Re: Donations
Michael Bowman (mfbowman@USSCOUTS.ORG)
Tue, 15 Dec 1998 23:32:43 -0500
Michael,
You have a heart of gold to want to donate to help your Pack grow and that
is to be commended. Sometimes though it is good to step back a few paces to
give things a hard look -- a look that goes down the road from here.
Before pinning too many hopes on getting results by an infusion of money,
remember that boys don't join Cub Scouting to have a new crisp flag, a sleek
pinewood derby track, or any other props. They join to have fun, be with
their buddies, or in some cases because one or both parents gave them a
healthy push (to make sure junior has fun, is with his buddies, etc.).
Growing a Pack is not hard, if you focus on activities that are fun and
enjoyable. And many of these can be very cheap. When I was a Cubmaster our
best activities turned out to be the least expensive and coincidently ones
where everyone chipped in with time and a few things from out of the garage,
attic, or whatever including a Pack yard sale and fun day. They also had
more fun with the old pinewood derby track before we fixed it. It had a
lane that was just about guaranteed to produce an airborne ending for a car.
After the official races they took turns with yelps of glee in seeing which
car flew the farthest. The talked about that for more meetings than the
actual race.
Digression here - Cubs are fun and will amaze you with what they enjoy.
One leader related how his Cubs took a tour of a major computer facility
with all the whiz-bangs you could ever want to see. They weren't all that
excited until an engineer demonstrated how to use a tool with two big
suction cups to lift floor tiles up so that you could get to the wiring
under the false floor. Boy they really lit up and all had to try it out.
Now that was neat stuff - not the computers, but pulling up the floor with
giant suction cups. Another leader talked about his favorite outing. On a
Saturday he had a local appliance store deliver a truckload of boxes to the
schoolyard. The boys made mazes, forts, and all manner of imagined
structures and had a blast, so much so that most forgot to eat until late in
the afternoon. Then they got to take the beat up cardboard to a recycling
center which in those days wasn't a whole lot more than a place to dump
stuff for future processing. It was next to a junkyard/landfill. These
worn out engineers (Cubs) got a surge of energy and had to have a walk round
the junkyard to see all the hidden treasures. They thought it was way cool
to see all manner of things that used to be hidden away in peoples houses
and to imagine what happened to make the things end up there. I guess the
point here, if there is one, is that boys this age will have a blast if
given half a chance and an opportunity, even if the props are not exactly
the sorts of things you'd want to have near your house. ;-) End digression.
The Pack also is sort of like an extended family, a place where families can
pool resources to give their boys more than they could do alone. Do a
resources survey and see what you have - use the resources of your families,
even if it is a parent that can only make 15 minutes worth of phone calls
for you.
As an extended family it would breed a little ill will to give a gift where
folks thought there were strings attached, like you were trying to buy in.
At least some would see things this way and though it isn't what you want,
they would hang back and tend towards not participating. Same thing with
donating, if the idea would appear to be to control. This needs to be a
group thing. Get everyone you can to pitch in and work together. Do
fundraisers together, you'll end up with more cash and folks a little closer
together for having cooperated on the project.
Now if you are still thinking, dang its my money and I want to donate
something to help, think about things that can lead to fun activities or
help the leaders do a bit better. Go to the Scout shop and buy some leader
books and pass them around without saying where they came from or how. Buy
a bag of marbles for each den and run a marbles tournament on a Saturday,
winners keep all. Put a cash donation box out at a meeting wrapped in foil
paper with just a single hole in the top. Put your bucks in there and then
let the group decide what the boys need and how the money can be put to use.
Then there isn't a stigma attached where folks think someone is trying to
leverage a bit too much. Buy awards, patches, and the like too. These are
always needed and go far towards making boys want to stay in.
There are a good number here on the list that have felt the same things and
have opened up their wallets and purses to make sure needed goodies were
there for the boys. You are in good company and your willingness to help is
a treasure in itself.
Mike Bowman a/k/a Professor Beaver (mfbowman@usscouts.org)
Webmastering in the Scouting Spirit from Alexandria, VA
http://usscouts.org http://members.aol.com/netcommish/
http://members.tripod.com/colonialdistrict
