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Parent Volunteers - Success!


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Our small pack has struggled with getting parents to volunteer. The Cubmaster has been doing three or four jobs.  In May and June we sent out emails and asked for help at the end of year pack meeting. Only one adult stepped up. We really thought that we would not be able to re-charter this year because we didn't have enough adults. Through my travels (BALOO or maybe on this forum) I was given the seed of an idea that ended up working well, so I wanted to share. During our first pack meeting of the school year (tonight), adults were asked to fill out a small name tag to stick to their shirt when they came in. One of the leaders stood at the sign in table to make sure they knew what to do. Then while I was running an activity with the kids, the Cubmaster explained that we were looking for adult volunteers and after covering the rest of the business, she directed the adults to the "Adult Participation Board" that had a bunch of statements (15) on it. They were asked to stick their name tag to one of the statements. Instead of asking for someone to volunteer to be the treasurer, the statement said, "I can do the banking for the Pack". A sample of other statements were, "I can keep track of adult volunteer's training requirements",  "I can help organize one Den meeting or activity for my child's group" and "I can lead an outdoor activity such as a hike or nature walk". Anyway, we had 9 adults volunteer and one adult volunteered for multiple positions. They all stuck their name tag sticker to the board. About 75% of the adults volunteered to do something. I am thrilled with these results. I don't fully understand why it worked, but it did! 

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11 hours ago, AnotherDad said:

...I don't fully understand why it worked, but it did! 

Perhaps it's just that jobs were described simply and directly without a "title" that implied responsibility.

Perhaps it's just a gentler approach to delegation.

In any case, sounds like you have a creative thinking kind of Cubmaster. You should try to keep that person around...

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I really, REALLY like this idea! I've been given a lot more responsibility over the Cub Scout training in our district, and I think this is a superb way to address the various needs of a pack without putting too much pressure on the parents, most of whom already feel overwhelmed by the world of Scouting and find the idea of assuming a mantle of office within that organization far too much to digest. This approach is so simple, yet so wonderful. I love it; I'm going to use it. Thank you!

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