Getting Merit Badges While Living in a Rural Town

[Cubby's Cubmaster]

Hello, Fellow Scouters. My sister lives in a New Hampshire rural town with a population of 5,000. She has one son in boy scouts, another is a Webelo II and a third is eager to become a Tiger Cub Scout next year. My sister guided them through cub scouts as most parents do. My boy scout nephew is very interested in the outings his troop does. However, when it comes to advancement, my nephew is having trouble getting merit badge counselors. He has been trying to wrap up First Aid merit badge from summer camp. After returning from camp, he was assigned a merit badge councelor so he can finish the badge. However, the merit badge counselor he was assigned hasn't been good at returning his phone calls. My sister and nephew are getting a bit frustrated. She called me looking for advice. I advised her to talk to her son's Scoutmaster. She has. He response was "Keep trying". I told her to recruit more merit badge counselors. She told me that in her community there isn't as strong of a committment to scouting (e.g., scouts can't meet in schools). And that finding scout volunteers is a difficult task. Her response was "Everybody is tapped out." My nephew's options for joining other troops is limiited as well as they already travel 20 miles each way for troop meetings.

 

I was wondering what his options are to get Merit Badges. Living in a rural community, my nephew doesn't have too many choice for MB counselors. Many merit badges aren't covered at all. It sounds almost like a Lone Scout situation. I can image it will be a long road to Eagle if he has trouble getting First Aid merit badge completed due to a lack of merit badge counselors and their commitment to the program. Any suggestions?

 

Best Regards,

Cubby's Cubmaster (Eagle Scout 1980)

[Scouter&mom]

Maybe she should talk to son's teachers.. I know can't have Scout meeting at school, but I would be willing to bet teachers would work with boy outside of school hours.. Take a look at what boy is doing in school and approach the teachers about being a counselor for those subjects. Be sure and show them the requirements for a merit badge. For example, band director could be counselor for music and bugling. Science teacher could be counselor for a number. Since registering as MB counselor only is no cost registration... and teachers have already done background checks.... most would be willing to register and counsel a couple of boys at a time.. Remember to ask middle school, high school, vo-tech and college teachers that you know.

 

Also depending on geography, there might be a counselor for another council that is close enough to work with.

 

Oh yeah, has the boy asked other boys who they use for merit badges? Maybe just first aid counselor is having time issues right now. The scout may just have time conflicts with the one counselor. Go ahead and start on another while he is trying to work first aid out. He can do several at a time and take as long as he needs to complete one. There is no time limit as long as it is before his 18th birthday.

 

 

[Margaret in CO]

We live in a small town too. It can be hard. We've used neighbors, professors at the college, family members, guys that work with dh, church members, business people, people at the Park Service and at the hospital. I'm CC, so I've worked hard to find MBC. Try your local ambulance service to finish those FA requirements.

[scoutldr]

As you know, Merit Badge counselors must be registered with BSA. Recruiting MBC is a District function and your District Advancement Chair should have a list of currently registered MBC. First aid is usually one of the easiest to find MBC for. Sources could include local fire/EMT personnel, American Red Cross, nurses, physicians, etc.

[Lisabob]

Your sister might consider having her son approach a likely candidate. Being a MBC is not a hard job, it is fun, and it generally does not take up a lot of time for any given individual. If her son explains what the merit badge is, what a counselor's responsibilities are, and asks a person to do it, he might get a surprisingly positive response. Most people are less likely to say no to a kid. It would help, too, if her son (or her) also could provide contact info (district MB person or local scout office) for the would-be MBC to get the person properly registered with council.

 

Switching troops shouldn't enter into this, whether easy or hard to do. MBCs do not need to have any affiliation with any troop at all, as it is a district position. THerefore, if one troop in the area is low on MBC contacts, probably all troops are facing the same problem.

[IM_Kathy]

if this was my boy or another boy in the troop that I was looking for a councilor for I'd buy one of the MB books and start calling people that I think would be up to the task... for First Aid I'd check with EMT's, Doctors, & Nurses. And if talking with an EMT I might also grab a Emergency Preparedness book. If any of them said they would be interesting in helping out I would then arrange for a coffee trip and sit down with them and let them know what the troop needs, let them look through the book, bring the sign up form and if they agree and fill out the form leave the book with them and let them know that some of the scouts will be contacting them to get their help.

 

there are plenty of people out there that are capable to do this sort of thing... but, if they have not any involvement with scouting they may not know what is required for them to volunteer their time. Getting in touch with them and letting them know the steps will surely bring several in.

[Gold Winger]

This is off topic but why can't the Scouts meet in schools? Wasn't there a law passed that prohibited schools from blocking out Scouts?

[IM_Kathy]

as for the off topic question... it depends on where you are and your schools rules.

 

1) some schools have banned boy scouts from using their facilities because of boy scouts stance against homosexuality and the like. In fact they don't just ban boy scouts - they ban any organization that does not allow any and all members to join.

 

2) our schools allow it but they charge such a high usage fee that non-profit organizations cannot afford to use it

[Gold Winger]

"1) some schools have banned boy scouts from using their facilities because of boy scouts stance against homosexuality and the like. In fact they don't just ban boy scouts - they ban any organization that does not allow any and all members to join."

 

Don't think that they can do that and still take any federal money.

 

"The Boy Scouts of Am"erica Equal Access Act bill states that no school receiving Department of Education funds: shall deny equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to, or discriminate against, any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America ... that wishes to conduct a meeting within that designated open forum or limited public forum, including denying such access or opportunity or discriminating for reasons based on the membership or leadership criteria or oath of allegiance to God and country of the Boy Scouts of America.

 

As for the other one, if they're charging all groups the same fees, all you can do is complain to the school board.

 

However, I've found that there are far better venues for Scout meetings than schools. You don't have to worry about getting busted for carrying a pocket knife in a church or bringing in a buckskinner to talk about frontier life which his trusty Pennsylvania rifle. Schools have been known to do stupid things like have the janitor turn off the lights at a certain time, no matter what.

 

Back when I was refereeing, the schools all rented their gyms out for recreation basketball. Despite a contract that specified that they couldn't turn off the lights and that the league would pay any overtime for the janitor, at one school the idiot insisted on turning off the lights 9 PM sharp, no matter what. Every week, there'd be an arguement and he'd turn the lights back on and phone calls would be made to the people in charge who'd promise that it wouldn't happen again.

[IM_Kathy]

I wasn't positive on number 1 because that's not a reason here, but several years back it was in national news - just wasn't sure if it was still a reason.

 

as to number 2 - yep that's going on here. and those in the scouting community know that it isn't being done fairly. The sports teams that are town rec teams are not charged a thing. We were told they were charging us fees because of the need for cleaning after (cub/boy/girls follow the rule of leaving things better than we arrive), damage to the building and grounds (I'd have to say those balls being kicked, thrown, and hit in the gyms do much more damage), and finally paying for the heat/cooling. which I understand the latter.

 

thankfully we have found other resources for our traditional school lock-in - a nearby church is letting us use their facilities... it's not the perfect building, but it's a whole lot better than not having the event that the scouts look forward to.

 

we also use 2 other large buildings for our pack/unit events... the biggest pain is that the school is the best place for needing a stage. They use to allow us to use their mikes too. With the buildings we now use 1 has a really low and small stage... the other is very tall and has to be put up and down (basically very heavy/strong tables)... if we have a scout that needs wheelchair accessiblity - we can't use either of those stages, only the school's has that access.

 

basically we are doing the best we can out of the situation. it's given us a great chance to "use resourses wisely"

 

I just wish the school could see as much good in the scouting programs as they do in the sports programs. although it is interesting any time they need a color guard we're the ones calles - maybe we should tell them to ask the baseball team LOL seriously I would never do that.