What Scouting Has Done to My Son

This story is about 12 year old Boy Scout, Ben Rush. Ben is a member of Troop 60 of Paso Robles, CA in the Del Norte District and the troop is chartered to the Paso Robles Rotary with about 40 registered Boy Scouts. Dennis Collins is Scoutmaster of Troop 60 and Mr. Hix and Mr. Kudija are serving as assistant Scoutmasters. This letter from Laura Rush, Ben's mother is a powerful testimony to how Scouting has influenced her son's character in his very positive and moving demonstration of compassion for his 3 year old sister who is experiencing health problems. Read and understand how the values of Scouting have taken residence in the heart of this Boy Scout!

"Dear Mr. Hix and Mr. Kudija (and Mr. Collins if this can be sent to him),

After last night's Court of Honor I had to write to you gentlemen to express to you what Scouting has done to my son. Benjamin has had quite a rough life for a twelve year old boy but he had always wanted to follow in his family's footsteps and be a Scout. Since this past summer our family has been trying to face head-on a medical issue with his three year old sister Sarah. Unfortunately it has cumulated into a medical mystery that has lead us down the road of MRI's, EKG's and many, MANY blood tests to name a few. Ben is the ultimate "big brother" to his sister and was heartbroken to know what was going on and what Sarah was having to go through.

Yesterday morning (Monday) I had to take Sarah to a new neurologist and then after hours with that specialist had to take her to have painful blood tests taken (a very long story). You can imagine it is every parent's nightmare to watch your child go through pain and terror and be unable to stop it. That afternoon Ben came home from school and the first words out of his mouth weren't, "Hi Mom" or "I had a great day at school". Instead Ben immediately picked up his sister and said, "What happened today? Is she ok Mom?" Ben doesn't like things "glossed over" and wants to know what is going on. Of course I tried my best to clean up what the reality of the situation was but it was his reaction that really struck a chord. Ben said, "Mom, isn't there something I can do? Can't I give her a part of me, any part to save her from this? I'm a Boy Scout and I am supposed to be helpful. I can't think of anyone I'd rather help more." You must understand this is a boy who is really frightened of doctors, needles, surgeries, etc. and yet he'd willingly lay down himself for his sister. Of course there is nothing that Ben can do but the idea that he has taken the concept of Scouting to the highest degree made me so proud.

After hearing last night's speaker discuss the laws of Scouting in use I found myself misting over with the knowledge that Ben is truly doing what he is being taught. This struggling mother thanks you very much for impacting these young men.

Thank you for your time,
With appreciation,
Laura Rush.....Ben Rush's Mom"

In response to a request for permission to share this story with you, Laura Rush wrote the following.

"I absolutely consent to any publication of the effects of Scouting have been on my son to whomever would like to get the word out. I wish every parent could understand how incredible this program is to the boys of our country and community. If any further information is needed please feel free to contact me.

As an added note, Ben is doing a report for his world history class on the subject of the Heroes of Iwo Jima(obviously WWII). He is supposed to give an oral report on it on December 18th which is the day Sarah has to have her MRI conducted in Santa Barbara. He asked his history teacher (an Eagle Scout by the way) if he could give his report early so he could be there for his sister (he wanted to be there when she woke up). His teacher told Ben that he will instead schedule him to give his presentation at the end of that week so he has all the time he needs to be there for Sarah. Looks like Scouting is everywhere--even with the teachers.

Yes, I give my consent to whomever needs it to share Ben's story and how honored we are to have a Scout in our family.

Sincerely,
Laura Rush.....Ben's Mom"

This testimony from a proud mother explaining "what Scouting has done to my son", helps us all understand why Scouting has been around for almost 100 years! —Rick

Kayaking BSA

Kayaking BSA provides an introduction to kayaking skills and safety procedures and serves as a program opportunity for Boy Scout, Varsity, and Venturing units in camp or out.

[ http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/19-510.pdf ]

Traditional Versus Non-Traditional Scouting

Does the idea of traditional Scouting versus non-traditional Scouting seem a little confusing. Based on feedback I have received on my recent articles including the topic of Learning For Life a fair number of people feel the same way. In this article, my hope is to clarify the relationship between traditional Scouting and non-traditional Scouting so you can better understand the implications of the way "traditional membership" and "total membership" are being reported and strategically planned locally.

The following is a memo sent to all Scout Executives on 2/12/98 from Jere Ratcliffe, BSA's Chief Scout Executive announcing the creation of the Learning For Life program:

"Date: February 12, 1998
To: Scout Executives
From: Jere B. Ratcliffe, Chief Scout Executive
Subject: National Executive Board Action

The National Executive Board of the BSA took steps at it's February 11, 1998 meeting to broaden our capacity to impact the character education and ethical behavior of teenagers and to expand our mission-based, traditional program by approving the following program changes.

1. Create a new program division of the BSA called "Venturing" for high school age youth.

2. Move the Career Exploring program to the Learning for Life subsidiary.

Supporting Information:

The Venturing program of the Boy Scouts of America will include girls and boys ages 14 through 20 who have completed the eighth grade and are members of our current high adventure, religious, and outdoor Exploring programs. The Learning for Life subsidiary will include girls and boys who participate in elementary school, middle/junior high, high school, special needs, and Career Exploring programs.

School Districts across the country are seeking both in-school career educational opportunities like the Learning for Life program, as well as workplace-based programs such as Career Exploring. By moving the Career Exploring programs from the traditional program to Learning for Life, a complete career educational package is now available to schools to meet their needs and the needs of their students.

At the same time our traditional high adventure, religious, and outdoor Exploring program will be renamed "Venturing" and will continue to retain all of the elements of the traditional BSA program while enhanced with new advancement, leadership, and development opportunities.

Discussions with many of our participating organizations clearly indicates that these changes will make it easier for them to use our programs with their youth. Similar discussions with many councils also indicate that these changes will help them package a total career education program for their schools, bring more corporate support into the school-to-work opportunity, and clearly define our values and core programs.

We believe that these changes will:

Lead to stronger partnerships between schools, businesses, and the Boy Scouts of America;
Increase career exposure for students;
Improve students' understanding of business ethics and values;
Broaden employment options for students after graduation;
Reduce school dropout rates and improve school attendance;
Position the BSA as an organization playing a positive role in the fight against unemployment;
Mirror organizational structure currently being used by many local councils; and
Lead to increased membership in both Venturing and Career Exploring and
protect our core traditional programs from legal challenges.

A. Effective date of change - August 1, 1998

B. Presentations on the changes will be presented at the May National Annual Meeting in San Antonio and the National Leadership Training Conference in Nashville.

C. The process of developing new literature, video, books, training materials, quality unit requirements, and communication pieces has begun.

We will communicate the details of these changes as soon as we can. The Chief's Winner's Circle program and measurements will not change for this year's program.

As I told our National Executive Board, "Preparing young people for a responsible future is our mission. Learning for Life is the best program in character education available. The Boy Scouts of America should be, and is, the pioneer in character education and now in school-to-work programs. When we measure our resources in support of core programs, I believe we are providing councils with more tools to be more dominant players on the community agenda in addressing critical youth and educational issues." This is an exciting opportunity for all of us to move forward stronger than ever."

This 1998 memo announced the creation of the Learning For Life (LFL) program and reflects the moment in time when non-traditional or non-Scouting membership was born. Learning For Life is a sort of step-child of Scouting. It was born out of a foundation of lesson plans built in the long established in-school Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America, but LFL does not share the name of Scouting. I could not find any reference to Scouting on the LFL web sites and only minimal references to Learning For Life on the national web site of the BSA. Just remember non-traditional membership is NOT Scouting and LFL is not a membership organization. A more accurate term for the Learning For Life and Exploring would be non-Scouting units. If it is not Scouting than what is it? Let me try to explain.

If we take a look at the mission statements for both the BSA and Learning for Life you will see some of the differences.

Boy Scout Mission Statement: The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

Learning For Life Mission Statement: It is the mission of Learning for Life to serve others by helping to instill core values in young people and in other ways prepare them to make ethical choices throughout their lives so they can achieve their full potential.

In the LFL mission statement there is no Scout Oath or Scout Law. A belief in God is not part of the the LFL program, so the Scout Oath which includes a belief in God is not used. There is no Learning For Life oath or law.

A primary reason LFL was created is referenced in "protect our core traditional programs from legal challenges." This involves how leadership is determined for both the in-school and career based LFL units. The in-school program is administered and often presented by school teachers. The work site based Exploring program is provided leadership from the employees at the work site where the program is being conducted. This would include work sites like police departments, fire departments, hospitals and other service based work sites. The hiring policies for school teachers and for organizations providing leadership to the work site based Exploring program allow gay individuals. This employment policy clashes with the traditional leadership requirements of the BSA programs. Avowed gays are not allowed to serve as leaders in Scouting units.

For me the creation of the Learning For Life program was a very positive and smart move. Without this development many school children would not be getting the value based lessons of life they are being taught. Although I believe the traditional Scouting program has a greater and longer lasting impact on children that a once a week classroom based lesson plan. As a District Executive in Merced, I was responsible for over 800 children enrolled in Learning For Life programs. You notice I say enrolled because LFL students are never individually registered by name they are only "enrolled" as part of a number count. Now 800 children may sound like a lot, but when you consider they were in 6 units (750 in 3 in school units, 50 in 3 Exploring units) it was a manageable responsibility. As the professional Scouter responsible for these programs I had the opportunity to observe a lesson plan being delivered to a class of fifth grade students one day. That is when I became sold on the program. After the lesson was completed the teacher had a reward board set up in the classroom that students would place stickers on to recognize their behavior linked to the value based lesson plans being taught. What I remember most is the smile on the face of a little girl after she placed her sticker on the reward board. Priceless!

Without LFL the career based Exploring program may have just died. Not a good thing. From my experience as the Exploring Chairman for my district many years ago I know Exploring as a very valuable program. I am happy Exploring has been able to continue unfettered by policies that could have terminated it's ability to find leaders.

So I hope you understand that I personally like the LFL program, but the message being sent by making it the dominant focus of the strategic membership plan for the council just scares me. It is not the the Los Padres Council, Learning For Life — but the Los Padres Council, Boy Scouts of America that provides our children the Scouting program, you serve as Scouting volunteers, and it is the Scouting program for which local financial support is provided. When a council strategic financial plan is written will they replace Friends of Scouting (FOS) with Friends of Learning For Life (FOLFL)? Will the council strategic program plan just say, "Order more Learning For Life lesson plans for Rancho Alegre?"

A clear understanding of the relationship between traditional membership and non-traditional non-Scouting membership is necessary to fully appreciate the profound implications inherent in the council's strategic membership plan. I do not understand what is wrong with just saying the truth, that membership is a big problem and then asking volunteers for help to make it better? Maybe if you don't value the contribution of volunteers there is no reason to ask for their help? I would just prefer to see a more realistic balanced membership plan that has reasonable growth expectations for both Learning For Life (without the Outdoor School children in the picture) and a realistic positive growth for ALL the traditional Scouting programs. A membership plan for 2005-2010 that projects a 100% growth in membership is not realistic in light of recent membership loses both locally and nationally.

But I keep getting this sick feeling in my stomach that local professional Scouters are getting ready to stick a knife in the back of the traditional Scouting program with these huge increases in the non-Scouting LFL program? Then hide the real traditional membership growth behind a deceptive message of "22.5% total membership growth" that at best confuses. What are we not being told about the future plans for the real traditional Scouting program? How is increasing LFL membership by 2,800 relevant to giving our children a quality SCOUTING PROGRAM? Who is kidding who with this plan? Is this just a sinister way to spin membership numbers and make people think Scouting is doing better than it honestly is? This plan just does not feel Scout-like. The council membership plan diverts focus, planning, resources, leadership, and most importantly hope away from giving our Scouts a quality program. Plus the logic of making LFL the cornerstone of the strategic membership plan escapes me because in 2005 the Los Padres Council did not have one single school-based LFL unit operating. This school based program has been available for 8 years now and the council professional staff has demonstrated zero competency in marketing the program. Now all of a sudden, virtually the whole council strategic membership plan is based on LFL's "total membership growth" and our traditional Boy Scouting program is now abandoned to 0% growth. How long will it take for the nasty foul odor emanating from this plan to become unbearable! —Rick

Christmas Bells

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Scouting For Food

Lompoc — January 27, 2007
 Lompoc Food Pantry, 903 E. Chestnut

The Lompoc Food Pantry is normally CLOSED on Saturdays.

Drop-Off time is only
1 pm to 2 pm

This One Hour Window to drop off food is due to the donated time of the Pantry Coordinator. [flyer]

For further information for contact Tara Height at 805-735-5613 or taraheight@verizon.net

Scouting For Food

January 27, 2007
 Santa Maria — Guadalupe

Drop-Off time is
10 am to 1 pm (Time Correction!)
Food bank of Santa Barbara County
490 W Foster Rd, Santa Maria, CA 93455 [map]

Sign ups for work areas will happen during December 14, 2006 Roundtable in Orcutt.
For further information for contact Joe Hughes 938-1617
or the Santa Maria Scout Store 925-1955.

Calendar Items

Weekly Scouting Term

This feature of Rick's News! presents a new Scouting term taken directly from the Language of Scouting web page each week. This information may help upgrade your understanding of Scouting terminology and the Scouting program. If you have a term you would like listed let me know.  [http://www.scouting.org/identity/los/]

Historic Trails Award
An award that may be earned by members of a Boy Scout troop, Varsity Scout team, or Venturing crew for hiking a trail listed in Nationally Approved Historic Trails and completing a project related to the trail.

Weekly Web Site

Quotable Quotes

Wit — Wordplay — Wisecracks

When you stop believing in Santa Claus is when you start getting clothes for Christmas.