Commissioner Meeting
Attending:
- Rose Godfrey, District Commissioner
- Cole Clark, District Commissioner
- Richard Christman, ADC
- Robin Rees, Unit Commissioner
- Charles Hoffman, Unit Commissioner
- Steve Rodriguez, District Member-at-Large
- Rudy Gonzalas, Field Director
Agenda Items
National Commissioner E-Blast
- Rose inquired if the commissioners have been receiving this email and encouraged everyone to check it out.
Unit Metrics Conversations
- Question arose if conversations are showing up in reports.
- The Unit Connections History report shows 17 complete, and 1 In Progress conversations
- 13 units have had one or more conversations.
- 47 units have not had connection conversations recorded.
New Packs and Recruiting
- New packs are needed in the cities of Alameda and Oakland.
High Risk Units
- District is trying to identify units at high risk of failure, and finding commissioners to assist them.
Unit Contact Info guidelines
- Given that some districts have been posting Key 3 contacts for all units on public web pages we had a discussion about this.
- The consensus was to continue our practice of directing contacts to the unit’s Be A Scout page where the unit controls the contact information provided to the public.
- We can prepare an internal DOC only document with the Unit Key 3 Contact information as this is just a reformatting of information available to commissioners via the various MyScouting Commissioner Tools reports.
District Operations Committee Meeting
Attending:
- Rudy Gonzalas, Field Director
- Rose Godfrey, District Commissioner
- Richard Christman, Assistant District Commissioner
- Ron Ratto, District Camping Committee Chair
- Nikki Maguire, District Advancement Committee Chair
- Linda Owczarz, District Special Needs Committee Chair
- Charles Hoffman, Communications Team, April Camporee Co-Chair
- Robin Rees, Unit Commissioner
- Steve Rodriguez, District Member-at-Large
Agenda Items
Finance
- Friends of Scouting
- Previous Year Doner contact helpers needed to call those who have not re-donated.
- Family FOS – Chris Dempsey is chair and has been visiting most of the units.
Over $44,000 raised so far of our $65,000 goal - Community FOS – So far has been below expectations
- Fund Raising dinner:
Alameda Area District Good Scout Award
Honoring William McDonald Alameda County Fire Chief,
July 2, 2025, 5:00 – 8:00 pm
Marina Community Center San Leandro
GGAC – Good Scout Award
- Popcorn
- https://goldengatescouting.org/popcorn/
- Rick Wong of pack 765 is our district chair
- 40 of our district units have started selling this year, 82 units council wide.
- 35% of Sales stays with the Scout or Unit
- Prices on popcorn are mostly $20, with one offering at $30.
- Some youth who have sold $3500 of product have paid for their Summer Camp / Day Camp fees.
- Looking to have training sessions on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of July on selling popcorn. https://scoutingevent.com/023-100304
Membership
- Unit and Charter Organization updates
- Pack 73 started with 5 cubs and is now at 50 and feels they are at their limit.
- St Clement Church is interested in a Pack and Troop(s)
- All Saints Church is interested as well, but wants the new leadership to be more involved with the parish, and not just be a tenant.
- Franklin ELementary in Alameda is interested in a Pack
- St Felicitas in San Leandro is waiting on the signing of the charter agreement for Pack 612 and then will start recruiting from the congregation and local community.
- St Joseph (Alameda) is looking to restart Pack 8.
- Two prospective new units in Oakland were identified. The restarting of Packs 295 (Crocker Elementary) and 274 (St. Augustine Church) were discussed by Nikki Maguire and Linda Owczarz. They talked about reaching out to a prior Cubmaster from Pack 274 to help restart that unit.
- GGAC Professionals are looking to work with local Rotary Clubs to charter units.
- Council has adopted guidelines for new units similar to National. 3 youth and 3 adults to be registered with a recruiting plan.
- Units can use the Community Events list provided by our District Executive to promote our units at these events.
- Baptist, Catholic, and Presbyterian churches have the largest congregations in our area
- The signup nights have had very low turnout.
- Nikki Maguire mentioned that membership renewals have not been properly processed by National and some folks are being dropped. Units should contact Alex Garcia to start fixing any issues.
Nominating Committee
- The prospective DIstrict Commissioner has had to remove his name from consideration due to personal reasons. A new candidate has been identified and the committee has started talking with the candidate.
Unit Service
- Rose is asking units to self identify their needs so the commissioner staff can best serve the units in need.
- Perception is that May and June are hard on unit leaders, and they need a break.
- Upcoming community events for recruiting opportunities
- Oakland Octoberfest
- Alameda Art and Wine Festival
- San Leandro Cherry Festival
- Farmers Markets in various locations
- Castro Valley Rodeo Parade
- Alameda 4th of July Parade
Advancement
- Last month our district had 5 new Eagle Scouts, and 1 new Quartermaster
- The Trail to Eagle guidelines have been updated
- Eagle and Quartermaster certificates are being held up waiting for the president’s signature.
- Scoutbook will show the date of earning these awards, and can be used to get the regalia from the Scout store.
- The Council office has the free Eagle Hardware on hand, one per Eagle, that they will give out ahead of the certificates if needed for an Eagle Court.
- Advancement committee needs info from the Alameda units.
Updated unit contacts are needed as well.
Training
- Golden Gate Area Council – Training Page
- Safeguarding Youth Training is replacing Youth Protection Training.
- Prior certificate is still valid until it expires.
- https://goldengatescouting.org/youth-protection/
- Wood Badge –
- GGAC – Wood Badge Fall 2025
Camp Herms, Friday 09-12-2025 7 AM to Sunday 09-14-2025 5 PM and
Camp Royaneh, Saturday 10-11-2025 7 AM to Sunday 10-12-2025 5 PM - Philmont Woodbadge Course in September
Hosted by other councils, but you can apply to join their course
- GGAC – Wood Badge Fall 2025
- Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation BALOO (Cub Scouts)
- Choose from two courses scheduled at this time.
- Camp Herms: Saturday 09-06-2025 8:30 am to Sunday 09-07-2025 1:30 pm
- Camp Herms: Saturday 10-18-2025 7:30 am to Sunday 10-19-2025 12:30 pm
- Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills (Scouts BSA)
Camp Herms – Saturday 10-18-2025 7:30 AM to Sunday 10-19-2025 12:30 PM
IOLS – Hosted by Briones District
Day Camp
- Our day camp has 15 youth signed up of a goal of 20 youth.
Camping
- We need a Camporee Chair and a Youth Chair
- Camporee is May 1-3, 2026
- Jamboree is October 2-5, 2026
- Will work with OA Village(s) to help staff and plan the event.
- Request all unit leaders to send their Summer Camp, Long Cruise, or High Adventure plans to Alex Garcia. The location, and expected participant count is needed.
Activities
- Units are requested to enter Camping and Activities, and participants into Scoutbook Plus.
- Eleven Canoes, twelve Kayaks, personal floatation devices, and trailers are available for Scouting units of the GGAC at the Alameda Program Office. A deposit is required.
Service Hours
- Units are doing good, but are encouraged to report the service hours in Scoutbook Plus.
Special Needs Scouting
- Pomeroy Recreation & Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco is starting up a special needs unit that will include both Pack and Troop activities for participants.
- This is still a work in progress.
- These will be mostly 13-18 years old, but this can vary according to the needs of the participants.
- Socializing and making friends is the focus, not the traditional Scouting America aims.