Flag Retirement Ceremony – Scouts helping our community

Given the current pandemic situation, it’s more difficult than ever to find ways that Troop 86 can help the community. This past Sunday, we were excited to be able to enjoy the evening (and this beautiful weather) with a local pack during a flag retirement ceremony.

Even though we have different charter organizations, our troop has a special bond with Pack 39, one of the local Cub Scout Packs in Collinsville. We always try to help each other out whenever we can.

The pack was recently asked by the Collinsville VFW (their charter organization) to help with a flag retirement ceremony. They typically have a ceremony twice a year. However, as with everyone and everything, this has not been a normal year. They had to cancel the ceremony they had planned for earlier this Spring. As a result, there were a lot of flags to retire.

Since the ceremony is new to many of the younger Cub Scouts, they asked our troop to help out. We always enjoy the opportunity to work together with the pack. It helps them out, and at the same time gives our Scouts the opportunity to teach and lead their fellow Scouts.

Flag retirement ceremonies are also a great way to teach our Scouts about the importance of the flag and what it represents. It’s easy for the Scouts (well, actually all of us) to take for granted what we have in this country. As with other ceremonies we participate in, such as the Memorial Day Ceremony at Jefferson Barracks or the Veterans Day Parade, this gives us an opportunity to teach the Scouts about what the flag actually represents.

We wish to extend a big THANKS to the Pack and the VFW for allowing us to help with this important ceremony!