Getting What You Pay for

[Eagle92 110]

I have noticed the power of volunteers. My council traditionally had the pros plan and organize everything. Little to nothing was left to volunteers. While program was there, it was rough and could have been better. I put part of the blame on the senior management.

 

Now we have a SE who wants more volunteer involvement. It is happening and we have had 3 major council wide CS events. Was planning "challenging" yep. Were we scrambling for staff, yep. But the kids had a blast!

[moosetracker 132]

Pinkflame - For the most part I do agree with you. I have taken on many positions due to the need for it to get done.

 

But, with your out-of-Council camp, you had the luck that they welcomed your help.. With Basementdweller, he did try to step up and offer a Pinewood derby because his district didn't offer one. The results was that the district put out the word to the units that it was not sanctioned by them and they should not attend.

 

How would you have felt if you offered to be the camp doctor & FA MB, and the camp went off and told everyone not to go to you because the camp did not authorize you to be camp DR, or teach the MB..?

 

Also with Trail to Eagle it is designed to be Provisional, so their are no adults from the troop looking out that the boys have a good program. What would you have done if you sent your son to a week of camp, and came back to pick him up and found out he had broken his leg on the 1st day, and since there was no camp Dr.. they never got the leg treated, just had him sit in his tent all weekend long.

 

You had a great opportunity to roll up your sleeves and help out. Sometimes circumstances prevent it.

[ScoutNut 147]

"What would you have done if you sent your son to a week of camp, and came back to pick him up and found out he had broken his leg on the 1st day, and since there was no camp Dr.. they never got the leg treated, just had him sit in his tent all weekend long."

 

Come on now, if you are going to do "what if's", you should at least make them logical. No respectable camp, or organization, that wants to stay in operation, is going to let a youth member who has a broken bone sit, untreated, in a tent for 2 days. That could be life threatening, and is just asking for a lawsuit.

 

The camp most likely took her up on her offer to be Camp First Aider, because they NEEDED one to stay open. If I took my Scouts to a camp, found out they had no medical personal on staff, and no "Plan B" to cover medical issues, I would not stay, and I doubt very much if anyone else would be staying either. That is a MAJOR safety issue. As for being, or not being, the First Aid MBC, if I was a registered MBC for the badge, and they did not want my help, so be it. I would not encourage my Scouts to sign up for the MB if I knew it was not being covered decently. Other than that it would be the camp's call, and not a do or die issue for me.

 

On your trail to Eagle program, I would have raised Holy Hell, and then some, with the Camp Director, the DE, and the SE. Surprise program idiocy aside, not allowing youth to contact parents, or, especially, having staff ignoring medical problems is another GIANT safety issue. Messing around with $1 FOS for years just would NOT have cut it.

 

If a program is just bad, no safety issues involved, then you fill out one of the camp feedback forms at the end of camp and tell them so. If it is a REALLY bad program, you let the council know about it directly, and then you make plans to not attend that program again, and let the council know that.

[moosetracker 132]

Yep, pretty much all you said is all that we did. It is just from head down the answer was to ignore our complaint.. My husband was real bad about it too.. There was the Council Program director, and for years any time my husband saw him he would talk real nice for a while to him, then zing... "My son is still waiting for his appology.." Then 6 months later.. "How are you.. blah, blah.. Yep, have you guys discussed giving my son an appology yet?" For some reason the guy never ran from my husband until he said something about the apology, then the guy had to run. My husband did this until we got a new Program director.

 

Yes, I know the broken leg would be insane, but so was what they did. (Ok, maybe the broken leg is a little more insane.)

 

I also was upset for those boys who went to "Trail to Eagle" who were close to 18, and really needed this for a last minute push to the finish line. I hope those boys were able to go home and round up some merit badge counsilors and finish up on time.

 

Their whole treatment of those boys all week long was insane, they couldn't eat in the mess hall, it was cold cereal, granola bars and cold sandwiches for meals, they were not told anything up front but herded from place to place. As the morale got worse, they would scream at the boys all day long. They were treated as if they were in an army boot camp and had to be broken.

 

I was shocked when my son decided in order to get over such a bad ordeal the answer was to retake Trail to Eagle the next year at a different camp.