Friends of Scouting patch

[bmurf01]

Can scouts wear FOS Council patches on their left sleeve, or are they restricted to leaders only?

[BDPT00]

I assume this would be a council strip, right? And that it's presented to a donor for a certain level of financial support? If the Scout was presented the patch for making such a contribution, I see no reason why not.

BDPT00

[bmurf01]

I assume this would be a council strip, right?

YES

And that it's presented to a donor for a certain level of financial support?

YES

If the Scout was presented the patch for making such a contribution, I see no reason why not.

The scout's family made the contribution - it wasn't specifically the scout himself (a check was written).

[ScoutNut]

As you said - the SCOUT did NOT make the contribution, the parents did.

 

The parents get to wear the patch, not their son.

[Basementdweller]

Makes it easier for the DE to find the Suckers next year

[bmurf01]

Any BSA literature I can point the parents to so they can confirm that is the "official" policy?

[Kudu]

 

Do I understand this thread correctly? A Scout's parents made a contribution to FOS and gave him the patch, and you want to take it away from him?

 

And we wonder why they leave...

[Trevorum]

I disagree. ANY council shoulder patch (CSP) that is issued by a council may be worn by ANY registered member of that council. There is no reason why a youth member may not wear a special CSP that is issued for FOS support.

 

That said, I believe that most scouters would find it odd if someone who did not attend a special council event (eg., a Philmont trek, jamboree, etc.) elected to wear the CSP from that event.

[dg98adams]

No literature I know of on WHO can wear it....because a Council Shoulder patch, no matter what it is made for... is just a Council Patch.

 

 

 

 

[bmurf01]

I have no plans on taking anything from anyone. The scout asked if he could place it on his uniform and I was unsure of whether it is permissible. I couldn't find anything in the insignia guide that directly spoke to it.

 

The family wrote a check for the contribution. I have no way of knowing exactly where the money in their checking account comes from. For all I know the kid's grass cutting money goes into the account. Money in a family checking account is somewhat fungible.

 

The only thing I can find in the Insignia Guide is:

Council Shoulder Emblems

 

A custom-designed multicolor council shoulder emblem is designed for each council and dramatizes local tradition for all members of the council. In this No. 16000 series, the last three digits of the catalog number represent the council number.

 

All council shoulder emblems must contain identification including one of the following: corporate name (Boy Scouts of America); corporate initials (BSA), BSA fleur-de-lis (universal with eagle or plain one-color), "Venturing BSA", or "Venturing".

[Basementdweller]

Did ya check to see if the kid had his official BSA socks and leather shoes on???

 

 

 

Lighten up Francis.

[Trevorum]

You do not need to be concerned with the source of the funds. That is irrelevant. The family could have given the patch to their next door neighbor, and they could wear it.

 

ANY registered member may wear ANY CSP that is issued by their council.

 

 

 

 

And for what it's worth, there is no "expiration date" for JSPs.

[Jeffrey H]

Our Council has been issuing alot of special CSP's for camping events, recognitions, and FOS. They are official for uniform wear. Let the scout wear it since it's unique and it's an official CSP. As for me, I put them away in my memorobilia box where most of my patches go anyway.

 

 

[Kudu]

 

In fairness to the family, you should inform them of the regulations that Trevorum and Jeffrey H have so far failed to mention:

 

If an FOS patch is not worn on the uniform of a registered member of the BSA, it must be stored in an archival medium with "a pH of 8.5, at a temperature no higher than 70F, and a stable relative humidity between a minimum of 30% and a maximum of 50%. Visible light levels must not exceed 165 lux (15 footcandles) ... [otherwise the patch must be] ... destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning."

 

This CSP is an advertisement for Friends of Scouting. Where do you suppose the Council wants it: Worn proudly by a contributing family member, or at home in archival storage?

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

 

[Twocubdad]

Don't have it in front of me, but in the past I've read that there is a distinction between commemorative council strips which are not for uniform wear and official council strips which are. I'd be surprised if many councils make the distinction, but you may want to ask your DE. (He won't care, as long as the check cleared.)

 

Personally, I've got a drawer full of those patches and don't wear them myself nor would I give them to my boys. Just seems a little tacky to me.

 

Off topic, but I used to collect council strips. Started when I was a Scout and would buy the patches any time I was out of council and could get them -- kinda like collecting national parks pins. I picked the collection up again when we joined Cubs and handed it off to my boys who added to it. But I've quit. Councils have ruined it by flooding the market with a CSP for every different event imaginable. Or creating insanely small issues which no one can possibly collect. Our council went decades and only had three different CSPs. They started doing FOS CSPs several years ago, but they weren't "official" patches, just tokens for the donors. But for some reason, during the centennial, the floodgates were opened. I bet the council issued a dozen "centennial" patches for every event -- centennial committee CSP, centennial Wood Badge course, centennial Wood Badge STAFF (of course), centennial University of Scouting, on and on and on. Of course the purpose is to separate the wheat from the chaff. What's the point of being on a committee or staffing a course if no one knows you are part of the elite?

 

Used to be the purpose of council strips was to unify the councils with a common uniform element (and of course to save money versus producing a red-and-white community for every little pig path with a Scout troop). Now, CSPs serve mainly as money makers for the councils and to segregate the insiders from the unwashed masses.