Joining Trail Life Troop NC-613

We are glad that you are considering joining our troop. This page summarizes important steps and procedures. This is current for the 2024-2025 ministry program year.

Who are these instructions for?

Consider which applies to you:

1. You are learning about the troop:
   Contact us at and we can provide basic information and answer your questions before you evaluate joining.
2. You are evaluating whether to join:
   We encourage you to visit a meeting or two and see what is going on before deciding whether to join. Contact us at and we can provide details about upcoming meetings. Or, you can go online and sign-up to visit.
3. You have decided to join:
   Welcome! The instructions on this page will get you up and running.

Understanding Membership

Our troop is a ministry of The Shepherd’s Church and chartered with Trail Life USA. Local troop membership and national membership are both required to participate. Local memberships run through June 30, 2025. National registration runs one year from date of registration.

(A) Local Registration

Our annual local dues are compromised of two components: $30.00 per family plus $45 per Woodlands Trailmen (elementary) and $70 per Navigator or Adventurer Trailmen (middle/high school). This registration is completed via the Church’s Registration System, and payment is made online via that registration. Please note that local registration has been lowered for 2024-25 as a result of new funding provided by the church.

1. If you have not previously registered for an event or ministry at the church, you will need to create an account. Instructions in these regards are included in the registration link above. You may need to return to the first registration link after creating an account.
2. You will prompted with the question “How many Individuals do you wish to register for this Event?” Please select the number of boys you are registering.
3. For each boy, there will be a registration form page. Please use the youth information (name, birth date, etc), not parent information.
4. At the bottom of each registration, the “Additional Fees” section is where you select the appropriate rates. Please be careful to check the $30.00 family fee exactly once (i.e. on the first family member) or you will overcharged. Pick exactly one of the two dues levels ($45/$70) depending on the age of the son typed above. If you selected more than 1 individual to register, you will have a chance to select a different rate for the second son. There is an option to prepay our fundraiser buyout, which is normally due in December. We will not be able to correct payments in the online system, so any overpayment will be credited against future event fees and underpayment will be need to be supplemented by cash or check payment to the troop.
5. We are committed to ensuring cost is not a barrier to participation in this ministry. Please contact to inquire about options. If the troop has approved alternative payment arrangements for your family, submit the online registration but do not check any of the fee options.

(B) National Registration

National registration with the troop is through traillifeconnect.com. The Troop needs to invite you (a parent) to our roll before you are able to register. We issue these invites either (1) when requested or (2) when we process the local registration. An email from should be sent when invited.

The annual national registration is presently $37.97, and is adjusted by the home office as program costs change.

After logging into Trail Life Connect, your parent profile has the links needed to complete registering youth members. On that page, there is a section on household. One of two things should be true:

1. Your son is listed, with a link “(Membership not paid. Click to pay.)”
2. You need to click “Add Son” and input his information.

You may also review the national registration agreement.

Post-Registration

After completing both (A) Local Registration and (B) National Registration, your son is officially a Youth Trailman in Trail Life Troop NC-613. Welcome!

When we process your Local Registration, you will receive an email with an invitation to visit our local portal and provide some background information about your family so we can better serve you.

Required Forms

We collect one form in print:

1. Youth Member/Participant Health & Medical Form

This can be returned to troop leadership at any meeting on campus.

Uniforms

Official Trail Life USA uniforms can be purchased from the Trail Life USA Store. We also generally have these uniforms available for resale at troop meetings. The “Troop Uniform Shirt” is worn by boys to most meetings. Official uniform pants are available, but other outdoors or khaki type pants and shorts are also acceptable in this troop.

Our troop has a Class-B t-shirt that is used when the Class A official uniform is not worn. These are purchased at our troop meetings.

Handbooks

A handbook for each youth at the appropriate level is important to fully experience the ministry program. We have these available for resale at troop meetings, although if you are already placing a uniform order, you might find it cost effective to order the handbook from the store.

Email Communications

Our troop sends emails to troop member families with important information. Please consider whitelisting the address to improve deliverability.