Finding volunteers from outside the pack

[DenZero]

In a thread in Open Discussion - Program, the discussion was about people volunteering for postions in the district or with units. Someone mentioned a Cub Scout pack advertising in a newspaper for a Cubmaster. Has anyone tried something like that, and did it work? Our pack managed to recharter, but we are maxed out for internal volunteers (every boy in the pack has a parent who is a registered leader). Two of the families are leaving at the end of the school year, leaving us with 3 committee members, no Cubmaster and no den leaders. Yeah, the committee can pretend to be Cubmaster and den leaders, but it's tough to put together a decent program with 3 people who are trying to decide whether or not to throw in the towel. We are trying to recruit some new Tigers, and if we get any, they will likely come with parents who can be arm-twisted. Still, it would be nice to have someone in a pack leadership position who has some enthusiasm for the Scouting program. I'm going to communicate with the members of the chartered org. to see if there is anyone there who can pitch in. The Scoutmaster is checking to see if he can find contact information on any former Boy Scouts who are still in the area. So I'm looking for ideas on how to get people with no connection to the pack to help out until we can get big enough again to be able to recruit leaders from within. Maybe a newspaper advertisement? Hmmm...

 

Paul

[FScouter]

That's an interesting approach. The pack in our community ran an ad in the local paper and did get a guy that wanted to be the Cubmaster. He and his wife were not able to have children, and he wanted to be involved with kids. Ultimately it didn't work out because the pack also needed to recruit den leaders and committee members. Somehow, all the Cub parents thought the Cubmaster was going to do everything himself.

 

I would not recommend that approach to recruiting a CM, but it might work to recruit "helpers" for the pack. After they help for awhile and you get to know them, Select the best one.

 

Though, if your entire pack is down to 3 boy members, maybe adult leadership is not the primary problem.

[scoutldr]

I'll be blunt, I would be highly suspect of anyone who would answer an ad in the paper to be a Scout leader. The BSA has a prescribed method for recruiting leaders...which I'm told is tried and true. The job of finding qualified leaders is really the job of your COR, but I also realize that most CORs don't do their jobs. I would request a meeting of the people who own this problem...the COR, Unit Commissioner, DE and Pack Committee Chair.

[DenZero]

Actually, I'm the Pack Committee Chair, and, at least on the charter, the COR, though I'm not affiliated with the CO. I'm trying to recruit a COR as well. I found out that the Troop was able to get a replacement COR after a while without one. According to the Cub Scout Leader's Book, the Troop and Pack should have the same COR. As soon as the Scoutmaster finds his phone number, I'm giving him a call.

 

The DE and Dist. Commissioner have been sympathetic, and have been helpful in our efforts to recruit boys, with the hope that they will bring willing parents along.

 

I've been trying to keep the program together, such as it is, since in the past everyone relied on the Cubmaster to do everything (bad idea), but our outgoing Cubmaster is too busy with his work that we're lucky if he shows up for a pack meeting.

 

Most packs recruit their leaders from among the parents, but we're in the vicious circle of not having enough parents to recruit from, which leads to having a lousy program, which makes it hard to recruit new cubs and retain old ones.

 

Paul

[ASM915]

DenZero,

How many troops do you have in your area?

Yes it is nice to have the same CO and COR for both, but not necesary.

Our Troop's CO is the VFW and the Pack's is the Methodist Church. Last week recruited the minister to the Troop Committee. He's a former SM.

 

If the Pack and Troop have different CO's, approaoch that Troop and any others in the area and see if they have adult leaders or parents that may be interested in helping at the Pack level. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. They need your Pack to keep their Troops afloat. With out the Pack, their future recruits drops.

 

I know that there are a few of us adults in our Troop that have been talking about getting involved with our feeder Pack, especially as Webelos leaders. This way we help the Pack, but also can start getting the Webelos in the right mind set (mold them a little) for the conversion to the Troop. We can help set up joint Troop/Pack activities.

 

Nothing says the help has to come from one Troop. Try to recruit help from a couple of Troops.

[DenZero]

We are in a well-defined neighborhood of a city. There are 2 packs and 2 troops in the neighborhood. One chartered org. hosts the Large Pack and the Large Troop; another chartered org hosts the Small Pack and the Small Troop. All have been established for several decades. The Large Troop gets plenty of recruits from the Large Pack (all of their Webelos II's this year), and probably doesn't care whether the Small Pack and Troop exist or not. The Small Troop recruits mostly from out of the immediate area, as the Small Pack hasn't had any Webelos II's for about 5 years. I don't know if it would be fair for the Small Pack to try cozying up with troops out of the area, when we should be pulling together with our affiliated troop. Some of the leaders of the Small Troop were leaders of the Small Pack back in the good old days when it wasn't so small. We are trying to work closely with them, as they have the most to benfit from survival of the Pack.

 

Paul

 

 

[ScoutNut]

I would talk to your pastor (IH of CO). Maybe there might be some former Scouts in other church organizations who would be willing to help the Pack.

 

Your Pack also needs to have in place a GOOD summer program & recruit Tigers in May.

 

Most important, IMO, as CC for the Pack, you need to make a commitment to the Pack. It does not say good things about your Pack program to have it's CC sending his kids to the other Pack in town. People DO notice these things.