Troop 949 has been running on Chicago’s northwest side since 2007. We are a family troop of Scouting America, open to boys and girls aged 11 to 17, and we meet in Kernaghan Hall at St. Robert Bellarmine.
The troop belongs to the scouts
That sentence gets said at a lot of troops. Here it is the actual operating model. Scouts are organised into patrols. Patrol leaders plan what their patrol does. The senior patrol leader runs the meetings, not the Scoutmaster. Older scouts teach the younger ones to pitch a tent, cook a meal, and read a map, because teaching it is how you prove you know it.
The adults are there to keep it safe, drive the vans, and ask useful questions. When a campout menu turns out badly, the scouts eat a bad dinner and plan better next month. That is the lesson, and stepping in to rescue it would be stealing it from them.
A year in the troop
Meetings run every other Monday through the school year, and the calendar fills out around them:
- Campouts most months, in every season Chicago throws at us. Winter camping included, which the scouts talk about far more than the summer trips.
- A full week at summer camp, where scouts knock out merit badges, swim, shoot, climb, and live out of a tent with their patrol.
- Service to the neighborhood, from the annual troop car wash to parish and community projects through the year.
- District and council events with other troops across Chicago, including the Checagau 5 district kickoff and Chicago Catholic Scouting activities.
- Eagle projects, planned and led by our older scouts, which leave something behind that outlasts them.
Where we come from
Our scouts come from schools all over the northwest side: SRB, St. Constance, Prussing, Notre Dame, St. Patrick’s, Taft, and others. Some arrive from Pack 3949 having done Cub Scouts. Plenty arrive knowing nobody and having never slept in a tent.
We are chartered by Mary Undoer of Knots Parish and we are grateful for the home, but parish affiliation is not and has never been a requirement to join.
Who runs it
Domenico Battaglia is our Scoutmaster and works directly with the scouts. Michael Wozny chairs the troop committee, the group of parent volunteers who handle the money, the paperwork, and the logistics so the program can happen.
Behind them is a bench of assistant Scoutmasters and committee members. Every registered adult holds current Youth Protection Training and a background check, and two-deep leadership applies at every single activity. Nothing about a young person’s safety is left to good intentions.
If you would like to help, you do not need a Scouting background. Parents drive, cook, sit on the committee, and teach whatever they happen to know. We will train you.
The adults behind the troop
Every role on this chart is filled by a volunteer. Nobody is paid, and most of them give up a dozen weekends a year so the scouts can be outdoors. Hover over any card to see what each role does; on a phone, the descriptions are written on the cards.
Chartered by Mary, Undoer of Knots Parish
The committee: runs the business side so the program can happen
The program team: works directly with the scouts
Want to be on this chart? We always need more adults. You do not need a Scouting background; we will train you. Email troop949chicago@gmail.com.
Where we sit in Scouting
Troop 949 is part of the Checagau 5 district of the Pathway to Adventure Council, which covers Chicago and the surrounding area. Our linked Cub Scout unit is Pack 3949, so younger siblings have somewhere to start and a natural path into the troop.
Come and have a look
Reading about a troop tells you very little. Turn up on a Monday and watch one run.