Star Service Project Dilemma

[Twocubdad]

Sounds like a great service project, frankly much more involved than most. Big Atta Boy to the Scouts. SM, 2ASMs and AC vs. one committee member. Sounds like a decision to me. Actually, at the point the SM approved it, it sounded like a decision to me. The committee member -- and the district Eagle advisor -- need to go pound sand.

 

 

[SSScout]

I wish more Scout Troops had your problem. Adult leaders who are concerned the Scout is doing "too" much.

 

Snug: Who is your CO? Back in my day, our Troop's Methodist church benefitted from our Scouts help in the chicken dinners (help direct traffic, bus tables, run the cloak room, sell baked goods), during "clean up days" (prune shrubs, rake and trim, wash windows), and each patrol took a turn being in charge of mowing the lawn once a week. Four patrols. So once a month on a saturday morn (early!) , we'd come out and with the church's mower and usually another Scout family's (or two), the job got done in an hour or two, max. And presto! we were free to go to the football game or a hike or movie. If there was a Troop campout, the chore got done during the week after school.

No durth of service projects available.

 

I think your Scout has an excellent idea, but as has been mentioned, it (the tag sale) should not be touted as a "Scout" sale. If the signs and PR mention "The Hugs Project", I think that is fine.

[snugharborlabs]

SSScout: Our CO is the Lion's Club. They hold the charter for 2 packs, 2 large troops (50+ boys each) and a venture crew in a town of 14K people. About 220 boys are in scouts in this town.

 

Our big service to them is their summer carnival - parking lot cleanup arranged by the packs, and set up and tear down of the tents, tables, chairs and food service set up is on the troops. My husband (who's known as the community service ASM - he handles all the community service oversight ;-)) is proud to say our troop by far outrepresents the other troop in town with our boys helping. We definitely have a good group of boys, and we're proud of them.

[Papadaddy]

I think the restriction on fundraising is due to the fact that the BSA does not want its name or trademarks (uniforms and logos) associated with causes or groups that it doesn't endorse. As long as the scout conducts the service not in uniform and does not advertise or imply BSA involvement, he should be good to go and won't raise any red flags with COuncil. FInal approval authority is the SM and BOR at the unit level.

[qwazse]

... scout wanting to ... signed off on by our SM ...

 

That's all your committee needs to know.

 

Don't tell the SM to steer clear of anything! This is why I never ask someone for a rule. They'll make one up for you. And for the love of all that is right and good about troop committees, don't you be one of those rule-fabricators! Your ship needs no barnacles on its hull!

[qwazse]

... scout wanting to ... signed off on by our SM ...

 

That's all your committee needs to know.

 

Don't tell the SM to steer clear of anything! This is why I never ask someone for a rule. They'll make one up for you. And for the love of all that is right and good about troop committees, don't you be one of those rule-fabricators! Your ship needs no barnacles on its hull!

[snugharborlabs]

Thanks for the input - papa: I'll let the kid's mom know to keep them out of uniform when they sell the stuff at the tag sale, and to make sure they let the world know they're not fundraising for BSA, but for the other cause. FWIW - the person raising the issue is a long-time scouter, she's active at the council level, and has 2 sons that made Eagle through the troop. She's a good egg trying to protect the troop from possible issues.

[Lisabob]

Hi Snug,

 

Better than letting the kids' moms know - let the KIDS know. Have the SM explain to them about the BSA's desire not to be used as a lure for other fundraisers. 14 year olds might say "well that's dumb" but they also ought to be able to understand, or at a minimum recognize the need to comply. And I do hope that by age 14, their mothers aren't still dressing them.

 

In this case, I'd say, let the boy run with it. This is how your troop has been handling the service hour requirements and it doesn't make sense to do an abrupt change right now without laying some ground work, first.

 

But for future, it sounds like the kind of thing where the SM and PLC ought to talk about what the intent of the service hours requirements are, and why your troop isn't doing some routine service projects a few times a year, anyway. After all, a Scout is Helpful.

 

If the PLC were to agree to add to its schedule a few regular service projects, or if it were to agree to do an hour of service of some sort at each camp out (I like that notion - leave it better than you found it!), then your problem with fake service, or insufficient service opportunities, would disappear. And as you said, you have a bunch of 1st Cl/Star scouts coming up through the ranks, so soon enough, Eagle projects will abound, too.

 

But this may be the work of several months, not an abrupt change right now.

 

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

I like Lisabob's idea of working to transition towards the service hours as being part of regular activities, rather than organizing a special project by a Scout.

 

The special projects are an interesting way of adapting to the particular situation of the troop, but I'd aim for the more conventional purposes of the service hours when that is practical.

 

Of course if a Scout wants to do a project, that would certainly be something the Scout and Scoutmaster might agree upon.

[NJCubScouter]

I have never heard of having mini-projects, which doesn't mean it's wrong, but I think I still prefer the idea of the Scouts earning their service hours for Second Class, Star and Life working on other Scouts' Eagle projects and on the various service projects and activities we have sprinkled throughout the year. We have a couple of regular Flag Day activities that we do in association with a veteran's group and another civic group, one of which has turned into an annual large-scale flag retirement (i.e. respectful destruction and disposal) ceremony that goes on for a few hours and requires a lot of hands. We also have a practice that, when camping at a private non-commercial facility (i.e. someone being nice enough to let us use their land, usually for little or nothing; and including a Coast Guard facility where we have camped), we volunteer to do a cleanup or some other service project for 2 or 3 hours. (Not just cleaning up the camp site which we do before leaving anyway, but something beyond that. And while I am in a parenthetical anyway -- admittedly these service projects are something that are scheduled/volunteered for by the adult leaders rather than being chosen by the boys, but so be it. They don't complain about it too much, because apparently we have been successful in ingraining the idea that service is part of Scouting.) And I will tell you, those little service projects on a Saturday late-afternoon before dinner do more for the public relations of the BSA than a whole team of "communications professionals" at BSA headquarters could ever do. We have heard more than once, "Oh, you didn't have to do that." Well, right. That's the point.

[fred8033]

From what I understand ... BSA doesn't want service projects to be primarily fundraisers because #1 Friends Of Scouting and #2 popcorn sales. That's how BSA finances professionals, camps and much more. If people started donating cash to Eagle projects all the time, they'd feel their good deed was done and then not donate to Friends Of Scouting. Or buy the popcorn which itself is essentially just a donation.

 

It's not that scouts doing fundraiers is bad or there is automatically more value in physical labor.

 

The fundraising restriction is BSA's way to reduce competition for the almighty dollar. (This message has been edited by fred8033)