April stands to be a busy month too. We just completed our spring campout at Camp Willson. Thanks to John Smart for his leadership in coordinating the event. From horseback riding to climbing wall to giant swing and the campfire and the SCARY One-Armed Brakeman Story - Oooo - by all accounts this was a huge success. This coming week we have our annual Blue and Gold Banquet that traditionally wraps up our formal scouting year. Sally Boyer has organized this year's banquet and for that we all owe her our thanks. You don't want to miss this years banquet. We have great food from Moretti's, entertainment from the Fabulous Gilliom's, photo opportunities bye portraitFX and news of our summer calendar events. Most importantly - we all need to be present to give our Webelos's crossing over to Boy Scouts - a rowdy farewell. This year we graduate Jack E., Peter B., and Chandler F. Good luck to these boys. Any parents willing to help lead an event - just let me or another pack leader know - we are always looking for help - Thanks.

In March we enjoyed the Camp Lazarus Maple Syrup festival and a special pack meeting at the Columbus Curling Club. Thank you to Jeanne Brandes for arranging for us to meet at the Curling Club.

Boy have we gotten a lot of snow this year. All this snow presents a good opportunity for all of us to be good neighbors and help out where we can. If you see a neighbor needing help (especially some of our elderly neighbors that are less capable of helping themselves) - please show the scout spirit and offer to help out. A big thank you to the Tredway's for arranging the Tour of Nationwide Arena. Our tour guide had lots of interesting little known facts about the arena. Planning is underway for the Spring Campout at Camp Willson and the Blue and Gold Banquet. We already have our leaders for both but help is always appreciated. If you are willing to help please talk to your den leaders to see how you can chip in.

Thanks to all the scouts and parents that turned out for carolling at Arlington Court Nursing Home. As a scouting organization I feel we owe this to our communities to perform these types of community service events - plus [who knows] maybe we'll find a future "American Idol" in the process. Thank you to Mr. Boyer for his musical accompaniment.

Once again our thanks to all the scouts and scout parents that worked hard at selling popcorn and contributed to our fund-raising. For the second year in a row - PACK 17 lead all Buckeye District units (Packs and Troops) in sales. Give yourselves a pat on the back for a job well done. This year, we still had scouts that fell short of the individual sales goal or had no sales at all. For those scouts - please think of ways to improve your sales strategy for next year and let's make a better attempt next year. Thank you.

The entire Pack 17 Leadership group thanks the effort put forth by the scouts and the scout parents during this year's popcorn sale fund-raiser. The hard work will ensure we can fund exciting and interesting events for the pack. Now with the hard work behind us - we get to jump right into one of the most exciting parts of the scouting year - the Pinewood Derby Event. November's Pack meeting will highlight the Pinewood Derby with a recap from last year PLUS instruction / demonstration and need to know information for this years race.