Time To Duck !!

[Twocubdad 665]

I understand your point, Bob, but it is emcumbent upon the selection committee to look beyond the nominees of whom they have a personal knowledge and select the most deserving individuals.

 

I've not served on the SB selection committee, but I am on the district's award selection committee, which includes the District Award of Merit. Our policy is that we only consider the information on the nomination forms. That way the nominees who are well known to the selection committee don't have an advantage over a lesser-known nominee who has provided exemplary service to their unit. Of course the down side is that a nominee's selection depends on the strength of their written nomination. You may be the greatest Scouter ever, but if the person who nominates you only mention a minor aspect of your service, your nomination will be at a disadvantage. That is usually not a problem and is balanced out as well-deserving candidates often receive mutiple nominations covering various areas of their service.

[Bob White 20]

"but it is emcumbent upon the selection committee to look beyond the nominees of whom they have a personal knowledge and select the most deserving individuals."

 

My point Two cub is, the more known the scouter is to the committee, the the better they can select the most deserving candidate. Often the committee comes up with far more information than the nominator included in the application. If it were not for the knowledge of the individual held by the committee the nominee might have been passed over.

 

We want to make sure that the nominee is chosen by their service and not just by the content of the nomination. Not all nominations are complete, and some are greatly exagerated. It is the familiarity with the nominee that allows us to tell the difference.

 

 

[Twocubdad 665]

"the more known the scouter is to the committee, the the better they can select the most deserving candidate."

 

That isn't necessarily a true statement. Your earlier comment that " it stands to reason that a person known throughout the council will garner more support" is more accurate and is precisely the problem our system tries to overcome. We want to make sure that the nominee is chosen by their service and not just by how well they are known by the committee.

[Eamonn 61]

Two points that I would like to make.

We have awards for those Scouters who serve in the field (No pun intended.) While it might be an idea to name a building or something after a worthy individual. However as in our case you run out of buildings - Unless you want to count some of the old outhouses? Many of these people have already paid the $1000.00 needed for a James E. West. If we were to only make the Silver Beaver Award available to Unit Scouters there would be nothing for them as things stand at the moment. It is also worth noting that many of the people who serve at the council or the district level are not affiliated with a chartered organization. I would hope that a unit leader that was doing a wonderful job would be recognized by the charter organization. In my case the church saw fit to nominate me for the St George Award.

I wish that I could be as objective as the people who serve on the committee that TwoCubDad serves on. I know most of the people in our small council. This at times works for the nominees and at times it can go against them. Hopefully there is enough diversity within the committee to make up for that.

Eamonn

[johnsned 10]

I think the award should be awarded base solely on the quality of contribution to youth, and the impact that persons contribution had on youth. Unit, District or Council Level regardless.

 

It should be an outstanding contribution something above and beyond the call of duty. Not because the Council Chairman was the council chairmen for 3 years does he deserve a Silver Beaver, it needs to be exceptional and outstanding his personal contribution to youth.

 

The heart and soul of Scouting is at the unit level.

 

[Bob White 20]

Did anyone suggest anything else? I thought we were only discussing how the knowledge of that service is gathered and evaluated.

[johnsned 10]

Did I suggest that anybody suggested anything else?

 

I was just giving my opinion.

[Twocubdad 665]

Eamonn: The Silver Beaver Award is the highest award that a council can bestow on a volunteer. I tend to look at the award as a council award. By this I mean it is for people who have gone above and beyond to work for the council.

 

Bob White: 100% with Eamonn.

 

 

[Bob White 20]

Twocubdad,

Are you suggesting that volunteers on the council level do not do the work that they do for the benfefit of youth?

 

If not, Then what was the point you were trying to make.

[Twocubdad 665]

Oh, please! I've suggested nothing of the sort.

 

If you will do me the courtesy of reading what I wrote instead of "suggesting" some obtuse point you prefer to debate, I believe you will find I have made my point a couple times.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[Bob White 20]

Sorry Twocub, but the purpose of your post was unclear. You quote Eamonn and you quote me, but you don't say anything yourself. You give readers no choice but to presume the meaning. It would be helpful if you just said what the point was that you were trying to make by repeating us.

 

[Eamonn 61]

Maybe I was unclear.

If you read what Roy Williams said at the BSA Annual meeting about the Gift Of Time, it is clear that the Den Leader, Cubmaster,Scoutmaster or Crew Leader is the person who makes this organization work. All the rest of us are only here to support that work. We do this in as best we can. Some give money some are involved in training others patch the roof of the dining hall. No matter what or how we serve the bottom line is that we all serve. It is sad that we may never know how much effort it takes for any individual to serve. We may never know about the Scoutmaster who is paying a babysitter or nurse to look after the people at home while he or she is working with the troop. While I might be in a position to make a fair sized donation to the FOS and not think twice about it to others that $100.00 Might be a lot of money. We just will never know.

Still when we get to the selection of people who will be awarded the highest award that a council can bestow on an individual I still think that this person has got to have done something in the council. It does not have to be anything to do with a donation. In fact the person that I will be nominating while he does make a FOS donation is our Council Boy Scout Training Chair. I have no idea how much or how little his FOS donation is nor do I care. I will be putting his name forward because of the good work that he has done for the council in training. At this time this is the only position that he holds in Scouting. He has in the past been an active scouter but other then knowing that he was I have no idea how good or bad he was. My nomination is based on the work that he has done with the Council Training Committee.

As he is not a unit leader do you think that he should be out of the running?

Eamonn

[evmori 11]

My understanding is the primary information is gathered from the SB application. It is then looked into further by the committee. And the from my understanding the award isn't just for service to Scouting, it includes service to others. If the award is only given to the well known, then it becomes a "Good Ole Boy" award and diminishes it completely.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Twocubdad 665]

Bob, you challenged johnsned's post that awards should be considered regardless of the level, by asking, "Did anyone suggest anything else?" The purpose of that particular post (with the two quotes) was to show that yes, Eamonn started the thread by saying he believed SBs and DAMs should be for council and district-level service. A statment with which you agreed 100 percent.

 

Are you now agreeing with johnsned?

 

Eamonn, we just have an honest disagreement here. You say "I still think that this person (receiving the award)has got to have done something in the council." My point is simply that all volunteers are doing something for the council and are worthy of the highest recognition a council can offer.

 

By the way, I don't dismiss the support of a long-time financial supporter, like your friend the doctor. But like volunteers who donate their time, these folks need to be in it for the long haul. One big check isn't enough.

 

(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[Fat Old Guy 11]

A while back, I came to the conclusion that there are really TWO Silver Beavers. This happened when I was reading the resumes of a number of Silver Beaver awardees.

 

There was a group of newsworthy awardees who, according to their resumes, had nothing to do with Scouting since they were boys except sit on a committee or donate money. None of them mentioned Scoutmaster, Den Leader, District Chair, etc..

 

The other group were dedicated Scouters and for the past 20 years had worked hard to provide good programs for kids.

 

So one type of Silver Beaver is given out like candy to the well heeled and the other needs to be earned by dedicated Scouters.