5thGenTexan

Here is the response from Circle 10 Council. I know its been a few days since this was posted, but I didnt know about "123 Not It" before I volunteered to organize our Christmas Lock-In so I have been busy the past several days. Yesterday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal published an article stating that National BSA has hired a bankruptcy attorney in light of the costs of defending sexual abuse lawsuits. I wanted to share with you some information to help you with any questions you have so you can continue to do what you do for Circle Ten Council and the nearly 59,000 youth we serve. In a communication released yesterday, National BSA reaffirmed its focus on keeping children safe and delivering our nation’s foremost program of character development and values-based leadership training. BSA stated its commitment to the social and moral responsibility to fairly compensate victims who suffered abuse during their time in Scouting, and the deep care and concern for all victims of child sex abuse and the proactive steps to help victims heal and prevent future abuse. BSA stresses that at no time in BSA history has the organization knowingly allowed a sexual predator to work with youth, and will always seek to act swiftly when alerted to abuse allegations. BSA is committed to communicate transparently and stated there are no imminent actions or immediate decisions expected by BSA in light of the WSJ news story. They are in an exploratory phase of a possible financial restructure. We have assembled a few items of information from a Dallas perspective that may be helpful considering the news story. The strength of Scouting for over 100 years has been its local domain. Each troop is owned by its charter partner which is typically a place of worship, service club or educational institution. Each council is locally incorporated in the specific state where it operates. The Circle Ten Council is a 501(c)(3) entity incorporated in Texas. Our camps, our Scouting Centers, our bank funds and investments are owned and controlled by the Circle Ten Council. The Circle Ten Council does have an investment in the BSAAM Endowment Fund managed by the National Council. All Circle Ten Council dollars invested in that fund belong to Circle Ten Council and are not a part of the National Council. The nature of the relationship for a council with the national BSA organization is that our council is the holder of a charter to conduct the Boy Scouts of America programs in our defined territory. Councils receive no funding from the national organization; in fact, we pay fees to National BSA as a part of our charter agreement and for specific services. We receive value back from the national organization, but we operate as a significantly financially independent not-for-profit organization. All local donations to the Circle Ten Council stay local to support the nearly 59,000 youth served in our 24 counties and do not go to the National office. Areas where we partner with National BSA, for business purposes, include several insurance programs, services for IT and expertise related to camping, Youth Protection and so on. Also important to note is employee benefits such as healthcare and retirement are funded by each council but through programs controlled and operated by National BSA. The Circle Ten Council is one of the strongest councils in the BSA from perspectives of fiscal health, program quality, board and volunteer dedication and staff commitment and talent. It is our hope that the national organization can navigate the difficult waters that many organizations face over a century of existence. Locally, we will stand ready to help - and we will continue our primary focus on bringing high-quality Boy Scouts of America programs for nearly 59,000 Scouts in each neighborhood we serve

Weird question assuming a worst case scenario. Could Councils exist and operate IF National went away as a result of this? Maybe under the umbrella of a central State office? Would there be different brands of Scouting across the country due to regional political and cultural differences?

Of the 4 people in my family, my daughter is the only one not paying anything to BSA. I pay my $36, my wife pays her $36, and my boy pays $115.

I keep going back and forth on attending. In fact my current line of thought is that I'm not going to attend and even leaning in the direction of finishing out and after my Den completed and is awarded Wolf I am going to be finished myself. I have it seems bought into the notion everyone has to go through WB to be a good leader. If i can't do it I might as well quit now.

Earlier this week there was a picture posted on the town middle school FB page showing a class of 8th grade boys and girls cooking outside. I emailed the teacher and this is what I found out. I KNOW there is the interest with the kids now for sure I just want to get to them to talk about Scouts. I asked if he thought there might be interest with those girls in starting a Troop since we have nothing anywhere close. They are for sure not doing Girl Scout stuff. Anyway they teach is a coach and asked that I let him finish football for this year and he wants to meet to talk about possibilities.

Parents and the public in general are confused that Troops and Packs are different within the one organization. Just this week I had to explain to our Chamber of Commerce that we (the Pack) participated in their opening flag ceremony for the town fall festival and the Troop had no involvement.

My council's course is held on the South side of the DFW metroplex and I live about 40 minutes from the OK border on the Texas side. To have to get down there on a weekday morning in time to start is a big obstacle for me. The kind of obstacle where I have about decided not to do it no matter the benefits.

I have been using two fingers, but I just wanted to check. Other DL or ADL or whatever he is 🙄 does something else and I wanted to verify I was doing the right thing

I am a Wolf Den Leader now. I was a Cub Scout through AOL. I crossed over to the troop before circumstances i have explained in other threads. I dropped out before even earning Tenderfoot. Do I salute 3 fingers or do I salute as my Den?

Our Council did not let the Pack talk at the Scout Talks or at our Join Scout Night. Totally thier prepared script.

Its been suggested by PETA to the BSA that fishing should be done away with. https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/boy-scouts-told-its-time-to-scrap-cruel-fishing-badges/

This morning was supposed to be a school wide assembly, however at the last minute it was decided to go to each classroom and give the talk. I am a DL so I didnt get to talk, but I did hear the talk 17 times and it was a good learning experience. We go to the other school this afternoon and I think it will be an assembly. I am anxious to see how many show up tomorrow night.

Sunday morning I IMed my CM and asked if we needed to even be concerned about this at the unit level. After reading the FB, I could get nothing out of it. He only suggested the impact on us may be how the DE changes his approaches in order to reach his goal. I am no fan of corporate doings anyway, so I am going to worry about this at all. I have a den flag to finish up. Our pack is growing and after Tuesday night I am sure we will grow a lot more. Where we are going to physical put new dens is on my plate. In short, I am just a Wolf Den Leader and I am gonna do my little thing and not worry about what the suits are doing with their word games.

We worked on a den flag today and afterwards I was sitting with other leaders talking and looked down to see the spot of glue I got on my uniform shirt. I mentioned and my CM took me to the uniform closet (a cardboard box in a back corner). I am the owner of two new (old) Oscar de la Renta shirts. Going to put velco on all three shirts so I can swap patches as needed. Times like today where I had a den meeting this afternoon, scout talks tomorrow and join scout night on Tuesday evening would save me a lot of washing.

This time last year my kid had not yet heard the talk at school about Cub Scouts and being a leader wasn't even on my radar. Tomorrow I will be in full uniform with my DE and CM for Boy and Girl Scout Talks at two schools.