Click Here ---> Link to Troop 964 Website
For more information, please contact Scout Leader Mark Smith at (773) 791-5060.
Troop 964 - An Overview
Troop 964 meets on Monday nights at the American Legion hall from 7:15 PM to 8:45 PM.
The Legion is a wonderful support organization for Troop 964.
They have provided us with a place to meet, a brand new troop flag, and new T-shirts for every scout. One of our fundraisers resulted in only a few dollars profit and the Legion helped us out. They also have aided in funding our Eagle Scout's service projects.
The main effort on the part of the leadership is to ensure that scouts have fun. This applies to the troop meetings as well as the camp outs. We are a scout run troop with the scouts picking the camp out locations, creating the menus for all the meals and electing their own leaders. Our assistant scout leaders all have previous pack experience in addition to the required leadership training.
Scouts that join troop 964 will usually earn their scout rank within the first month of joining the troop. The ranks that follow will be earned in the following order: Tenderfoot, Second class then First class. The Boy Scouts of America recommends that scouts attain the rank of First class in about one year. Troop 964 has a similar policy of each new scout earning First class in about one year. If a scout attends most of the campouts during the year, they will be on schedule for first class.
Troop 964 is proud of the fact that there have been 41 scouts that have earned their Eagle rank as members of our troop. See "Our Eagles" page for our Eagle Scout roster. There is a plaque proudly displayed in the Legion hall of all the scouts who have earned the rank of Eagle in Troop 964.
The scouts sell Christmas wreaths and popcorn in the fall to earn money for the scouts and the troop. Half of the money earned by selling wreaths and popcorn goes to the troop and the other half goes to the individual scout's account.
The scouts also sells snow cones in the summer, on July 4th, in Paulus park to earn still more money for their scout accounts and the troop.
Most of the scouts spend their scout account money to help pay for summer camp or high adventure outings. The troop uses the other half of those dollars to purchase new tents, miscellaneous equipment, and supplies as needed. The troop supplies most everything except their sleeping bags and personal gear.
Troop 964 is active. We camp each month of the year except December due to the holidays.
As a troop we have been to:
U.S. Grant Pilgrimage - Galena, IL-- We march in the parade and then visit the town.
Sea Base High Adventure camping - Florida Keys, FL-- Camping in a beautiful part of the country.
USS Cobia, Manitowoc, WI-- This overnight campout is on an actual submarine in the Wisconsin Maritime museum. The Cobia is being restored for possible future military use. We toured the submarine and ate pizza and watched a movie. This outing is always a favorite.
Warren Dunes State Park -MI--We swam in Lake Michigan in the fall (burr!) but we had fun. We climbed the sand dunes and went down on sleds.
Skiing at Nordic Mountain - Wild Rose, WI-- We stayed in the OA cabin and went skiing and snow boarding. All of the scouts earned Snow Sports merit badge.
Eagle Cave - Blue Mound, WI-- We slept overnight In this real cave, we explored this cave. One of our scouts woke up with a bat on his sleeping bag!
Camp Cody 1998 (returning in 2006) - Wyoming-- Visited Mount Rushmore on the way.
Canoe on the Rock River - Oregon, IL-- This is a warm up practice for the high adventure trip to Boundary Waters. We travel down the river for about 4 hours, camp overnight, then paddle another 4 hours the next day to the end. Great experience for scouts who haven't canoed much and need to learn those skills.
Charles L Sommers, Northern Tier, High Adventure Canoe Base-- One full week of canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe wilderness with all of our gear on our backs. That means our canoes, tents, food and our gear. Pack a light amount of clothing and be prepared for fun. Troop 964 goes every other year, but a truly memorable trek was the week of July 4th in 1999. While canoeing on the 4th of July in Canada's Quetico park, the worst storm of the century hit the area (read about the troop in the Daily Herald newspaper). Once the storm was over, we finished the trip. Ask any of the members of the crew if they are ready to go back and the answer is "yes". Troop 964 went back to Boundary Waters again in 2001 and 2003 and had a great time. All of the scouts earned canoeing and cooking merit badges while on this outing.
Tuckahoe Scout Camp - Near Gettysburg, PA-- One full week in the summer of 2000 where our scouts earned a total of 24 merit badges and 3 scouts earned BSA Life Guard. We went back in 2004.
On the final day of camp the entire troop went to see the Battle of Gettysburg as re-enacted by the experts in the dress of the day. Actual cannon fire with real cannon balls. Interviews and pictures with re-enactors. Our scouts claimed that they learned more in one day than a whole semester in school on the Civil War.
We have a trailer that we take with us on most campouts. We store our troop gear in this trailer: Tents, cooking utensils, gas stoves, rope, lots of camping gear.