LITERACY and EDUCATION (Next | Top)

The Boy Scouts of America considers illiteracy one of the “five unacceptables” in today’s society. BSA has worked hard to come up with programs, support material, and literature acceptable for all reading levels to help combat this problem during the last decade. We, as Scouters, need to continue to take this one step further and use this material, as well as many of the other resources available, to help fight illiteracy in our communities. We need to bring attention and focus to helping the people in each community learn how to read. We also need to make our resources, our Scouts and adult leaders available to address this problem head-on. According to Ben Love, BSA’s former Chief Scout Executive, “We are the nation’s largest youth development organization, and as such we have a moral obligation to attack societal problems that adversely effect young people.” He went on to say, “To get ahead in Scouting, you have to be able to read; this encourages literacy.” The programs initiated by the BSA are only the start, though. Today there are many other resources available to fight this problem, from websites on the Internet, to community outreach programs that target minorities.

• Have members of your unit volunteer to read to people at local retirement homes. Involve the elderly by either reading to or being read to by your Scouts.

• Hold a book drive that collects new or used books and then donate them to the homeless or needy.

• Ask your Scouts if they would like to tutor other children who need help with reading and writing.

CITIZENSHIP and PATRIOTISM (Previous | Next | Top)

Participating in citizenship is one of the cornerstones of the Scouting Movement. “Duty to Country” is one of the three points of the Scout Oath. It is what Scouts are known for, what Scouts should plan for, and what has been expected of every Scout from the beginning. Planning community service hours around flag ceremonies, parades, and celebrations brings a tremendous sense of pride to your Scouts and Troop. Giving them the opportunity to show patriotism at an early age breeds honor and respect for our flag and country.

• Offer to retire flags for local business and community centers. Your Scout unit can contact businesses that display flags that are tattered and torn and offer to retire them. Set up a specific date and hold a proper flag retirement ceremony to retire all of the flags collected.

• Have your Scout unit develop a Color Guard or Honor Guard to be used at Flag Ceremonies, Sports Events, and parades. Let people in your community know that you have this service and you will have more requests than you know what to do with. Color Guards will be used during the parades, and Honor Guards will be used for ceremonies and escorts for dignitaries.

• There are many opportunities for your Scouts to help in your local government offices. For instance, Scouts have served as Pages in the State Assembly; volunteered for local elected officials; and helped the local City Council with projects. Get Out The Vote is also popular.

SPIRITUALITY and FAITH (Previous | Next | Top)

The twelfth Scout Law can afford Scout Units with many rewarding and meaningful service opportunities. For some Scouts, a service project for religious organizations in your community may be his first experience with any sort of religious beliefs and may provide a conduit for further interest. For others, it may provide help and support for their religious institution, as well as gaining them personal recognition and respect.

• Conduct Religious Emblems Training at a training event or round table, and invite local religious organizations to be a part of this training. Have a list of all of the churches and their service times available as a hand out. These can be distributed throughout the year at the council office and future events.

• There are people around the world who read English, and would love to have a Bible of their own. The Bible League (address below) offers “Recycle your Bible” kits to help you collect used Bibles and send them to distribution centers, where they’re distributed around the world.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE (Previous | Next | Top)

One of the biggest problems facing our youth today are gangs and drugs, and the destruction they cause. The BSA has many brochures and programs to help you develop service projects to help with this cause. You can start by having your troop hold a demonstration or presentation for a local Cub pack using materials available from your local council, police station, and community resources.

• Help “at risk” youth seek counselling. Your Scouts can create a peer group where these youth can get help. Work with your local school, church, or law enforcement agency to implement the program.

• Create a static display for your community. Discuss the life-long consequences of using drugs. Your local law enforcement could do a presentation showing what happens when someone is caught with illegal drugs.

FAMILY and SELF (Previous | Next | Top)

“To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” What was Baden-Powell thinking when he made “Duty to Self” the third part of the Scout Oath? How can a young man be of service to others if he hasn’t become a good Scout himself? The best service a youth can give to himself is to live by the Scout Oath and Scout Promise, and to regard the Scout Laws as he does the laws of society. These laws should not be considered arbitrary and should be taken as seriously as the laws of our society. If a Scout decides that he is going to follow only eight of the twelve Scout Laws, can he really call himself a Scout? Only by becoming strong, improving his mind, and keeping his morals high can he fulfill his “Service to Self,” by becoming a valuable part of his family, community, troop, and nation.

• A Scout can do something for his family, beyond his regular chores, that requires prior planning, has “structure,” possibly involves other family members, and is of value. Perhaps he could start a vegetable garden to help curb the family’s food budget; repair a broken fence; build flower boxes for a family garden; or perhaps just make a commitment to his grandparents that he will visit them once a week. Service to Family is, for the most part, a Scout just doing thoughtful things and being helpful to his family.

• Your Scouts can do a service to their families by doing genealogical research on their ancestors. They can talk to aunts, uncles, grandparents, and family friends and find out and record their family histories. They can keep scrapbooks of pictures and events attended by their families. Perhaps they could plan family reunions or get togethers.

ENVIRONMENT and CONSERVATION (Previous | Next | Top)

Learning how to practice conservation of our outdoor resources is important to Scouts. Conservation of soil, water, forests, minerals, grasslands, wildlife, and energy will secure these resources for future generations. A great need for education and implementation of taking care of our natural resources has been a strong part of Scouting since its beginnings. Scouts should practice being conservation minded as outlined in the “Outdoor Code.”

• Hold a Leave No Trace demonstration at a camp-o-ree, jamboree, or Scout Show. Look at the requirements for the National “Leave No Trace” Award and arrange for Scouts to earn it at this demonstration. Information for this award can be found at http://www.lnt.org

• Work with your local Humane Society to help find homes for animals. Create a Pet Fair where they can arrange adoptions, kitten and puppy spaying, pet immunizations, and pet care. Tie it in with the “Pet Care” Merit Badge. Work with local veterinarians to help.

HISTORICAL PRESERVATION (Previous | Next | Top)

Preservation of our historical landmarks and treasures is a vital part of preserving our national heritage and history. Your Scouts can become a part of the process of helping preserve local landmarks and buildings. Find a place, building, or item in your community that has significant historical value and arrange for your Scouts to clean, repair, or renovate it for prosperity. Have them work through local historical societies or the city to help identify needs and projects.

• Many local cemeteries are in disrepair or have been vandalized. Have your Scout unit volunteer to clean up, repair, and in some cases, replace headstones and grave markers. Each cemetery should have a map of who is buried there. Make sure the right gravestone has been placed at each grave. (Vandals sometimes move them as a joke). Some grave markers get overgrown or have sunk into the ground, only to be forgotten. This is a great project not only to do a service to your community, but also helps the Scouts learn of the history of your area.

CRIME and VIOLENCE (Previous | Next | Top)

The Boy Scouts of America has long been concerned about the youth of America and the problems they face today. There are many challenges and temptations for our youth, and with two income families, single parenting, and less family supervision, these children can sometimes get into trouble. It is more important than ever that we protect our children by teaching them first, how to stay out of harm’s way, and second, what to do if they get into trouble. It is our challenge and responsibility to teach our youth the morality of traditional family values and the problems associated with gangs and violence. Our youth need to know how to recognize bad situations in order to avoid them. They need to know what to do if approached by someone wanting to harm them. They need to be able to react quickly to situations where people may do something bad to them.

• Create awareness and importance of “It’s OK to Tell”– Have Scouts create a program to show to younger Scouts or Cubs. Use the resource material and videos available from your council office. Go to a Cub Pack meeting or Church Youth Group and present this program. Show the video “Yell It,Tell It” and discuss it in groups afterwards.

SAFETY and PREPAREDNESS (Previous | Next | Top)

The word “Safety” brings up many connotations. Home safety, bike safety, gun safety, safety belts, and a much more. Safety begins at home though… more accidents happen there than any other place. The fact that most people spend a majority of their time at home probably has a lot to do with it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make your home more safe.
Once you have a “safe” home, it’s time to take a look at your neighborhood and your community.

• Have your Scout Unit make a list of safety related items and go home and see how many violations they can find. Make it like a scavenger hunt, only this game will be to identify unsafe conditions in your house. Use the Safety Merit Badge Book as a guide. (Heck, you could even try to fill a few of the requirements for the merit badge at this time!) Include a checklist and schedule of repairs or solutions along with this game

• Hold a bike rodeo for your local community. Invite Cub Scouts, church youth, and school mates to a bike-a-thon, Helmet Safety, Bike repair, Bike Stunt, Bike Rodeo. Make it lot’s of fun for the whole family and get local merchants, your police and fire department, and any other local bike clubs or organizations involved.

• If you’ve ever been to Philmont, you know that Mt. Baldy is a very beautiful place. It can also be very dangerous during lightning storms, however. The U.S. Scouting Service Project has a page dedicated to lightning safety, and tips on service projects to help educate the public on the hazards of lighting. http://www.usscouts.org/profbvr/lightning_safety/index.html

POVERTY and HUNGER (Previous | Next | Top)

Poverty will always be a problem in our communities. Getting your Scouts and volunteers involved can bring an awareness to this problem and help those in need. This is one of the targeted areas the Boy Scouts of America has identified on a national scale in which their members should be involved. With a little help from the Scouts, many people can benefit from our efforts.

• Scouting for Food: Make this a priority each year! This is a national service project that Scouts and adult leaders can do to help the homeless and needy in their communities.

• Collect baby clothes, coats, jackets, and give them to local women’s shelters.

• Toys for Tots: While Marines organize, coordinate and manage the program, the ultimate success depends on the support of the local community and the generosity of the people who donate toys. The Marines are always looking for volunteers to help collect, sort, and distribute the toys they collect for youth at Christmas time. Call your local Marine recruiting station to find out how your unit can help with this service.

• When a community or neighborhood starts to suffer from urban blight, it becomes unsafe and unsightly to live in that neighborhood. Your Scouts unit can make a huge difference in either cleaning up a neighborhood, or keeping it from becoming a victim of this plight. Have your Scouts pick a day when they can organize a clean-up of a neighborhood. Clean the streets, remove graffiti, paint what’s needed and do necessary repairs. Get newspaper and local TV coverage.

NEIGHBORHOOD and COMMUNITY (Previous | Next | Top)

Developing service projects for your local community serves many needs and helps your community become more aware of the Scouting program. Generally speaking, this can be a wonderful experience for all involved. Every project that involves the rest of your community brings a sense of pride to your volunteers, helps the community become a better place to live, and helps solve some of the problems it faces. These types of projects get the Scouts and volunteers personally interacting with the people they help and they get to see right away how much their help is valued and appreciated. What better way to show our youth the meaning of “Service to America” than to have them help the people in their own community?

• There are many opportunities to help the handicapped and the elderly in your community. Seek out events and centers that could use a helping hand and have your Scouts get involved.

• Have your Scouts gather a list of all of the community services in your town. Place them on a card with your troop number on it, and hand it out to people and homes in your community.

• Your Scouts can do a presentation of the BSA’s Youth Protection program with video’s for your local cub pack or tiger cubs. These presentations could even be expanded to non-BSA youth groups such as church youth groups, school clubs, and other youth organizations.

• Have your Scouts volunteer at a local children’s center to play games, read, or just help teach. The Scouts will gain a true sense of responsibility and pleasure from helping these kids.

HEALTH and FITNESS (Previous | Top)

Health and fitness is an intricate part of the Scout Oath. “To keep myself physically strong…” means you need to be healthy and in good shape to do a lot of stuff Scouts do. You owe it to yourself to take good care of your body, to keep it nourished, strong, and able to respond to the tasks you will encounter as a Scout. This can only be done with proper care, diet, and exercise. You don’t have to build bulging muscles, or be able to run ten miles, but you should be reasonable fit and strive to build your strength and endurance. Taking care of yourself also means keeping healthy. See your doctor or dentist when you need to and keep yourself and surroundings clean. You can also help others by setting the example and providing service to those in need.

• Organize a blood drive where the Scouts help spread the word about the need for blood. Make it a fun event by “jazzing it up” with a theme or by getting local media attention.

• Organize a Community Health Fair where people can come and get free health screening (diabetes testing, blood pressure, eye glasses, etc.) Get local Doctors, Hospitals, and health clinics involved. Set up individual booths for each area of wellness, (i.e.: Blood Pressure Check, Eye Check, Feet, Flu Shots, Childhood shots, etc.) Have your Scouts help register and direct people to the right areas. You could even set up free children fingerprinting and drug abuse displays or perhaps entertainment while people wait (i.e. : a puppet show or live music).

• Many international hospitals are short on supplies. Your Scouts can encourage their doctors to send their unused samples and supplies to needy hospitals.