To make sense of what I have on my mind, I need to give some background. I have been in scouts since I was I tiger cub. Made it all the way to eagle and then continued as an adult leader all the way through college. In my city there is scout hut that was built in 1933 that was home to a troop chartered in 1932. The troop folded in 2005 and the building sat empty for 15 years until I came across it and being a scout wanted to save it and the memorabilia and history that came with it. The city wanted to bulldoze it and put in a parking lot. To make a long story short, the city backed off, we raised close to $15,000 from alumni and donors to fix the roof, electrical, pluming, etc. After months of work through the council, schools, and community, I was unable to find enough interest to recharter the troop. It was not a big deal as I was just graduating from college and knew that there was time to work it out and no rush to save to scout hut any longer. One day I get a call from my charter rep that they have found boys for the troop. What I walked into when we had the first gathering was 15 boys from a church across the city who had little interest in scouts or scouting. Some were not even old enough at the time to join. Against my advice, a man who was found to be assistant scout master decided to charter the troop with the these boys. Their parents are completely out of the picture, we have little to no contact with them at all. The council gave all of the boys free uniforms, books, gear, etc. After a month there is not one book or uniform to be seen and despite every effort to get them to bring them and wear them we have no participation in that department. After six months of meetings and outings not a single scout has made any effort to advance to the rank of tenderfoot despite our best efforts. It has gotten to the point now, that the troop does not even meet at the hut anymore, but at the church that they are a part of.
I am incredibly upset by this for so many reasons. The first being that it is obvious that these boys do not want to be at meetings and outings but are forced to come by guardians so that we can babysit for a few hours a week. Despite being given nearly every resource for free they have lost everything that was given to them and still have shown no progression of any sort. I started out on a journey to restore the legacy of what was once a very well respected and thriving troop and now because of the decisions of others to take on these boys, any prospective parents and scouts that do show up to meetings never call or come back and I can not blame them. I have boys that cuss, fight, have no respect for authority or their leaders.
While I am just an assistant scoutmaster for the troop, I was the one who saved the building, did the fundraising, collected historic documents, equipment, etc. Tonight I went back to visit my old troop where I received my eagle in 2014. It is just one county over from where I currently am. My brother is still a member and will be aging out this year. While there the COR and current scout master came over to me and we began to talk. They're looking for someone to take over as scoutmaster and have no willing adults. They want me to fill the position because of my experience and history with the troop. This is a great program with a good community of boys that have drive and want to be good scouts. On top of that, it is my home troop. I am so split as to what I should do. I could walk away from the now scoutreach troop to go to a good program that I would enjoy. But something is holding me back. Advice from older and wiser scouters on any aspect of this will be greatly appreciated.
Unwittingly turned into a scoutreach troop
in Open Discussion - Program
Posted · Edited by admiral8079
left out a detal
To make sense of what I have on my mind, I need to give some background. I have been in scouts since I was I tiger cub. Made it all the way to eagle and then continued as an adult leader all the way through college. In my city there is scout hut that was built in 1933 that was home to a troop chartered in 1932. The troop folded in 2005 and the building sat empty for 15 years until I came across it and being a scout wanted to save it and the memorabilia and history that came with it. The city wanted to bulldoze it and put in a parking lot. To make a long story short, the city backed off, we raised close to $15,000 from alumni and donors to fix the roof, electrical, pluming, etc. After months of work through the council, schools, and community, I was unable to find enough interest to recharter the troop. It was not a big deal as I was just graduating from college and knew that there was time to work it out and no rush to save to scout hut any longer. One day I get a call from my charter rep that they have found boys for the troop. What I walked into when we had the first gathering was 15 boys from a church across the city who had little interest in scouts or scouting. Some were not even old enough at the time to join. Against my advice, a man who was found to be assistant scout master decided to charter the troop with the these boys. Their parents are completely out of the picture, we have little to no contact with them at all. The council gave all of the boys free uniforms, books, gear, etc. After a month there is not one book or uniform to be seen and despite every effort to get them to bring them and wear them we have no participation in that department. After six months of meetings and outings not a single scout has made any effort to advance to the rank of tenderfoot despite our best efforts. It has gotten to the point now, that the troop does not even meet at the hut anymore, but at the church that they are a part of.
I am incredibly upset by this for so many reasons. The first being that it is obvious that these boys do not want to be at meetings and outings but are forced to come by guardians so that we can babysit for a few hours a week. Despite being given nearly every resource for free they have lost everything that was given to them and still have shown no progression of any sort. I started out on a journey to restore the legacy of what was once a very well respected and thriving troop and now because of the decisions of others to take on these boys, any prospective parents and scouts that do show up to meetings never call or come back and I can not blame them. I have boys that cuss, fight, have no respect for authority or their leaders.
While I am just an assistant scoutmaster for the troop, I was the one who saved the building, did the fundraising, collected historic documents, equipment, etc. Tonight I went back to visit my old troop where I received my eagle in 2014. It is just one county over from where I currently am. My brother is still a member and will be aging out this year. While there the COR and current scout master came over to me and we began to talk. They're looking for someone to take over as scoutmaster and have no willing adults. They want me to fill the position because of my experience and history with the troop. This is a great program with a good community of boys that have drive and want to be good scouts. On top of that, it is my home troop. I am so split as to what I should do. I could walk away from the now scoutreach troop to go to a good program that I would enjoy. But something is holding me back. Advice from older and wiser scouters on any aspect of this will be greatly appreciated.