Scoutmaster Podcast 339

I'm Mitch Tansby. I'm the Scoutmaster from troop 404 in Norman Beach, Florida. This addition, the Scoutmaster podcast, is sponsored by backers like me.

And now it's the old Scoutmaster. Like many parts of the country, we have been experiencing Unseasonably warm weather.

In fact, when we are camping- a couple weekends ago It was so warm We sat around the campfire to cool off. There you go.

Hey, this is podcast number 339. Well, welcome back to the Scoutmaster podcast. This is Clarke Green. Let's take a look in the mailbag. I heard from our old pal, Bill Chapman, who is with troop 736 in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. He said I love the regular format of the podcast and I was Disappointed at first, thinking I would not get much out of the last podcast because I wouldn't learn anything.

But listening to the stories, the laughter's and the lessons learned resonated so much and inspired me to want to go out And do some backpacking, motivate our patrol leaders, counsel to do the same. Thank you for this extra special podcast. And bill was writing about our last podcast, number 338. We're talking with Wade bastion and bucky Kellogg. We're launching a through hike on the Appalachian Trail.

And Yeah, that was, that was just so much fun. Both of them are old Eagle scouts of mine and It was wonderful to talk to them and to catch up with what they're up to and we'll we'll do that again. We'll do that again. I heard from my Australian friends, Bess and Carl and their girl guide and their Joey scout Way down under there in Australia- and I will not do an aggravatingly bad Australian accent, but they very graciously sent me some Australian scout patches- and Carl is a jeweler- and Sent me a wonderful engraved whistle and subsequently demanded that I that I have a video of me blowing the whistle.

So until then, There it is. There it is, Carl, Thank you, You'll remember Bess L Well cook joined me in podcast number 210- so that was a while back- to talk about girl guides and And specifically the Cambridge Garden Guides in Sydney, Australia, So you want to go check that out if you haven't already heard that. Hey, I'm back this week after a brief holiday break for Presidents Day. We had our 35th annual father and son weekend. That weekend It was a great success, With the unseasonably warm that I mentioned here to for, and just this past weekend I attended the wedding of one of the fellas who my wife and I are privileged to call Our boys, and that's a number of camp staff members and old scouts we keep up with.

So Congratulations to Dave and Colin. It was wonderful to be there in Washington DC at your wedding and To catch up with some more of our boys who are also in attendance.

And I want to let everyone know that for the past several weeks I have been working on a massive Redesign of scoutmastercgcom. That's kind of a teaser, because launching that redesign is Probably still at least some weeks or more, perhaps some months, away. It's going to be a good, proper revision of the way the site functions, with an eye to making the 1500 plus articles and podcasts easier to access and some special features for our backers and patrons. If there's something you'd particularly like to see as part of the redesign, feel free to get in touch and let me know. It's been at least three or four years since the last iteration of the site was launched And I value any input you may have on guiding the way you access the information at scoutmastercgcom.

And, speaking of backers and patrons, I want to pause here to thank all the folks who make this possible and this week especially thanks to Mauro Maserati, who added his name to the list of scoutmastercgcom backers since our last podcast and To Steve driver, who join the- all the folks who are supporting the blog in the podcast through patreon. If you'd like to become a backer or join our patreon subscribers, you can just- it's easy- Visit any page at scoutmastercgcom. You'll find links to follow in the top right of the page and Links in this episodes podcast notes. While I didn't have any live chat sessions this past week, I will have this week and did the prior week, where we welcome Chris Campos from troop 301.

He's a scoutmaster in Ontario, California, and Steve Montano from Katy, Texas, the scoutmaster for troop 925, as well as Jim Taylor, who's an assistant scoutmaster with troop 1109 in coming Georgia, and Dale Austin, assistant scoutmaster in Tallahassee, Florida. All these folks joined us for the first time during our last chat, along with the many frequent flyers who show up whenever we're live. I'd love to have you come and join us during a live chat. These usually happen Tuesday and or Wednesday mornings. You'll see a notification in our Facebook feed and our Twitter feed. That will be at scoutmastercgcom.

Come on over, sign in, join the live chat. We have lots of fun.

Well, the remainder of this podcast is gonna be taken up with Answering a couple of email questions I've received recently about the service Component of scouting. So let's get started, shall we? Write me a letter, Send it my name Email. That is folks.

And here's an answer to one of your emails. So this first email question begins with a request to keep the name and the troop number anonymous. But the author of this email begins with this: our troop has built a good reputation for community service in our town. We've done big volunteer activities and we've done smaller, more individualized service.

Our reputation is known well enough. We're beginning to get quite a few requests for help from elderly individuals in town. As the requests are increasing, It's creating a little angst on the part of the troop committee. Some feel a little resentful and wonder if we could handle all of these requests.

Some ask if we should even entertain these kinds of requests or if it's better done Spontaneously by each scout in their neighborhood. Some are asking what our liability might be. How do we choose among the most needy, Etc, Etc.

So your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Well, first of all, Congratulations for having a reputation as a scout troop willing and ready to serve your community. That's a wonderful thing. I do understand what you're going through. We used to get a lot of calls like this- requests for scouts to show up and help out with an event or Something like that- and it's difficult to vet those requests that are good service opportunities And those that are basically looking for free labor or having a hard time finding volunteers.

So what I began to do when I got these kind of service requests was to tell people we would consider service opportunities a minimum of 30 days ahead of the event and that we would inform our scouts that the opportunity existed and that whoever was Requesting this service would need to provide a contact for our scouts to call and a coordinator On scene with the appropriate youth protection clearances to work with the scouts directly, because we could not guarantee any of our adult Volunteers would be available. Once we started asking that of people who were requesting scouts to serve as volunteers, We began getting fewer and fewer requests of this nature because, as you mentioned in your email, You do have to kind of wonder.

Okay, a lot of people want the scouts to come and do stuff at their event. So are they using us as just like a free labor pool?

Are they having a problem getting volunteers, and why would that be? So asking in return for our participation in something like that, some level of Oversight and support from the organization requesting that service?

I think that's fair because we are dedicated to serving our community. But- and I and I'm a little ambivalent about saying this, but there has to be some kind of limit: The logistics and the availability of scouts, the availability of adult volunteers to supervise When there are a number of scouts involved. We it's just not an endless Supply. There have to be some limitations on the number of requests We're able to fulfill.

So for those instances where you might get a request, an individual request for help, Like shoveling a sidewalk for an elderly person- if it's coming from the individual themselves, Then you can tell them. You'll share their contact information with a nearby scout family And if they're able to help, they'll contact them directly.

And I would provide anyone Requesting this kind of service with the youth protection guidelines Emphasize that parents will have the responsibility to oversee this service opportunity and then I let everybody take it from there. If, if you're getting a request from another organization or Agency or something like that, I give them the answer I outlined above: provide a coordinator and someone to direct the scouts and then we'll share your contact information with the Scouts and they'll contact you if they're able and interested. In addition to all of these requests, You you have your perennial unit service opportunities, and those are a bit of a different animal. They go on your calendar as unit activities and You have the coordination and direction in place with your adult volunteers.

So serving the community really kind of cuts both ways, doesn't it? You want to be helpful and energetic as possible, But there has to be some kind of limitation to it and you have to focus on those opportunities that have the most heart and Your volunteers will support as unit activities and make other requests Known to scouts and their families and let them handle it from there.

Now, within the few days of having gotten that email, We had a discussion on our live chat. So I am looking at the transcript from the live chat. It says the scouts are supposed to do community service for certain ranks.

So my question is: exactly what counts as community service for it to count for rank advancement? So with helping out with a relay for life fundraiser count, our former Scoutmaster insisted that the only thing That counted towards service was a project that the scout planned and carried out, kind of like a mini Eagle project.

So this is the way I answered that question. First of all, yes, I, it would be acceptable as far as I'm concerned.

You know, if a scout volunteered at a relay for life event. If you're not familiar with those, those I believe it's the American Cancer Association has these relay for life events. There are wonderful opportunity for service for scouts and our troop actually Participated in one of those for many, many years. But beyond that, Let's look to the guide to advancement and see what it talks about when it comes to service projects.

And the first thing- kind of a bit of a red flag here- that You cannot require that the fulfillment of these service hours For ranks are many Eagle projects. As a matter of fact, the guide to advancement very specifically says- quote Service project work for ranks other than Eagle clearly call for participation. Only planning, development or leadership Must not- and I'll emphasize, Must not- be required unquote.

Now you'll find that in The guide to advancement and if you have your pencils ready here it is. It's section 4.2, point 3.3, Titled service projects, and I'll have a link to the PDF version of the guide in the podcast notes. Looking in that section, It says that service should be a regular and critical part of the program in every pack, troop, team, crew and ship And that service projects required for ranks other than Eagle must be approved according to what is written in the requirements and may be Conducted Individually or through participation in patrol or troop efforts. They may also be approved for those assisting on Eagle Scout service projects. Time that scouts spend Assisting on an Eagle service project should be allowed and meeting those rank requirements. I'll also note the guide to advancement also says this quote: the National Health and Safety Committee has issued two documents that work together to assist youth and adult leaders in planning and safely conducting service projects, and these Documents are service project planning guidelines and its companion, age guidelines for tool use.

And I will have links to both of those documents in the podcast notes So you can review them. Because there are good common sense safety Policies for service projects So you should familiarize yourself with those and make sure you share them with your scouts and your youth leadership.

Now, the one thing that the guide to advancement does not do is it does not define Precisely what is and what isn't a service project, or who the service must benefit, or anything like that. So it is a broad policy statement for the broadest possible opportunity for scouts to provide service. And helping other people at all times is just Foundational in scouting, is part of the scout oath and has been since scouting was founded early in the last century. It's just a core thing that scouts do, and when scouts actively Participate in the program and develop habits of service, those Ideals will follow them for the rest of their lives.

So the aspect of service and scouting is much more than simply a rank requirement or a number of hours to be fulfilled, And we need to look at our role in helping scouts develop these ideals of service, in this habit of service, and Not confuse or befuddle them with a bunch of stumbling blocks along the way. What we want to do is we want to make sure that the emphasis in these Opportunities is not that they're going to get a Requirement fulfilled out of it, but that service is an important part of good citizenship and being a decent human being.

When, then, all the rank requirements other than Eagle Scout and Eagle Scout as well, But let's just concentrate on the rank requirements for other than Eagle Scout. The service has to be approved by the Scoutmaster and the direct implication of the requirement Is that the service is approved before it's carried out.

So you know, and that's a very simple thing, that means that the scouts not going to be disappointed by doing something That he thinks qualifies and then find out that the Scoutmaster has a different opinion. So there's an approval step and it's a fantastic opportunity to have a discussion about important concepts and ideals To shape another building block and character development, and something like this should never be limited to policy words on a piece of paper. This is a great act of conversation to have with your scouts.

Now you have a lot to do with defining the approval process. If we want our scouts to develop a lively sense of service and commitment, The approval step ought to be as simple and direct as possible and not involve filling out papers and forms or other needless elaborations. Make it simple, make the approval of their service hours and exchange of ideas rather than Set definition of the way that you want to see things done. When I discuss a service opportunity with a scout. I asked them to define it in terms of the scout oath and law, to tell me why it is service. I I do my best not to preach to them.

I ask questions that get them thinking about it for themselves. Sometimes scouts don't have a clear idea of what a service project ought to be.

So they ask them to tell me the difference between Obligation and service. For example, Taking out the trash at home is an obligation of being a member of a family. It's not a service project.

You know, doing your homework, cleaning up the yard, Shoveling snow for your family at your house, It's not a service project. I would say to that extends to some of the activities that you would do in school.

If you volunteer to be part of a program at school- let's say it's a concert or a play or something like that- Well, that's not really service to the community. That's voluntary participation in something that benefits you as well as other people, I understand, but mostly it crews to your benefit. But at the same time I I wouldn't hesitate to say there are plenty of service groups in In schools and participation in some of those would definitely qualify.

So if we announce blanket prohibitions or approvals for service projects, We won't get to have this discussion with scouts. A few minutes of an engaged discussion with a scout really affords us the opportunity to make actual differences in their lives and To expand our own idea of service.

Because, you know, if you, if you just have a blanket prohibition, Nobody can do this and qualify it as a service project. Well, you've missed. You've missed the point of the whole thing. You've missed the opportunity to have a discussion with the scout who may tell you something that you don't know now.

A moment ago, We were discussing the idea that opportunities for service need to be like a meaning Eagle project. I don't think I've read the riot act recently, But according to the guide to advancement, no council, committee, district, unit or individual has the authority to add to or Subtract from advancement requirements, Requiring that this be like a mini Eagle Scout project. I understand why somebody would do that- because they want this scouts to have some experience in that Before they take on a full Eagle Scout project. But you can't do that because it's adding to the advancement requirements.

So let's remember these things: Service projects can be conducted individually or through participation in a troop or patrol project, And there's no verbiage in anything that I have found that we can Require scouts to participate in a given project to fulfill the requirement. It's totally up to them. There's nothing that indicates that all the hours must be earned in a single project.

If the rank requirement says six hours, It can be six or twelve different projects, or it can be one project, or it can be three projects, so long as the scout accrues The hours needed. Participation is the only requirement. They can be a part of the planning and development or leadership of these projects, But they cannot be required to take part in the planning, development or leadership of the project And we are encouraged to approve participation in another Scouts Eagle Scout service project for the rank requirement. Service to others, as I said before, is a key concept we hope to build in our scouts And the opportunity to do this is built into the requirements. The few minutes we'll have in a discussion, helping them discover what service means, The nature of the service itself And whether or not in their opinion- not our opinion, not our judgment, but in their opinion- If that service qualifies towards the requirement, is important. And finally I'll say this: service is more than a requirement.

Service is more than just getting something for yourself so you can get your next rank. Service is a habit. Service is a way of life. Looking after the interests of other people, helping other people at all times, Being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent: This is the way that we live our lives.

These are the things that are going to follow our Scouts into the rest of their lives, And we have the precious opportunity of helping them discover the joy of being of service to other people. Don't overshadow that with jargon and judgment about fulfilling a rank requirement. There shouldn't be any question in any unit out there that there are plenty of opportunities to fulfill those rank requirements Baked into the units program and certainly in encouraging the initiative of all our Scouts to live a life of service to others.

So those were two of several emails we've received recently about rank requirements pertaining to service, And I hope you found those thoughts useful. If you have a question for me, you can get in touch. It's very easy to do And I'm going to tell you how to make that happen in just a moment.