Get your DE involved

[Eamonn]

"Get your DE involved in doing a boy talk at the school "

This is something I never heard of!!

In our area the local leaders do the "Boy Talks"

While maybe a DE might know a little about Cub Scouting, He or She doesn''t know enough about the unit or the leaders to be able to do a good job.

For new units or units with new leaders we pair them up with a member of the Membership Committee.

The DE does his bit by contacting the School and providing handouts, but I have never seen or heard of them doing the presentation.

Does your DE get this involved?

(Of course as of right now we don''t have a DE so it''s a mute point with us!!)

Ea.

[infoscouter]

Our pros generally do Boy Talks. They *prefer* that they be done by volunteers - that''s how it''s supposed to happen. But the reality is that very few packs have volunteers who are free during the school day. DEs on the other hand, have the flexibility to spend part of their day driving from one school to another (In my school district, you could easily do 6 or 7 in one day - but there are 34 to cover).

 

So yes, our DEs do this. I''ve done it in the past. It varies from year to year how many volunteers we can get, so we do a combination.

[hot_foot_eagle]

I''m in a pretty small district so my experience may be somewhat different than in other areas, but our DE is actively involved in the recruiting process from providing handouts to speaking to elementary school boys about Cub Scouting to participating in roundups. These activities, roundups in particular, are conducted by volunteers, but our DE plays a role.

 

I''m blessed with a great DE so I wouldn''t want it any other way.

 

 

[John-in-KC]

We''re a BIG!! district... 2 counties, 55 packs and 53 Troops.

 

We have a District Director, a Senior DE and a DE.

 

They have a tremendous crew of volunteers who believe in the Outdoors method.

 

We just spent a day at an area campground. The District hosted a new Cub Scout Family Overnight. A Troop did Campfire. Volunteers held a cracker barrel. This morning, other volunteers cooked breakfast (french toast and sausage), and milk/juice were donated by an area dairy.

 

We had model rockets, a music activity (these kids all earned their Music belt loop at that!), frisbee golf, a craft... my station was Dutch Oven Dump Cake! Got to show parents how easy dump cake can be!

 

When the last Cubs and Parents left, our DE''s looked tired and happy. We had planned for 200, and we brought in 400. For that matter, we were all tired and happy.

 

Having the DE, together with the Chairman and the Commish cheerlead other volunteers is the essential activity. It''s amazing what happens when you (Woodbadgers repeat after me...) "Use All Your Resources!"

[DenZero]

Our small pack has received a lot of help from our Dist. Exec., going to school and talking to the boys and sending them home with flyers and stickers. He spends a lot of his day doing this around the district. Without his help, our pack would have folded some time ago. Large units can get enough parents and scouts to recruit for them, but small units can''t compete without help from the D.E.

 

I suspect that in districts where the D.E. doesn''t help, there is a higher attrition of units.

[RangerT]

Man, Eamonn it sounds like your council really is in trouble. The DE does all the school presentations around our area as well, one reason is they usually have a much easier time getting into the schools because they represent the whole council not just one unit and schools give them easier access because of their professional status. The other reason is as already pointed out their schedule allows them the time to do the talks, which are part of their recruitment job duties anyway.

 

Our DE's even come to the kickoffs to answer questions about what services the council provides to the unit.(This message has been edited by RangerT)

[ccjj]

Our DE went to our schools and did the boy talk. He handed out fliers that had our contact information on them, and the night and place of our round up. We share our 3-5 grade school with another pack, and by our DE doing the boy talk, he wasn''t trying to sway the boys to either of the packs. He just gave them the information.

 

From that boy talk and round up, we only registered Tigers and Wolves. Neither pack was able to recruit any new Bears or Webelos. Hopefully, that will change in the near future, but at this time our pack sits at around 20 boys.

[Eamonn]

One reason why our DE''s never got involved was the time factor.

We have a date when all the Schools in the Council have "Sigh-up Night", normally the second week in September.

We are a small District, but even so we have 3 School Districts and ten eleven elementary schools.

These Boy Talks work best when they are given a day or so ahead of the Sign-up Night.

Some SM''s have gone into the Junior HS and done Boy Talks.

Some Schools do have a assembly bring all the Boys together for this talk some ask that the presenters go from class room to class room.

We never have had a problem having leaders from the packs sing up to go into the schools to do the talks. In fact at times we have had too many and in schools where there are several Packs drawing from one school, there have been heated exchanges!!

Maybe I''m just being dense?

But if the CO is inviting local youth to join in a youth program that they are offering, surely it''s up to a member of the organization to invite the kids to join. The DE is in most cases not a member of the CO and having him or her invite people to join a organization which he doesn''t belong too seems odd?

While membership is a requirement for Quality District and Quality District is a goal for the District and the DE,I don''t agree that the DE knows enough about what is happening at the unit level to be able to provide the correct information.

I have heard about DE''s who have gone into schools and promised the kids all sorts of activities, some of which Cub Scouts are not allowed to do or that no pack in the area has ever done!! When this happens the kids and their parents feel that they have been lied too and let down.

The DE should of course provide the materials and the support needed to help the unit volunteers recruit, but being the recruiter?

I don''t see that as being their job.

We are after all an organization of volunteers.

Eamonn.