General info
How can I join Troop 116?
Just show up at any of our weekly meetings, and we’ll get you signed up.
When and where does the troop meet?
Troop 116 meets Thursdays at 7:30pm (from Labor Day to mid-June) in the basement of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Wyncote, PA.
The church is on Bent Road at Kent Ave. (though the entrance to the basement is around the back on Fernbrook Ave.)
What are the requirements for joining?
For the most up-to-date requirements and information, see the official SA website at www.scouting.org. But in brief:
To join Scout Troop 116, you must be:
- A boy or girl
- Aged 11 to 17 (or 10 and completed fifth grade)
- Willing to have fun
To join Venture Crew 116, you must be:
- A young man or young woman
- Aged 14-20
- Willing to have fun (and understand you will NOT be tenting with your girlfriend/boyfriend)
Other than the required age restrictions, we accept all applicants of every race, creed, color, religion, physical or mental capability, and sexual orientation.
So long as you are willing to work as part of the team and are ready for some high adventure fun, we’re happy to have you join the troop.
Can girls join? (Yes!)
Troop 116 is proud to announce that, as of December, 2025, we are among the first Family Troops in the nation.
This is a brand-new, fully co-ed category of Scouting we have been pioneering over the past year.
Scouts BSA began allowing girls to form troops in February 2019, and were among the very first to register a brand-new troop for all our girls aged 11–18. At first it was a separate troop with its own Scoutmaster (Kurt Ahrens), but we still did everything together as one big happy, co-ed family. This is part of why our local BSA Council tapped us to participate in a pilot program of fully blended troops in 2024–25.
Troop 116 is a Scout troop, and therefore from 1915 to 2018 was made up entirely of boys aged 11 to 17.
However, there since the early 2010s there has also been a co-ed 116 Venture Crew, yet another facet to Scouting (used to be called “Explorers”), aimed at young men and women aged 14 to 20.
We also found a way to get girls between 11 and 13 involved even before 2019, with a Girl Scout troop meeting alongside us and joining us for most trips.
Of course, since February, 2019, we can officially welcome girls 11 to 17 into the Troop as well—and have more than a dozen registered already, and three have made Eagle Scout.
(Naturally, there is always both a male and a female adult leader present on all co-ed trips—and no, the boys and girls NEVER share tents or other lodgings.)
Folks in the troop and crew & a bit on demographics
Just who is in charge around here, anyway?
Our Troop Committee Chair is Tom Finley.
Our Scoutmaster is Reid Bramblett.
The main advisor to the Venture Crew is Stew Lee.
There are many other Assistant Scoutmasters and Troop Committee members vital to the running of the troop and crew.
You can find out more about these and other adult leaders on the leadership page.
If it meets in a church, is this some kind of religious group?
Troop 116 has no religious affiliation whatsoever.
It is a nondenominational, multicultural organization open to people of all faiths (or none).
Every troop needs an official sponsor, however, and we are proud that Calvary Presbyterian Church of Wyncote has sponsored the troop since the very beginning in 1915, and we are grateful for the continued use of its basement as a meeting room, and as storage space for our tents and such.
How can I contact people in the troop?
Contact information for adult leaders is on the Leadership page.
For general inquires: scoutmaster@scouttroop116.com
In keeping with Youth Protection principles, we will not provide contact info for the boys and girls in the Troop or Venture Crew.
If you are a Troop 116 alumnus and would like to track down the old gang (or just see some pictures of what you looked like at 15), your best bet is our “The Original Troop 116” Facebook page (for over-18 alumni only—Youth Protection again).
Questions about trips
When is the next trip?
We have posted a an annual calendar here giving you an overview of the monthly commitments, and this year’s actual troop calendar here.
Please sign up for all trips at least two weeks in advance if possible (and take your name off the list if you do sign up but discover you must cancel)—and please, please, please pay by at least the Thursday before the trip.)
How much do trips cost?
Weekend trips generally cost $25–$40.
Trips that require the rental of specialty equipment (snowshoes, skis, etc.) or outfitter guides (white water rafting) cost a bit more. Keep in mind that we almost always get bulk discounts, group rates, or special scout packages on rentals, lift tickets, outfitters, airfares, and other costs, so these activities invariably costs less than what you would pay on your own.
Summer trip costs vary wildly depending on the scope and length. However, believe it or not, each boy and girl manages to raise much of the cost of these trips (in some cases, the entire cost) entirely by himself, through troop fund raisers and personal jobs (many adult leaders in the troop provide work opportunities for those without jobs).
When do trips leave?
We leave for most weekend trips on Friday evening between 6pm and 7:30pm (it varies from trip to trip). We leave from the church where we meet.
We usually return by mid-afternoon on Sunday.
What do I need to pack?
We have posted a multitude of packing lists here—though for any given trip, these might need to be tweaked.
Paperwork
Where can I get registration and other forms?
You can fill out an online form to join Troop 116 at this link.
For other forms, first search around on our own local local Cradle of Liberty council website —or, failing that the national SA site.
If you are having trouble finding the forms or paperwork you need, ask our Troop Committee Chair Tom Finley at the next meeting.
Where can I get information about merit badges and advancement?
Your Scout BSA Handbook is your personal advancement record, including all rank requirements.
You must, however, make sure all advancement is ticked off in the online portal called Scoutbook. (We know. Scoutbook is extremely frustrating to use—but it is getting better.)
Requirements for ranks and merit badges can also now be found at the national SA site, Scouting.org.
To make things easy, we have a page with quicklinks to the requirements, pamphets, and worksheets for all Eagle-required merit badges (plus a few others).
Troop 116 is also proud to offer counselors for 61 merit badges all in-house (i.e.: from existing adult leaders), including all Eagle-required ones (well, a few not, but we do cover at leas one badge in each of the three either/or categories).
As an adult, where can I get the necessary training?
Go online to the local Cradle of Liberty council website.
Most of the training is now done via online modules. You will need your personal scouting ID. (If you don’t know it, ask Tom Finley.)
All adult leaders need to complete the Safeguarding Youth training (what used to be called YPT) and repeat it every two years.
Adult leaders who want to be able to lead trips (and all trips need two qualified leaders) need to complete a variety of leadership, outdoors skills, and safety training modules—Hazardous Weather, Safety Afloat, Climb On Safely, Safe Swim Defense—though some are only required for certain types of high adventure trips. (Then again, this is Troop 116; most of our trips are high adventure.) Please go ahead and get these done, because Stew and/or Reid cannot be on every trip, you know.
If you wish to be registered as an Assistant Scoutmaster, you must complete the Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills program—which is actually a weekend-long course offered several times in the spring.