Colonial District's
1999 Membership Report
| BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA COUNCIL COLONIAL DISTRICT March 24, 1999 MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT Chairman: Jim Poole (703-799-7046, jim_poole@nps.gov) Summary of Youth Membership Activities: Membership figures for the month ending February 28 show modest gains, given the close of our Join Scouting Night activities in December (see summary). 2,440 youth members are registered, including 182 in the Learning for Life program, an increase of 79 from December. These youth members are organized into 83 units (31 packs, 30 troops, 4 teams, 11 crews, and 7 LFL). Our goal in 1999 is to organize at least 3 new units, given the termination of Pack 1435 at the Gum Springs Community Center (30 registered youth, ALL less than the minimum age for Cub Scouting!) Commissioner staff is requested to give particular attention in their units to ensure that all eligible Cubs actually cross over into a Scout troop and that NONE are lost. Likewise, we need to ensure that District support is actually reaching those packs that are not demonstrating an increase in membership. The list includes AREA 1: Packs 126, 133, 609, 615; AREA 4: Pack 977. New Unit Program: Vice Chair Melvin Fowler (765-1608) has been recruited to identify potential sponsors of new units. He has been asked to concentrate on the Route 1 corridor. Learning for Life: Vice Chair Beverley Benda (360-2819, bendiva@yahoo.com) On March 2nd, the LFL team met with Dr. Ernest DeVoe (301-214-9146) NCAC Director of LFL, to discuss the Colonial District LFL program and initiatives we are taking. Our biggest need is to recruit adult scouters who are willing to assist in introducing the LFL program to area schools. If there are adult scouters who are actively engaged in activities at a local school, it would be very helpful to have these persons identified to Beverley Benda or Jim Poole in an effort to introduce the LFL program in their school. On April 14th, the LFL team will meet with Mr. Howard Spiegelman, Director of Community Resources, Alexandria City Public Schools to discuss implementing the LFL program in Alexandria public schools. We will focus at the meeting on Mount Vernon Elementary School and enlisting the support of three churches in Old Town to recruit adult volunteers to serve as LFL teachers at Mt. Vernon. This is an exploratory meeting only and will require the active cooperation and participation of the individual school principals to implement the program. In cooperation with the Training Team and Dr. DeVoe, we are also engaged in plans to train those persons already registered in the LFL program and to recruit volunteers from the Aldersgate UMC to assist in the LFL program at SACC - A Child's Place on 1500 Shenandoah Road. Community Events: Vice Chair - David Stewart (461-7233, DStew76798@aol.com) Dave Stewart, Mike Porter and Paul Kosmicki represented Colonial District at the George Washington Birthday celebration parade on Monday, Feb. 15th. The team erected a BSA booth designed to recruit youth to the Cub, Scout and Venture programs and successfully recruited two new Commissioners. However, the Membership Chair is Most Disappointed that these new Scouters were not recruited into membership activities_but we will get even_ We encourage District Scouters to use community and neighborhood events as opportunities to set up a table, appear in uniform and have various Scout materials and registration forms available to recruit new Scouts and adults into the program. Training Conference: CORs, Cmttee Chairs & Exec. Officers: The Membership Committee and Training Team will offer a course of instruction to acquaint CORs, Committee Chairs and executive officers of sponsoring organizations with their role in the Scouting program. The course will run for about 3 hours beginning at 7 pm, April 22nd at Aldersgate UMC. Join Scouting Night (JSN): Vice Chair - Jane Sanchez (360-9181, jsanchez@bna.com) JSN activities for fall 1999 are now in planning. Join Scouting Night is September 16th. The JSN team hopes to have a BSA presence at every school in the district in September. Orientations for unit leaders will be conducted at the August 11th and September 8th Roundtables. JSN material distribution will be made at these roundtables. It is most important that packs begin identifying their designated JSN chair as soon as possible and those arrangements are made with school officials for the September JSN. Leaders of Boy Scout Troops should coordinate recruitment efforts with pack leaders to ensure that efforts are made to recruit boys 11 years of age who may not have been Cub Scouts. Relationships: Vice Chair Tom Libby (780-4810, HALFE@aol.com) Tom Libby provided a briefing on the BSA religious awards program at the February roundtable and has made arrangements for religious services at the spring LNT camporee. |
|
|