pack is collapsing

[Lisabob]

Hi folks, I could use your input on this one.

 

We have a pack in our town that has historically been extremely successful, and that also has "fed" our troop in the past, though not for a few years now. It recruits from one of the larger elementary schools in town so it has a natural pool of new scouts.

 

In the last two years the pack has struggled due to lack of adult leadership. The (former?) CM ended up working a shift that prevented him from attending any pack meetings, yet he didn''t/wouldn''t resign. His son is a W II this year but has already done everything for his AoL and is just waiting to be able to cross over at this point. The other den leaders vanished, or withered away due to lack of support. The CC was one of the only active people but he''s got a boatload of kids of his own and has apparently vanished now too.

 

The pack''s CO is oblivious and they apparently do not have a UC (we don''t have a strong UC corp in our area). The pack has no plans to do any recruiting of scouts or leaders and seems to have unofficially collapsed.

 

I''m on our district membership committee, which is how I know all of this. As such, it is not in our interest to see this pack die. This isn''t just a numbers game either - two years ago, this pack had 40+ boys and even last year, amid turmoil, they had 20 or so.

 

What, if anything, is it reasonable for me and the other members of the district membership committee to DO here? Most of the things I''ve thought of involve us (membership folks) coming in and running the pack in more, or less, active ways and while honestly, I like cub scouts a lot, I''m not so sure this is the right thing to do. We have a district membership meeting on Monday night and I''d like to go in armed with some tangible ideas. What are your thoughts?

[scoutldr]

This is a unit in trouble due to lack of leadership. IN my opinion, it comes under the District Commissioner, rather than membership. Membership should focus on district-wide recruiting efforts, not putting sick units back together. The DE and DC needs to visit the COR and have a heart to heart about the future of this unit.

[DenZero]

Are there any parents left in the pack who care if the pack continues? You need to find one who is willing to hold things together and work on recruiting until they either get more kids and leaders or throw in the towel. (I was foolish enough to offer to do that, and have been running the pack single-handedly since February, but it looks like we will have enough kids recruited to have a couple of dens). The District Exec. should be able to help with recruiting, and if they are the only pack recruiting at that school, they ought to be able to get at least a handful of boys, and maybe some willing parents.

 

I don''t know if it would do any good to talk to the COR, I talked to ours, and he was indifferent as to whether or not the pack continued. Maybe some are more committed.

 

[insanescouter]

first, I would see what interest there is at district and council level to try and save the pack

 

second, are there several packs in the same area, if so maybe there are to many for the number of youth in the area

 

third, the troop that has been feeding has a vested interest in at least talking to the leaders of the pack and offering to help save it

 

forth, it sounds like it will take a lot of effort to save, so would require a strong CM and a strong committee chair. Also will take some recruiting effort to bring back the scouts and parents

 

the last thing I can think of right now, is why did the leadership fail. what was the root cause? did the adults burn out? I know you said some had work shift changes, so why didn''''t some one else take over at least some of what they were doing? Was there a fight of sorts between leaders? To me it sounds like there is a root problem that may need to be dealt with before anything else could be done.

 

I hope my babbling and wacky 2 cents was of some help...

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

[Eamonn]

Seeing a unit that once was a good unit fall apart is never nice.

Units don''t come "Undone" over night.

Maybe if the Unit Commissioner had made the District Commissioner aware of what was going down? The District Commissioner might have informed the District Committee (The Key 3?) and something might have been done to bring in the Membership Committee or a plan of action could have been put into place.

Having served as District Commissioner I know that one thing I never had was a waiting list of adults on the side lines waiting for me to call them and offer them the opportunity to come onboard and serve as leaders.

For a unit to survive, a group of people connected to either the unit or the CO have to want it to survive and be willing to do the work that is needed.

The first thing to do must be to find out if there is such a group?

Districts just don''t have the manpower to be able to provide leadership for every unit that is failing.

In any case if the unit really is to survive it needs a firm foundation that really only ever comes from having a good relationship with a working CO (I''m talking very long term. -Sure an active group can get a unit up and running, but how many of the group will still be around in ten or twenty years?)

Saving the unit might be as easy as gathering enough interested people to form a nominating committee and helping them follow the steps. A lot of times people who are willing to serve on such a committee are also willing to volunteer!!

It might mean looking over old charters and contacting those who were at one time the movers and grovers!! Laying a "I''d hate to see everything you did in the past be for nothing" on them does sometimes work.

But if there really is no group willing to step up and do what is needed? No matter how much the District or Council might not like it, the unit is going to fold.

For a unit to stay alive people in the unit /Co have to want it to and have to take on the responsibility.

Ea.

[Lisabob]

Thanks for everyone''s responses. I agree with scoutldr that this is a matter of adults dropping the ball and also not really the membership committee''s turf. On the other hand, we (membership folks) have been sounding the alarm bell on this unit for close to 2 years and it seems we''re the only ones who notice. The DE is aware - he and I and others have had several conversations about this. One would have thought that, if the commissioners were capable of acting, they would have by now. Instead, it keeps coming back to those of us on the membership committee, both formally and informally (several of us know people who are/were involved with this pack). I admit disappointment that there doesn''t seem to be a district-wide plan in place to help struggling units - it is just a bunch of hand wringing as they fade and fold.

 

And this pack should be strong. It is the only one that recruits actively in the rather large elem. school that serves as its base, and in previous/recent years it has done great - so it is really a matter of getting the word out, offering a decent program and "they will come." While there are a bunch of other packs in the town, none of them are under 20 members right now and nearly all of them draw from (other) specific schools, so it isn''t like there''s too much competition. As for the CO, this pack shares the same CO as the troop my son is in - this is not a group that is likely to actively support anything, sad to say (yet they''re adamant that they wish to remain CO for reasons of historical pride).

 

I like the idea of generating a list of previous active leaders and putting out the word - this is something I was thinking anyway, since several adults in our troop were once associated with that pack. That, at least, is something membership ought to be able to do within reason.

 

Interestingly enough, we have very few seriously weak packs and troops in our district (crews are another story - very few of those too, but they''re all really weak). So bringing district resources to bear maybe isn''t as draining as it might be in a district with more problem units. And I think it wouldn''t take that much, really, to get this one back on its feet again - I just haven''t seen anybody actually DO it yet!

 

 

 

 

[Eamonn]

Lisa,

A while back there was a thread about the shelve life of packs (Started by me!!)

I don''t know why? But packs do seem too have times when for some reason, a group of people come together and do a really good job. Then it seems that things start to fall apart.

 

I have to admit to feeling very smug, when I moved on from the Pack. The ACM couldn''t wait to take over and the Committee was hard working and "By the book".

Tim, the new CM did a great job. The pack grew and was one of the best in the Council.

Tim went on to start a Troop, with boys from the Pack (16 Webelos Scouts) Ed who had been his ACM, took over. About this time cracks started to appear in the Pack Committee.

Committee Meetings became joint meetings of the adult leaders and the Committee, meetings became less frequent.

Ed moved on to the Troop with his two boys.

Mary who had three boys in the Pack replaced Ed, her best friend became ACM, her husband was a Den Leader.

About this time the Committee became non-existent. No meetings, no real people doing real work for the Pack.

Then sadly Mary and her husband had problems. He moved away. She started dating, her best friend wasn''t happy and they all quit!!

Wearing my District Chairman hat. I met with the person who was named on the charter as the Pack Committee Chair. In fact we had a meeting with everyone who seemed to have an interest in the Pack.

The Chair was very upset!! She said that she had been told that she would never have to do anything only have her name on the charter.

Ed had got an old pal of his to act as COR for both the Pack and the Troop. While this guy was a member of the Church, I think he was one of Ed''s drinking pals more than anything else.

The Parish Priest was sad to hear that the Pack wasn''t doing well!! But wasn''t going to do anything.

Today there isn''t a Pack.

As for a "A district-wide plan in place"

Looking back.

I see the big problem was that we (The District types!!) only ever looked at the number of youth members. We were blind to what was really going on in the pack.

There was a real break down in communication between us and the CO. Kind of a "If it ain''t broke don''t fix it" mentality.

Sadly the truth is that a District can only offer the people who are willing to do the work help, advise, training and a pat on the back.

I tried sending Commissioners into units to step in until someone comes along and it just never worked.

Of course a good UC can prevent and help things from going down hill at times.

The big tool we have is the rechartering packet. If the steps that are listed are followed everyone should have a good idea about what is really happening.

Still at the end of the day we can only help the units that are willing to help themselves.

Ea.

 

[Jeffrey H]

"...Most of the things I''''ve thought of involve us (membership folks) coming in and running the pack in more, or less, active ways and while honestly, I like cub scouts a lot, I''''m not so sure this is the right thing to do...."

 

Lisabob,

 

It''s not the right thing to do if you want to continue your District Committee work. However, it''s the right thing to do if you feel "called" to step in and offer your services to this Pack as a experienced leader for the long-term (one year or more). You will need to focus on this Pack and step away from the distractions of the District Committee.

 

I''ve been an adult Cub Leader for only 2 years, but I''ve seen enough problems occur when Cubmasters divide their time between the District and their Pack. The Pack is the one that suffers first and then it catches up with the District in terms of "dying" units.