A Thanksgiving Story of Troop 12 Scouts carried on WAGA TV 5
Ed Henderson (BigEdBSA@AOL.COM)
Thu, 28 Nov 1996 13:32:29 -0500
What a wonderful Thanksgiving Suprise for BSA Troop 12 of Griffin Georgia!!!
We have just been filmed as the lead feature story for the 6 o'clock news on
Atlanta's leading television station for a Thanksgiving News Story. To help
someone in need is wonderful, to make the front page of the local paper even
better, to have your efforts recognized by the Mayor and State Representative
is great, but to have a Boy Scout troop's act of kindness made the top
Thanksgiving Feature Story of Atlanta's leading television station
is....well.....more than any of us could have hoped for.
Several months ago we became aware of a 70 year old couple who had been
burned out of their house when lightening struck it this past summer. With
no family in the area, they were forced to live in an abandoned van with no
water, electricity, or other help for almost a month. The Brittians, a
wonderful African-American couple have lived in Griffin all their life and
attended the same church for over 50 years. When their church saw the level
of need, they turned to the Red Cross for help.
Our troop has worked with the Griffin Red Cross for years in Blood Drives,
Disaster Services, and First Aid Classes. While the Red Cross took care of
getting them into a hotel and hot meals, they turned to our scout troop for
help in cleaning up an old trailer they obtained that was in need of repair.
Our scout troop, working with the local food pantry (we help collect tons of
food every Scout Sunday for the Five Loaves & Two Fish Food Pantry as a part
of Scouting for Food), got them back into their cleaned trailer, with new
clothes and hot meals and other assistance.
Even our state Representative got involved in helping. Rep. John Yates, who
lets our troop serve as pages in the General Assembly each January sent us a
check for $100 to help with the materials for the trailer repairs. He did
this after reading the article in the Griffin paper, we had not even asked
for help. Rep. Yates understands the goodness of basic American values of
one man helping another. Not through a government bureaucracy but through
the basic goodness and volunterism of each person helping another like the
old tradition of farmers joining together in a barn raising when one of their
neighbours lost theirs due to a fire.
Our two church sponsors got into the act with additional gifts and help. St.
John Lutheran Church & Sacred Heart Catholic Church jointly prepare & deliver
some 600 hot Thanksgiving Meals to the needy each Thanksgiving morning, and
so the Britans were a natural to be included in our deliverys this year.
Meanwhile dozens of other scouts were involved in packaging, preparing, and
delivering hundreds of meals all over town. This morning hundreds of members
from five area churchs & our troop and cub pack brought home made pumpkin
pies, turkeys and other trimings along with the addresses of hundeds of
citizens in need. At 9:30am the meals started leaving the church/
Our troops involvement with the Britans and the Red Cross captured the
attention of the Griffin Daily News a few weeks ago (USA Today National Make
a Difference Day). As Chanel Five was looking for a feature story for
Thanksgiving they picked up on our efforts and our plans to deliver a
Thanksgiving Meal today and thus - the TV cameras arrived this morning.
Our troop is now the buzz of our entire congregation. We have received
dozens of letters, phone calls, and even a proclamation from the mayor for
our efforts. My scouts, including two who are in the middle of their own
Eagle Projects have been very willing to not only help, but to plan and
execute this entire effort. Parents and committee members have gotten into
the act as well.
The message here is that even one troop can make an impact. There are people
right in our communities that need help, and that Scouting is a lot more than
Campouts. Our message is the Scout Slogan, Do a Good Turn Daily. This is
the Thanksgiving message which tens of thousands of people all over north
Georgia will be sharing with the scouts of Troop 12 this holiday season.
Today is a great day for Scouting, for my troop, for a dear sweet couple,
James & Lelia Brittan, and for a troop of wonderful scouts, the Scouts of BSA
Troop 12 in Griffin Georgia of the Flint River Council.
Have a Great Thanksgiving!
Ed Henderson
Scoutmaster BSA Troop 12
Sponsored by St. John Lutheran & Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
