Bird Feeders are a Big Fundraiser for Cub Scouts

Brayden Schippers, Tiger; was among the other scouts displaying their handiwork.

Holding their feeders, the scouts and their dens, from left, are Caleb Bombich, Webelo; Henry Stamm, Bear; Madeline Trepanier, Lion; William Tassell, Wolf; Blake Jastifer, Tiger. Bidding winners came to the troop’s meeting site at Vicksburg United Methodist to pick up their feeders.

By Bob Ball

Vicksburg’s Cub Scout Pack 251 netted $1,620 through an on-line auction of brightly painted scout-built bird feeders. Half the proceeds will go to support pack activities. The other half will be distributed among the scouts who built the feeders. Those distributions can be used for summer camp.

The pack for years held an annual Cake Bake sale. But interest began to wane, said Wolf Den leader Valerie Tassell. “It was ending up that the pack parents were just buying their own cake back or buying another scout’s cake.”

A change was needed. “Last year we decided that while we liked the auction, we needed to have something that would last and that the scouts could build and paint, so we started the For the Birds Birdhouse auction.”

This year, photos of the 60 completed bird feeders were posted on a dedicated Facebook page. Interested buyers could post bids in the page’s comment section. Buyers included family members and friends and community members, Tassell said, not just parents.

And next year? “We are debating duck houses vs bat houses.”