Eagle1993

Volunteers are the life blood of the program. Too often, the same volunteers are asked for more and more support over and over. If you look who has the least free time to volunteer, it is parents. They are busy working to earn enough money to support their family, save for retirement, pay off mortgages and college loans etc. They are also the ones who typically coach their kids little league games and serve as unit leaders. Councils should focus on past scouts (18-30 year olds) and empty nest past scouters (55+) for the core of district/council leadership. Instead, I am typically ca

It absolutely can. I look at the UK Scouts Association... They have far more scouts per capital, were growing pre COVID (and have started to rebound), have a large waiting list of scouts and a transparent/reasonable sized board with great focus on what youth need today. Or... We could go the way of Scouts Canada. I work with several Canadians... most don't realize scouting exist anymore. I think major action is needed to save scouts, but so far only see deck chairs being rearranged.

For BSA sake and the sake of the victims of abuse, I hope this plan can remain intact. However, I still struggle seeing bankruptcy abused in various ways (shell companies being created by J&J or non debtors like the Slackers avoiding the full weight of their horrible actions). I think it is clearly time the SC weighs in on non debtor releases. They continue to expand. Given the courts conservative leaning, one could guess that they may not agree as Congress has never authorized non debtor releases (outside of asbestos) and it is clearly not in the constitution. However, this is

This is interesting. Supreme Court put the Purdue Pharma plan on hold ato hear arguments about allowing non debtor releases. One wonders if this could give a bit of fuel to the appeals against the BSA plan. https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/10/politics/supreme-court-purdue-pharma-opioid-settlement/index.html

They saw this coming and were not prepared... https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/09/south-korea-scout-jamboree-heatwave-preparations/

Fully agree. YPT barriers to abuse are not international, if the setup prevents those barriers then BSA should have identified that early. Just one of many examples.

What a disaster. US/UK scouts look like they were thinking ahead now that the entire Jambo is cancelled early and everyone is scrambling. WOSM needs to be better prepared.

A bit more info from FB: From Jeness Woodard #1 This is a WOSM event and monies went to them, not BSA. Further, MANY other contingents are leaving, the issue is logistics. The US is extending their contract with the bus company previously used, which is why we are able to leave. This also takes time. 1200 people just cannot be moved in an instant, even if we would like them to. Also, whether or not you are having fun depends on the attitude of the leader toward the problem. The issue is not the having fun, it is safety, health, medical care, and lack of food. This would, frankly, be

That was my thought. Perhaps a free trip to Summit? I'm sure they wont get back the cash.

I've seen mixed updates on FB by some who are present. Complaints about lack of shade options, lack of water, lack of facilities (4 toilets for 200+), kids putting drinking hoses down their pants to keep cool, no garbage service, etc. Also, reports that some of the doctors in the hospital supporting the camp have collapsed due to exhaustion. However, it appears not all sub camps are that bad and some want to stay. Some parents have said their kids told them it wasn't too bad and they want to stay. Tough call to make and given how much money was spent, I hope BSA finds a way to comp

Posted to FB: The following was shared with all of the National Service Territories earlier today (31 July); I have been busy with other recovery tasks to fully read and vet the information provided. ------------ "from the BSA Volunteer Training Team **Changes to Cub Scout Pack Overnight Camping** Effective Sept. 1, 2023, Cub Scout packs who are conducting their own overnight camping activity may now camp up to two consecutive nights. Cub Scout packs who are conducting their own overnight camping activities must continue to have at least one

I would have rather seen an actual female scout, but it is still better than the naked man following the boy scout statue.

I'll add... You kill Cub Scouts recruiting you kill the entire organization in a few years.

Cub Scout fees should be lower. I don't see how you recruit many new scouts when those parents are looking at: $140 Council Fee $80 National Registration $25 New Scout Fee $15 Scouts Life $xx Pack Fee $75 Uniform/Book Total $335+ to join an organization to build a pinewood derby car, run around a room a few times a month and visit a local police station.

It could help if they bring up anti inclusions stances BSA has had in the past; However, I don't think it sells the program at all. I have never had no seen the need for it come up with prospective scouts.

Not able to read this entire thread, but thought this was an interesting comment. I do think there are difference in beliefs and values between various groups. We shouldn't dismiss those. That said, when in person (which is much easier to have these discussions) a very conservative friend told me that in many ways, our end goals are similar it's just the path to get there is different which I agree and therefore agree with the intent above. As I drove up my gay/trans scout to camp, they were concerned a bit about acceptance. They live in a community and go to a school and church that

My ASM who was a SM of a Troop for many years had several of his former scouts mail him their Eagle Scout medals when BSA fought against including gay scouts. He said it was hard on him but he understood and respected their stance. I'm here at summer camp with a Life rank gay/transgender scout and am happy I don't have to kick them out due to someone else's beliefs. BSA has many faults, but allowing LGBTQ and girls as members are not one of them.

Which is what should be used as BSA's comparison vs travel baseball. I'll also mention that my GSUSA troop never charged for outings (including hotel rooms, camp sites, etc.). Also, not one call about FOS.

My camp appears to have less attendees than previous years. Bad news as one of the bigger camps in the state closed, so attedance should be up. 1,749 total scouts & adults are registered over 6 weeks of camp, averaging 292 per week with 130 Troops (average 13.5 scouts/adults per Troop) Pareto of Troop size (including adults) below. Just 22% of Troops are at least 20 scouts & adults

https://www.cnn.com/style/stephen-lucka-photography-scouts/index.html

I expect they do have a plan, but it sounds like they didn't make it public in NAM. We have seen some snippets during the bankruptcy hearing, and those snippets were from late 2021. Anyone with any competence would have a detailed plan ready to save BSA. I was hoping they would release it during NAM but based on what has come out, nothing was really released. If those were the top 15 items at NAM, I'm happy I didn't attend.

Supposedly they received over $6M for the camp sale so have ~$3M to spend on this camp. The camp has very few cabins, toilets, a small dining hall and is very underdeveloped. Definitely hope they listen to local scouters. When I talked with the council leadership, they emphasized they want to ensure they have good plans before adding anything. We will see...

Indian Mounds Reservation was sold to a NA Tribe.... Probably the best buyer of the land. Dear Scout Leaders: Earlier today, the Trustees of the Milwaukee Boy Scout Fund completed the sale of Indian Mound Scout Reservation (IMR) to the Forest County Potawatomi Community. The camp sale follows Three Harbors Council’s decision to end camp operations at IMR last fall. This difficult decision was reached following a comprehensive review of our two camps while taking into consideration the significant contribution of $3.685 million requested from our council to suppor

Apparently they compared membership rates between packs with single gender dens and coed dens and found coed performed better.

One change announced today - K4 through 4th grade Cub Scout Dens can now be coed.