What MB to counsel?

[boomerscout]

I don't want to spread myself too thin, so I'm wondering what MB's I should make myself available for"

 

Can you consult the mbc list to determine which mb already have enough? Maybe start with three not so well covered. Every six to nine months drop the least used and add a fresh one?

[moosetracker]

The District responsibility is to take all the MBC of all the troops and then organize them (and keep them up-to-date) so that all the units can utilize them.

 

My husband will not run all over the state asking complete strangers if they would be an MBC in every city and town for every MB there is.. First off he wouldn't know them at all and could recruite the town drunk, village rapist etc..

 

But once he has knowledge of the MBC the unit has chosen he will call them periodically and ask if they would like to continue being an MBC.. So that the widow of someone isn't getting calls for him as an MBC 10 years after he passed away.

 

That is what your District Advancement should do for you in organizing the MBC's.

 

[clemlaw]

>>>>>That is what your District Advancement should do for you in organizing the MBC's.

[Kahuna]

If you enjoy stamp collecting and can find some Scouts who are interested, I would encourage you to do that as much as possible. I worked the Stamp Collecting MB at the Jamboree and we were swamped. Most of those kids were not collectors, but hopefully some of them are now. Philately is dying of old age.

[moosetracker]

Well I didn't mean you as in YOU.. literally.. I meant you as in your Troop, your crew, and your district..

 

What a volunteer District Advancement Chair (and their volunteer staff if any).. Do is the coordinating of all the units information from the district into one packet and keep that updated.. That is something that would be difficult, if not impossible for each unit to organize, because they need the info from all the units around them, or they are stuck only using their own troop MBC's..

[John-in-KC]

As my husband who is district advancement tells the units in our district.. "It is not up to us to find the MBC, it is up to you.. Go out and ask your neighbor the doctor, or your best friend the Veterinarian or your brother the auto mechanic."

 

WRONG-OH!!!, KEEE-MO-SAAAB-EEE!!!!

 

ACP&P #33088:

Districts Recruit and Train Merit Badge Counselors and Publish Lists

The essence of quality Scouting is having sufficient qualified adult leaders. Nowhere does this become more apparent than in the recruitment of adults to serve as merit badge counselors. Because counselors must be knowledgeable in specialized areas as well as able to have a good rapport with Boy Scoutage boys, the district advancement committee has a challenging task in recruiting, (emphasis added) approving, and training merit badge counselors, and in helping units to do the same.

 

It's the District Advancement Chairman's job!!! He should seek the help and support of the units, but it's his job.

(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[clemlaw]

>>>>It's the District Advancement Chairman's job!!!

[moosetracker]

It may be written, but there is no way 1 person can track down decent people for the whole state.. It is not logical..

 

Per my council, the training of the MBC, fall to the district Training staff (also it is held at University of Scouting.).. That would be me..

 

Remember this is a volunteer job, when it becomes a paid position, (with gas allowance) then we can talk about spending 40 hours a week driving from town to town all over the state, visiting with doctors, lawyers and Indian cheifs..

 

Until then the

50+ hours putting together the 5 seprate MBL's his predessor had going (all different)

100+ hours spent on the phone this year talking to the current MBC's to update the list

30+ hours recalling people because they never sent in their YPT forms as asked per the first conversation.

Plus the District Advancement dinner organization

Plus having to key in all the advancement awards earned by the cub scouts and boy scouts.

Plus the monthly Eagle boards

 

On top of having another volunteer position in the Boy Scouts in the Troop. Will have to be good enough..

 

Even if it became a paid position:

If you trust someone from district to pick random strangers off the streets for your MBC, then don't complain about their quality..

 

For certain things like : swimming the MBC must have Life guard and Swimming Instructor certificates.. For any thing with rifles or what not, they must prove they have the correct certificates for that.. That he will check..

 

Sorry - Reality meets words on a piece of paper..

 

Since everyone in our district is just thrilled with the job he is doing, I guess our district volunteers are also grounded to being realistic also..

[John-in-KC]

I am also my District MB Counselor trainer. I train 10-25 new Counselors in my District every month as part of our total RT package of services to the units. I do that under supervision of the DAC, the Trainer, and the District Advancement Chair. My DAC works with his units to encourage more volunteers, but at the end of the day, the buck stops with the DAC. Yes, we're all volunteers. The paper, in my neck of the woods, is the reality.

[moosetracker]

Encourage is one thing.. You stand up at roundtable and encourage, you sit around at a camporee and encourage.. Unfortunately you are preaching to the choir if all you are doing is encouraging them to be the MBC's and not encourage them to go out and ask their friends, relatives and neighbors and co-workers who they think would be a great resource to be an MBC for a hobby/interest/job..

 

My husband encourages, and you say he is wrong to do so.. He must go out and single handled pick all the MBC's.. That is ridiculous, and impractical..

 

His form of encouraging is bring in alot of new great MBC's.. Therefore he is doing his job..

[clemlaw]

Oh, it sounds like he's doing a great job, and there are many ways to recruit.

 

But I'm just suggesting that if you sent out a mailing to every Eagle Scout age 22-40 in a particular set of Zip codes, I bet a pretty high percentage of them would call back and say that they would be happy to do it.

 

If I had gotten such a letter, there were a few occasions when I would have said that I was just too busy. But most of the time, I would have jumped at the chance to help out.

 

Should I have done this myself without being asked? Yes. But I didn't, and I bet there are a lot of people in the same boat as me.

 

It's definitely not the only way to do the job. But I suspect it would add a lot of names to the MBC list with very minimal work.

 

And yes, you might get a couple of town drunks this way, but probably not many more than you would get using other methods. And presumably the BSA does have paid staff who make sure that the background checks get done to weed them out.