Scouting

[FamilyHistoryGeek]

I am interested in learning how Scouting is doing in the various geographic areas of the churh?

[Gwen]

scouting is huge here, in and out of the chruch. i'm in Alabama by the way lol what other details might you be looking for?

[Elgama]

its not done at all in the UK

-Charley

[mightynancy]

Boy Scouts of America LDS Relationships

In my area, each ward is a separate unit - actually many units. There is a Cub Pack (age 8-10), a Scouting Troop (11's and 12-13 years old, separately), a Varsity Team (14-15 years old) and a Venturing Crew (16-17 years old). We combine all the wards in our building, so that makes three Cub packs and nine scouting units (though in practice it's 12 because we keep the 11's separate).

This setup, IMO, provides very little continuity. I understand they want to keep each quorum separate, being that we LDS people use Scouting to further the aims of the Priesthood. That said, I think it's silly; they could pick one of those programs and have the different quorums be different patrols. I think Scouting is the least-specialized (there are sports activities in Scouts, for example), but whatever, IMO they should just pick one.

What sorts of questions do you have?

[Palerider]

Here in Southern Missouri our stake has units with very good scouting programs and a few that struggle.....its not from the kids being interested...usually our problems come with someone fullfilling the calling of Scoutmaster.

[skalenfehl]

The program is strong here in Utah, more so in some areas than others.

[UintahJack]

I have a feeling scouting is going to be encouraged more than ever in the church with Thomas S. Monson as the president of the church. He has been involved in scouting his entire life and has been one of its strongest advocates. He is Mr. Scouting.

[Palerider]

We are excited here in our Stake....we had an area that has not had a scout troop for a few yrs and we finally got one chartered and up and running....

[Michael_Newman]

Here is a copy of what I posted in another topic:

Our scoutmaster has been a scoutmaster for 18 years in several wards. Seems each time he moved into a new ward, the called him to be the scoutmaster.

When he moved into our ward he started with the usual 5 boys who came to play basketball on Wednesday evenings. Although they camped a few times a year, there was no real scouting program, and no uniforms.

After six months our scoutmaster had grown the unit to 65 boys (with about half non-member boys). For the older boys, we worked with the Young Men's President to form additional patrols - including a patrol for the priests that wore the dark green Explorer uniforms.

All of them were in uniform (including the classic Campaign Hat from the early days of scouting), organized into patrols, camping every month, and were getting ready for their summer fund raiser (which earned them $3000).

After a year and a half our scoutmaster formed a provisional troop comprised of boys from all of the troops within the district. The provisional troop included 81 scouts and 19 assistant scoutmasters. The troop traveled by Amtrak for a week-away expedition.

By his own choosing, our scoutmaster and the boys did not promote FOS. That was left up to the bishopric and the ward families. He had discovered years ago that one dollar given to United Way resulted in one penny that went to one of his boy scouts. But for the boy to qualify for the penny, he would have to match the penny with another penny. So if I have $5,000 to UW, the boy scout would get $50 toward his summer camp fee of $100. His scoutmaster decided to do their own fund raisers.

Funny thing, our scoutmaster never did set out to get a Quality Unit Award for the troop. They had no need for it.

And as for Eagle Scouts, sure - there were several - but most of the boys enjoyed the journey, no matter what award the journey resulted in.

The key is finding a dedicated scoutmaster that will be in the calling long enough (at least five years) with a dedicated Bishop that will sustain him. (The complainers I have seen haven't a clue as to their options. Our scoutmaster studied scouting, studied boys, and as a result of an outstanding annual program - the boys showed their respect by wearing the uniforms and doing the scouting program).

All my best,

Michael

[mightynancy]

Inspiring, Michael!

My husband is our Scoutmaster, and he puts his heart and soul into the boys! I'll share this with him.

[cwadrupldijjit]

I staff up at Camp Tracy during the summer. I like how Greg Phillips, our wonderful camp director, has organized us into an actual crew, rather than just a group of venturing scouts as staff, then disassociate themselves from the camp until next year. We are going to meet all year round. I've always wanted to be in a venturing crew...