Bill's Blog |
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| 6/11/2009 - Bills Blog-Celebrating our Volunteers, Recruiting, and Registration Fee Increase | |
To: Fellow Scouts and Council Staff
From: Bill Garrett
I am happy to report that it didn’t rain every day I was in Florida. We made it through Disney and spent a sunny 6 days on the gulf coast. My daughter loves Disney…..she’s Minnie Mouse, her mom gets to be Mickey, and well……I’m known as Goofy. I’m not sure why and please don’t offer to enlighten me, but I can’t wait to wear my new Goofy hat to the office!
It was great to get back to Central New York!
District Dinners and Annual Meetings
I had the honor of being welcomed to the Diamond and Aplin District dinners over the past two weeks and had the opportunity to meet new people and re-connect with others. I was also excited to share our strategic plan, vision, and thoughts with the groups and ask for their support. I appreciate the commitment that everyone has for our great movement! One of the most memorable experiences that I’ve had in Scouting happened at the Aplin District Dinner. I was privileged to hear a tribute to long-time Scouter Bing Richards. It would be impossible to tell you everything about Bing, but I will offer that during his association with Scouting, since 1933 (that’s 76 years!), he has been a mentor to countless young men and an inspiration to everyone -myself included. Please join me in congratulating Bing on being named one of our “Scouters of the Century”!
I look forward to my visit to the SETA District tonight!
Bob Gilchrist
A lot of you have asked about another long-time Scouter and benefactor of our Council, Bob Gilchrist. As many of you know, Bob usually spends the winter months in Florida. Unfortunately, during his trip this winter Bob underwent a triple by-pass and heart valve replacement. Although he is recovering-he, most likely, will not be returning to Utica. While in Florida during February, I had the opportunity to visit with Bob and he already missed his friends and “home”. However, I was unable to make contact during my latest trip so few of us are planning to try to see him in July. As soon as I get more information, I will pass it along. I’m sure Bob would enjoy a card or letter.
New Board Members
In my last blog, I requested that we all focus on recruiting new adults to the Scouting family. Our Council Key 3 and nominating committee’s goal was to recruit 8 new board members by June 18. I am happy to say, we have 4 new members so far and have re-engaged others. We are also awaiting affirmative answers from others and have 3 additional meetings scheduled next week. Our newest members are (pending elections next week):
VP of Marketing: Mary MacEnroe-Mary is the assist to the director of the Utica Boilermaker and is associated with a great Scouting family.
At-Large Member: Mario Macias-Mario is an attorney by trade and is involved in many civic organizations including our marketing-sub-committee of the strategic plan. He will be serving on our outreach committee
At-Large Member: Ruth Concepcion-Ruth is a member of the staff of St. Elizabeth’s and also involved in numerous other civic organizations including our strategic planning committee. She will be serving on our outreach committee.
Council Treasurer: Frank Kapusta-Frank is a Vice-President of M&T Bank in Herkimer and a past council president in the General Herkimer Council. He has been away from Scouting for several years but in his words: “our conversation stirred up many found memories of my past association.” He also wants to “thank” Bill McEachern for “thinking about him”.
By the way, our former VP Marketing Tony Colon is being named to VP of our new Outreach Initiative and Treasurer Bob Hillick will become our new VP of Exploring and Learning for Life.
Please join me in keeping our adult leader recruiting effort a priority. Let me know if you need help and certainly share your successes! I also think it appropriate to recognize individuals who recruit new leaders into our movement and I am happy to announce that I am working on a new award to recognize individuals that distinguish themselves as volunteer recruiters. Look for more information on the Scout Executive’s Recruiting Award soon!
Outreach
In Scouting’s early years, we were a driving force to bring people of different cultures and races together for a common purpose…..making better youth! Today, more than ever, our nation needs an organization to do the same. Our area is a prime example of the need-I was amazed to learn that over 40 languages are used in the Utica School District alone! Our council will answer the challenge by reaching out to all segments of the population because, in the end, we all want the same thing and that’s better youth!
Our outreach initiative has a broad challenge: multicultural markets, underserved populations, juvenile diversion, at-risk youth and we know that we need to engage the community to make it work. I am happy to report that the community is responding. Under the leadership of Vice-President Tony Colon we have engaged two new board members and have recruited the following to a task force to determine our strategy and to gather the necessary resources to be successful:
Anthony Picente, County Executive
Jim Brown, Mayor of Rome
Tammy Burkhart, Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Rome
Bob Roth, Director of the Oneida County Youth Bureau
Camp Russell Beaver Weekend
I had the opportunity to visit the Camp Russell Beaver Weekend last Saturday and pull a few (very few) nails with Bill McEachern. Just as I said the black flies didn’t seem so bad, I noticed two bites on my arm! I found a few more after getting home. I’m sure they will be gone by summer camp! I also witnessed the tireless dedication of our volunteers in readying our camp for another successful season. My thanks to each of them for their hard work. I also attended the climbing wall training, along with other district and council leaders including our council president! We hope to put the wall to better use! By the way, I am only certified through step 8, so I can help a little if needed.
Registration Fee Increase
I was recently notified by our National Organization that, effective January 1, 2010 youth and adult registration fees will increase to $15.00 per year or an extra 41 cents a month. If you are new to Scouting, please understand that this registration fee is set by the National Volunteer Executive Board and is used primarily to fund the National Organization’s support of local councils, National High Adventure Bases and to provide support material, liability insurance, and Scouting Magazine. Although we collect this fee at the local council, it is transmitted to the National Office.
According to the information from the National Office, a great deal of thought and consideration went into this decision by both the National Executive Board and the Membership Fee Task Force. Input was sought and received from staff and volunteers at the council level. Finally, given all these considerations, it was determined that the best approach was to increase the fee.
As you will recall, the last fee increase was in 2003.
Finally…..I, along with our council leadership, am committed to making Scouting available to all youth regardless of their personal situation. We will continue to raise the necessary funds to make that happen!
Summer Camp
I hope that you are as excited as I am about the upcoming camping season. If you’re not registered, there’s still time to join the tradition! I look forward to seeing you at camp.
Yours in Scouting,
Bill Garrett
Scout Executive & CEO
Boy Scouts of America
Revolutionary Trails Council
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