Recruiting From Webolos

[LisaSandoz007]

We have offered to Den Chief. We have offered to put on a demonstration or a skit at Pack Meetings. We have offered to help with work for pins at our meetings. We have offered packs a place to meet, and even a sponsor if they need one. We have offered our adult leadership to help a new pack. Our Scouts have offered to "buddy up" with a pack at Camporee to help the cubs get the most possible out of Camporee (our boys don't like to participate in Camporee events themselves becauxe they feel like they are constantly dissed in favor of the troops that are "in favor") Our Scouts have worked at Cub Day Camp for several years-- even occassionally having to take full responsibility for packs when cub adults flaked out. I won't say it is all for nothing, because the Cubs have certainly benefited from the things we and our scouts have done. But from the pespective of growing out troop, it has been useless. I had a parent tell me last year how tickled she was at how good our boys were to her Webelos who we hosted a campout for-- taught firebuilding, hiking safety, some coking techniques-- several boys said emphatically that they wanted to join OUR troop. They joined another troop. When parents ask the DE about our troop, he pretends that he does not even know who we are-- though he most definitely does. I was telling a cub parent about our troop a year ago. She was surprised that we were still around because the DE had told her we had folded. I saw a fellow Scoutmaster Fundamentals participant three months ago, after one of my boys was a ranger for her troop at summer camp. She expressed how glad she was that we were "hanging on" because she had been told that we had folded. BTW, the SM of that troop stood up in Roundtable to commend our boy as the best ranger his boys had ever had-- hardly indicative of a troop that had folded.....

We have let it be emphatically known that our sponsor would be DELIGHTED to sponsor a cub pack, yet the DE allows the pack to fold when their sponsor no longer wants to sponsor. AND he most certainly knows we exist every spring when our sponsor's property is used for Tiger Roundup Day......though we have offered to help with that event-- set up booths, talk to parents, whatever, but our help is neither needed or wanted. (Yeah, this year they can find another place for their Tiger Roundup.)

We are more than willing to recruit Cubs or Scouts on a year-round basis and work closely with them.

I am tired of things like our boys working hard on a Camporee skit, and being told that they "are not on the list"-- and then when our SPL asks to be PUT on the list, he is denied, and actually cursed at. But when clean up time comes around guess where the adults come to collect boys to clean up the Camporee grounds? Yet when I make what I consider to be the reasonable request that our boys clean-up efforts be recognized at the awards, not a single word is said though all of the adults are handing out the verbal back pats to each other until one wants to throw up. And yet there seems to be puzzlement when we don't register for the next Camporee.....go figure.

I am SOOO tired of swimming upstream and feeling like not only are we getting no support from district, but actually like we are getting "negative support". As desperately as we need growth, of both the adult and youth variety, as disgusted as I get with the antics of District politics, at the end of the day, all it really comes down to is a deep obligation I feel to the dozen boys we do have. I know that if we do not grow, some of those boys will leave, because of the increased work load in a small group. This could be avoided if district simply supported proper recruiting efforts.....but next week, I will submit our re-charter papers ( a month late-- my passive-aggression towards the DE is showing), and we will see what this year's recruiting efforts bring. But no matter what, we will do right by our kids, and do our best to show them that the "Character Counts" slogan is worth heeding, and that the Scout Oath and Law means a lot to us, even if it does not to everyone in this organzation!

[fboisseau]

LisaSandoz007

My suggestion to you would be to contact your SE (your DE's boss) and ask for a sit-down meeting between him/her, you and the DE to discuss the problems you are perceiving (I am suggesting this word as away to defused the DE) with the DE. If the DE is doing the things you are stating the SE is seeing this in his/her's numbers and what you are observing should be of interest to the SE. Since the DE and SE performance are both judged on both the number of units and number of boys in the program the SE has an interest to stop any abuse by the DE that could cause the lost of both units and boys.

 

[acco40]

I have some bolo ties. Maybe getting their name spelled correctly would help. Again, my pet peeve, it is WEBELOS.

[EagleInKY]

I've recently crossed the bridge from Webelos to Scouting and have seen the problems on both sides.

 

As a Webelos leader, I felt the Troops weren't that interested in recruiting us. When our boys made a planned visit to a troop meeting, they almost acted like they didn't know we were coming. The SM was 30 minutes late, the SPL didn't have a meeting plan... it was utter chaos. There was nothing to explain scouting to the parents, so most were unprepared for the boy-led meetings and didn't understand why things appeared so unprepared. We were supposed to get information on a campout coming up the following weekend, and they hadn't set a time or a fee. It was a disaster. Our boys lost all interest in the troop at that time.

 

Now, as a Scoutmaster, I'm trying to recruit Webelos. I know all the Webelos from our associated pack, and they have all been to a meeting (well planned, with a parent's informational meeting taking place at the same time). They've been invited to three activities and most are coming with us to Klondike next Saturday. I think we're going to get all six boys. The only problem I have is that I feel encouraged to do all communications through the Webelos leader, and I don't think he is doing an adequate job of communicating directly to the families in his den. In future years, I'm going to get e-mail and contact information for each Webelos when they visit, so I can target communications directly to each scout.

 

I've also tried recruiting from a neighboring pack that has no troop directly associated with it. We're located on the border of their school district and a great deal of their Cubs live as close to our CO as we do. I've given my name & contact info to the Cubmaster a couple of times, but I still haven't heard anything. I understand that the Webelos leader has a son in another troop, so I have the feeling that he is not interested in promoting our troop with his boys. Maybe next year...

[Twocubdad]

Don't know if you're still looking for suggestions, SST, but getting the info you need shouldn't be too difficult. You don't need the names of every Cubmaster in your district, just those in your immediate geographic area. Does your council or district have a web site? Ours lists units and contact names. Call the council office and pretend to have a Cub who wants to join. Ask around at the schools where the packs are.

 

I don't know why your DE is being so difficult. He's probably just made the calculation that putting up with you is easier than dealing with 12 other ticked-off Scoutmaster who are having "their packs" raided. Still, he's dead wrong and should give you the info you need. I'd go to the mat with the new SE just out of principle.