Finanicial Hardship decisions

[jrcarley]

I would like to know how different troops deal with scouts that are enduring finanicial hardship in one form or another. Does your troop have a set form and/or guidelines which you follow?

What can be asked of the parents and what is out of line.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks.

[David L. Perkins]

Ofcourse, it all starts with the Troop's method of fund raising. At troop 620, we sell fertilizer once each year. 40 lb. bags. Each Scout is asked to sell 100 bags. This number times (x) our profit per bag equals (=) what it costs to support each scout per year. Camping, summer camp, re-registration, food, transportation, equipment maintenance, etc. If a Scout only sells say 50 bags, then his family or he needs to pay the Troop the balance of profit the other 50 bags would have provided. Ofcourse they (or he) have the rest of the year to pay that amount. If the family is financially challanged, first we have a Scholarship Committee that meets to discuss the Scout and his efforts. Then, a representative of the committee will have an informal meeting with the family to feel out if they might be open to some help. Our statement to them is, "we want you son to be a Scout and in our program more than we want money".

 

If they are open to assistance, we ask what they (the parents) feel they could afford to do, and we suggest what we could do. Sometimes it's a new or used uniform to get started, sometimes it's some or all of the cost of summer camp. A report is made to the scholarship committee with a recommendation. It is entered into the minutes CONFIDENTIALLY and the Treasurer is notified to set up a separate account equal to the type of funding the committee votes in favor of. This entire matter is NEVER revealed or discussed with the Troop Committee! The funds come from permanently established scholarship investment accounts wich are in the Troop's name. Payments are only made to the stores selling Scout equipment, or to the summer camp, or transferred on paper into the Troop expenses for campouts, as appropriate. We also insure that a Scout has covered his summer camp costs prior to going. It is the largest single expense of the year.

 

Finally, as to what is or is not "out of line", I can only tell you what the three man committee does. It hears one case at a time, considers one Scout and his family at a time, and try to learn for the past - taken with a grain of salt! For out Troop is sponsored by a Methodist Church and as such, (I am the COR and on the scholarship committee) we are all the more concerned with what our Lord would do, rather than what is prudent or proper. I hope this helps answer your question.