provide a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of participating citizenship and develops personal fitness.  The Boy Scouts of America believes – and, through over a century of experience, knows – that helping youth is a key to building a more conscientious, responsible, and productive society. And the Cub Scout program strives to accomplish this in a safe environment for the boys.  Adult leaders are required to take a course specific to youth protection, and there are numerous resources and training courses available to leaders and parents alike.  These courses provide information on various topics including safe swimming, physical wellness, hiking and camping.

So in between church or brunch and your weekly yard work, this Sunday bring your sons down and get them started on the road to becoming courteous, trustworthy and kind young men.  Registration for new recruits is $60 per boy for more than 18 months worth of programs, and the fee includes a rank-specific handbook, neckerchief and neckerchief slide.  For those who cannot make the event, visit BeAScout.org today to register with your local pack.  The packs of Franklin hope to see you there.

Franklin Cub Scouts looking for shoes and a few good boys to have fun

Boy Scouts Maxwell McGuire and Liam McGuire from Troop 2 in Franklin 

If you’ve been at any of the local playing fields or the Town Common any of the last few Saturday afternoons, you’ve probably seen a few Cub Scouts – and lots and lots of shoes.  The five Cub Scout packs in Franklin, in conjunction with the charities Soles4Souls® and Rerun ShoesTM, have been running a charitable drive to collect gently worn shoes for impoverished and disaster-stricken people worldwide.  They are urging Franklin area residents to clean out their closets and donate their old shoes this Saturday, the last day of the drive.

“To tell the truth, we don’t even know how many pairs of shoes we’ve collected so far,” said Ed Milham, cubmaster of Pack 29.  “Thanks to the Franklin area community, as well as the efforts of many dedicated volunteers from our Cub Scouting families, the collection effort has been so successful that there’s been little we could do to keep count!”  The packs will be getting an accurate count after this Saturday’s final day of the shoe drive, though, because the pack that’s collected the most shoes will win an ice cream social, courtesy of the other four packs.

Another reason they’ll need that count is that the five packs are collaborating on a membership registration event on the Franklin Town Common on Sunday, May 20th, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the newly-registered boy who guesses the closest to the actual number of shoes collected will win a free membership in Cub Scouts for his first year.  The packs plan an afternoon of fun activities that show off some of the things boys can learn and do in Cub Scouts.  Kids can participate in a “Rain Gutter Regatta,” a compass course, a knot tying demonstration, an interactive animal tracks display and a model rocketry activity.  Boys currently in kindergarten through fourth grade will be able to sign up right at the event, and start participating in the packs’ summer activities right away. Of course, if they can’t wait one more week, the boys can sign up online today at BeAScout.org.

“We’ve been really excited about the community getting to see our boys participating in a public service activity like the shoe drive,” added Milham. “It's activities like this that help the boys learn to be responsible members of their community, a concept that is central to Scouting. Last month, Pack 29 participated in the Franklin Earth Day activities, as we do each year.  And of course, there’s the nationwide ‘Scouting for Food’ drive every November.  One of the core values of Scouting that the boys learn is to ‘do a good turn daily,’ to help other people without thought of recompense or reward.”

Pack 29 is chartered by the Franklin United Methodist Church, and is made up mostly of boys from the Oak Street School neighborhood.  The pack meets on the second Tuesday of each month at the Franklin VFW post on Pond Street.

“The best thing about Scouting is that the boys learn about a huge variety of subjects, without really feeling like they’re learning,” Milham continued, “They’re self-motivated to learn.  And it’s not just the hiking and camping and other such things that people associate with Scouting; it’s history, civics, science, the arts, sports, the whole gamut of what makes up a well-rounded individual.”

And there is no shortage of fun activities for the boys, as well.  In recent months, Pack 29 has gone hiking in the Blue Hills Reservation, gone to see the Pawtucket Red Sox, the Providence Bruins, and the Harlem Globetrotters, and sent boys to the Seven Rivers District Pinewood Derby at Bass Pro Shops at Patriot Place.  In the near future, you’ll see them marching in parades and replacing flags on veterans’ graves.  They also plan a summer of hiking, camping and fishing, as well as a trip to the Boston Harbor Islands, a visit to Battleship Cove in Fall River, and a sleepover at McCoy Stadium after a PawSox game.

Meanwhile, the shoe drive continues for one more week.  This Saturday, May 12th, Franklin area residents can bring their used but still usable shoes to any of the following locations between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. (with one exception, as noted):

• Fletcher Field on Peck Street
• Dacey Community Fields on Lincoln Street (from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.)
• King Street Memorial Park on King Street
• Beaver Pond on Beaver Street
• Town Common across from St. Mary’s Church