CO presentation for a Sea Scout Ship

[CNYScouter]

After 8 months of working through my council and having no results to find a CO for a Sea Scout Ship, I have been working on my own to find a CO.

 

I did not have any luck with any of the local marinias or Yacht/Sailing clubs so on the advice from the American Legions Statewide Scouting Chairman I wrote to all the local American Legions and VFW Posts in my area asking if they would charter a Sea Scout Ship.

 

After sending out 10 letters I have recived just one responce.

 

They have asked me to do a 10 minute presentation at thier next meeting. This presentation should include what the Ship wants from the Post and a brief explanation about what Sea Scouts is.

 

This post already has a Troop and is where my district holds our monthly roundtable.

 

Any suggestions on the presentation?

 

[emb021]

Check out the seascout.org website.

 

Did you check with any US Power Squadrons in your area? They have a Memorandum of Understanding with Sea Scouts.

 

Did you contact your Region Commodore for help?

[Region 7 Voyageur]

I am the Scoutmaster of a troop chartered to an American Legion Post. About 18 months ago this legion post also chartered a Sea Scout Ship. If you private message me I will put you in contact with the Charter Organization Representative of this legion post. He was the driving force in getting the ship started. The chartering of a Sea Scout Ship has benefited all of the scouting units (Cub Scout Pack & Boy Scout Troop) chartered by this post due to increased appreciation of the scouting program by the legion members. There have been several members of the legion post (mainly Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine veterans) that have become involved in the Sea Scout Ship. There are several scouts in our troop that are also members of the ship but we have kept the units separated as far as activities.(This message has been edited by Region 7 Voyageur)

[Eamonn]

There is a lot of material out there about what Sea Scouting is.

I will PM you some of that stuff.

The big problem is what the Ship wants from the Post.

You really do need to look into what the Council will do for the Ship?

For example our Council wouldn't allow us to use the Council charity status and the Elk's who are our CO isn't a 501 (3)©. Which is a pain when it comes to accepting donations of boats.

You might want to look into the liability insurance that you need on top of what the normal insurance is.

There is a really good discussion board linked to the Sea Scout web site.

Eamonn.

[CNYScouter]

emb021-

 

I did contact the US Power squadron in this area a few months back.

 

The only reply was the ship would be welcome at any of their training sessions, no offer of any other help.

 

I will contact them again once I get a ship up and going to see what assistance I could get from them.

 

I have had very little help from council or the American Legion Scouting Reps to put this together and have been pretty much on my own.

 

I do have the name of my Sea Scout Regions Commodore and will contact him

 

Thanks

[emb021]

Get on the Sea Scout mailing lists and get in contact with Sea Scout leaders.

 

Most Sea Scout Ships have 2 chartering partners, the second being a 501c3 charatable org whose only purpose is to own the ships that get donated to the Ship. (for various reasons you do NOT want your local council to own your ships!) BSA has insurance that you can add your ships to for a small additional amount (based on the size of the ship). This is done through your council.

 

Don't have first hand knowledge of how this all works, but I hang out with enough Sea Scout leaders to pick it up.

 

[CNYScouter]

I have been trying to find an Sea Scout Ship close-by to visit.

The closest active Ship I have found is over 3 hours away.

 

I have subscribed to the a Sea Scout discussion list (SeaScout-Net) but haven't received an e-mail from it in months.

Which discussion board should I be on?

 

This forum has been about the only place I have been reading about Sea Scouts.

 

I'll have to find out about the 501c3 status and see about my council accepting donations for the Ship.

[emb021]

"I have subscribed to the a Sea Scout discussion list (SeaScout-Net) but haven't received an e-mail from it in months.

Which discussion board should I be on? "

 

That list can be fairly quite, but its the main Sea Scout list. There is nothing stopping you from posting questions and seeing what answers you get.

 

There is also the general Venturing list on Yahoo.

 

"This forum has been about the only place I have been reading about Sea Scouts. "

 

See the above.

 

"I'll have to find out about the 501c3 status and see about my council accepting donations for the Ship."

 

You don't want your council accepting donations for the Ship. They will keep the donations and sell them for themselves, which is why you don't want them to. Or they will turn away the donations, because they don't want the hassle.

[Eamonn]

"You don't want your council accepting donations for the Ship. They will keep the donations and sell them for themselves, which is why you don't want them to. Or they will turn away the donations, because they don't want the hassle."

This might well be the case.

But if you are not a 501(3)© and have not made arrangements your not going to get the donations.

Many flotillas have set up a "Friends of .... Sea Scouts" and will accept the donatins of boats.

You might want to contact:Bruce Chr. Johnson

commodore@seascout.org

Or: SKIPPER VIGILANT

SSS441VIGILANT@NYC.RR.COM