If you need service hours, there are two opportunities that have opened up:

1. Regular Service Hour Opportunities @ Metrocrest Food Bank – Various Dates/Times- register here. Please note volunteers must be 13+.  If under 16, you must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
2. Conservation Hours Opportunity @ Coppell Nature Park – March 13, 9-12 AM – register here.

 Be sure to complete your Service Hours Approval Form before participating.  This is required in order for you to receive recognition for your work.

We will be hosting Citizenship in the Community merit badge on Saturday, Feb 20th. Registration is open at https://www.troop842.com/node/3758.

This is an Eagle required MB but one which does take a bit of time to complete.  If you already have a few MBs completed and are looking for that next MB, this is a good one to take. 

We will be delivering the Personal Fitness merit badge on Tuesday, February 9^th, prior to the regular troop meeting.  This is an Eagle-required merit badge and an excellent first merit badge for Scouts moving towards the First Class rank.  It does require repeated meetings and on-going tracking of activities over a continuous 90-day period so please be aware of that before starting the merit badge on the 9^th.

We have many Scouts who have requested the opportunity to cook on an upcoming campout in order to complete requirements for the Camping and/or Cooking Merit Badges.  In order to maximize everyone’s opportunities, we have decided to host a Cooking-focused campout at Hickory Creek (Lake Lewisville) the weekend of March 25-27.  For this campout, we will divide into numerous small “patrols” to maximize the number of Scouts who have the opportunity to cook.  All Scouts are welcome to this campout, so if you do not need to cook and simply wish to be fed, please register. (We will also need quite a few adults to join us this weekend as BSA guidelines for cooking during the COVID pandemic require us to keep close supervision on the cooking process.) 

On January 16th, we will be kicking work on the Family Life merit badge and on January 17th, we will be starting formal work on the Camping merit badge. These are both Eagle required merit badges and being made available to a limited number of Scouts who are ranked First Class and above.  Registration is open through the troop calendar.  If you are a Scout ranked First Class or above and you have not yet completed these merit badges, please be sure to register right away.

Troop 842 has a few spots available for a crew to paddling the Great Northwoods wilderness along the US-Canadian border this coming Summer from June 24 to July 1, 2021. This is an incredible adventure available to Scouts who are 14+ (or 13 and have completed the 8^th grade) at the time of the event. If you might be interested, please contact Bryan Smith (bryan.c.smith@live.com) to discuss.