Community Service

[sheilab]

Our Troop would like to do a service project at the Heard Scout Pueblo. I had another person tell me that this would not be considered a service project because it is a Boy Scout Camp. I have never heard of this and I have seen other Troops this as a service projects. I could not find anything on our council website to tell me if this was true or not. Any thought?

[thriftyscout]

Like many things in Scouts, it may depend upon individual interpretations and a bit of symantics.

 

I would not interpret your project as "community" service because it is serving Scouting. We often, however, do service projects for the Scout camps we attend. In fact our local camp has an individual award (Chief Wyandot) and a patrol award (Baden Powell) for summer camp, both of which include a camp service project. The 50 miler award includes service at whatever location you are hiking. Like most Troops, we always strive to leave our camp better than we found it, that might also be considered service. I would not consider any of these "community" service because they are essentially benefitting the Scout Camp or other area that we choose for our outing. In that respect it is somewhat self serving.

 

I just looked in my son's Scout Handbook for the "service" advancement requirements. I am surprised that it does not state service needs to be "community service". At the risk of being accused of adding requirements, I have always interpreted it as "community" service for advancement. I would not sign off on a service project at a Scout facility for advancement, although I would service for our CO (Church).

 

I wouldn't hesitate to proudly do the service project you are proposing, I would just be reluctant to call it "community service".

[ScoutNut]

As long as it is not an Eagle Service Project you should be fine.

[Eagle92]

If you look in the advancement guidelines book, it tell you that service projects done for scouting, whether at the local camp, local scout office, etc, do not count as a service project for advancement.

 

From the advancement guidelines found here

... project involving council property or other BSA activities is not acceptable.... p27

 

[Eagle92]

Forgot to add that the Order of the Arrow is the main group responsible for doing service at camps. Looking at info on OA Troop Reps, it talks about the ability to network with other troops in regards to service projects. If the one of the OA rep's jobs is to network with other troops, then you can deduce that the normal OA service projects done at camp don't count towards advancement.

[NealOnWheels]

Eagle92,

 

What you quoted was for Eagle projects. Not for Second Class, Star, and Life.

 

It does not specify what does or does not qualify for the lower ranks. It does say the projects must be approved by the Scoutmaster. That seems to me to allow a lot of discretion to the Scoutmaster.

[dg98adams]

The Scout Master or Merit Badge councilor decides on what counts for Service Projects. This is true for all cases except for Eagle Projects, whereas a private or for-profit entity and explicitly Scouting cannot be the receiver of the project..

 

Lots of other groups including Scouts, use Scout Camp property, so I'd call projects done at camp "Community Service" if a Scout wanted to use it for non-Eagle activities.

[Eagle92]

I must respectfully disagree. Eagle is the epitome of Scouting, and why allow something at the lower ranks, i.e. service work at the local scout camp, but not allow it for Eagle? Further why would the OA state that service work that they do at OA Ordeals, workdays, etc can NOT be counted towards advancement, but a troop doing the same exact work can count it towards advancement?

 

While some camps do allow outside groups to use the facilities, those are revenue raising activities.

 

Besides there are so many other organizations and group that need help, especially with this economy, why focus on the council camp? There are homeless shelters, Salvation Army facilities, COs, ad nauseum that need manpower. I'd focus on them.

 

Part of doing service is teh feelign of accomplishment and the "good feeling" you ger for not being rewarded for what you do. Grant you requiring service can seem like it contradicts this, but getting folks in the habit at an early age does help instill this.

 

Further doing community service also gives great PR to the unit and scouting. Folks see you ou there, see your invovlement, and know that scouting is alive and well. Why would a newspaper do an article on scouts rebuilding a shelter at the local scout camp? Now scouts helping to rebuild a community center destroyed by a hurricane or fire could make local, and even national, news.

[Knot Head]

We count service hours at scout camps for all rank advancement except eagle.

 

 

[CalicoPenn]

If the service project is part of an Eagle project, it can not benefit the BSA. Otherwise, a service project held by a unit at a Scout camp can count towards service project hours for advancement, as long as the Scoutmaster approves. Ask whomever told you that the service project hours at the Heard Scout Peublo wouldn't count as advancement to show that to you in writing from a BSA source - and when they pull of the advancement book from the BSA, make sure you see the entire paragraph so that you can see the prohibition is on Eagle service projects and not any other kind of service project. Te key is that as long as the Scoutmaster approves, the service project counts.

 

As for why an OA project wouldn't count - that is the recommendation of the Order of the Arrow - the OA can't stop a Scoutmaster from approving an OA service project for service project hours for advancement - but they can provide guidance that it shouldn't - and that guidance is generally because the OA is as much a service organization as it is an association of honor campers - people in the OA are expected to provide cheerful service for no benefit other than the good feeling one gets in providing cheerful service, especially at an OA service event.

[packsaddle]

I'm not sure about the rules but this unit only counts service work at the camp as 'fun', not service, for all advancement levels. Community service, as far as I'm concerned, means something other than maintenance or improvements at summer camp.

[Basementdweller]

There is nothing wrong with doing service work at the bsa camps. As a matter of fact just about every single one I have been too could use more Pack, Troop and Crew volunteer service.

 

 

Our council has Eager Beaver days where they put on a lunch and the boys complete several projects. They have the opportunity to earn a patch for their service.

 

 

While the project helps the scouting community it does not help the community at large.

[packsaddle]

"While the project helps the scouting community it does not help the community at large."

This is the basis for my view. By analogy, I think most of us we agree that projects that improve the meeting place for the troop itself do not qualify as community service. What is the difference between that and projects at summer camp, other than the scale of the meeting place? As Basementdweller noted, while it helps other scouters, it does not help the community at large.