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I am sharing this in the Support section just as an example of how I approach things in which I have no desire to participate. Take it as nothing more than a FWIW item. I was sick over the weekend and missed church. I got a phone call on Monday asking about the Friends of Scouting campaign. I chuckled as I responded:
Quote:I don’t contribute to Scouting. I hated it when I was a kid.
The person who called laughed and said something like, “Yeah, I guess that’s a good reason.” I laughed and said something like, “Yeah, it is what it is. I’m just one of those people.”
Raayeer! (makes tiger, roaring sound). That’s gutsy ray! 😆 Good Answer! Over the years I have used these two
1. I will contribute then the church puts as much effort in raising funds for the YW (I have three daughters, so they understand where I’m coming from.)
2. The CEO of BSA makes $1.6 million, and the local full time leader makes over $200K. When I make that much I’ll contribute.
I saw the thread title and thought the tread was going to be Ray reminding us to turn in our contributions. 🙂 The campaign is in full swing right now… and you don’t even get any popcorn.
😥 I like the honest and straightforward reply, Ray. It’s hard to argue with that one. I always say “I give plenty of my time and resources directly to the troop in support of their activities.” Having 2 Eagle Scouts, and hopefully a third soon, I have never gotten any push back.
Ray, thanks for sharing that. People like me need to see actual, factual examples (complete with quotations) of people marching to their own drum. DarkJedi wrote:I like the honest and straightforward reply, Ray. It’s hard to argue with that one.
I always say “I give plenty of my time and resources directly to the troop in support of their activities.” Having 2 Eagle Scouts, and hopefully a third soon, I have never gotten any push back.
I think Ray is just confirming the importance of the first principle of the scout law – “a scout is HONEST”
I can’t quite pull a Ray on this as I have been a scoutmaster for quite a while and have quite a few boys – some still going through YM. As soon as the last one is out of YM, I am going to be one of those that say, “I did my time and contributed countless tanks of gas and broken equipment, so move along now.” I do contribute, but nothing the amount that they ask for.
And Sheldon – The funding restrictions put on LDS troops strangle the program, but I think you would agree that it is 10X worse with the YW. I feel sorry for any tom-boy YW. They must be bored stiff.
Looking Hard–I was that tom-boy yw. Torture!! LookingHard wrote Quote:I feel sorry for any tom-boy YW. They must be bored stiff
slowlylosingit wrote
Quote:-I was that tom-boy yw. Torture!!
Years ago when I was in YW, as a girl, my mom was the Stake Young Women’s President, and I was whining about “Why did we have girls camp.” My mom very astutely explained that there were girls who only got to enjoy YW when it was camp or sports season. Now camp is even less outdoor adventure then it was then.
Old-Timer wrote:
I don’t contribute to Scouting. I hated it when I was a kid.I like that, Ray. Everything associated with Scouting is already overpriced as it is. Having a son in the Cub Scouts, I don’t mind donating the amount that I would be paying to sign him up in a non-LDS scout group. But I don’t donate more than that. The cost of uniforms, books, and everything else is ridiculous, and I’d prefer not to give the scouts any more of my money than necessary. I never felt compelled to donate before my son was scouting-age, and I won’t be donating when he gets out of scouting. I think it’s a great program, with the right leaders in place.
I was lucky as a kid. When I was in the YM program, the YW President was very bold and always insisted that the YW should be able to do an equal number of activities as the YM/Scouts. And the bishop actually went along with it. So, when the YM went out to do an activity, the YW were almost always invited to go along. When the YM/Scouts had an overnight camp, the YW would hold a camp, as well (in a different location). I never realized that it wasn’t like that everywhere until I left that ward and went on a mission.
What bugs me is when people have kids in scouts but donate nothing, neither time nor money. I don’t think Ray is in that boat. I have mixed feelings about Boy Scouts and Friends of Scouting. My single largest complaint is that my two daughters didn’t get near the support or resources that my two sons are getting as scouts.
However, I now have two sons in scouts. Scouts made me a better person and will make my sons better men than if they didn’t participate. For all its many flaws (and there are many!) scouts is a pretty good program and I think is inexpensive and probably relatively effective when you compare it to other activities that boys participate in.
I do agree that Scouts gets much more attention, resources, etc., than YW and being the father of both genders I do recognize how my daughter was affected by that. We do live in an area that relaxes the rules, however, and we do more than one fundraiser for both. We also had a YWP when my DD was in her later teens who actually dared to take the girls on a more adventurous outdoor trip (two men had to go also, of course). Our SM is a real Scouter, not someone who does it just because he was called, and runs the troop more like a non-church troop. Our SP, and the previous one, are on board with all of this. FWIW, Friends of Scouting money goes to the council, not the local troop.
DarkJedi wrote:
FWIW, Friends of Scouting money goes to the council, not the local troop.Most of the membership doesn’t know this. I didnt, even after I was SM for a year or two. I do donate a portion that I think is fair, our council is doing a pretty good job. But yes, when I was in charge of the FOS campaign, I told everyone when I handed out the envelopes where the money was going. I wasn’t asked to hand them out the next year, which was fine with me. I more encourage people to give to their local units, or a boy specifically if one needs funds for camp etc.
On the YW, my daughters did the YW program and earned their equivalent award, I say equivalent because they put in ALOT of work to earn it, and it was a good experience for them.
I’d rather not create a new thread for this one question so I’m piggybacking here. My scouting experience as a youth was all in a troop affiliated with a Methodist church so that’s my basis for comparison. I was curious if this was a local to me thing or if this is fairly common practice church-wide.
How long does a typical campout last? Locally it’s not uncommon at all for a campout to start Friday afternoon where the kids are back by noon on Saturday. Less than 24 hours. Contrast that with my scouting experience, Friday afternoon until Sunday midday. The 20 days and 20 nights requirement for the camping merit badge takes twice as long.
I guess the sabbath interferes with “real” campouts. You know, the ones where we hiked uphill both ways and got attacked by 50 foot bears riding snakes.
This extends to summer camp as well. I was taken aback by how the scouts show up at the crack of dawn the Monday morning of summer camp as opposed to showing up on Sunday like everyone else and taking the more relaxed approach.
I get how church schedules on Sunday might interfere with scout pickup. Personally I don’t see kids missing church as a problem. You’ve got more than enough PH holders to have your own SM in the woods.
I just find it strange that campouts are so short that you’re practically tearing down as soon as you finish setting up.
I don’t think it’s local to just you, Nibbler, I think what you see is common in the church. Our ward is an exception. We do go to camp on Sunday, leaving right after the block, and with the blessing of the SP. Other wards in our stake don’t do that, however. Our troop campouts typically start with leaving at 4 or 5 Friday afternoon and go until Saturday evening, although there is also something planned each time there is a long weekend from school or a school break. This week, for example, the boys went on a two night campout midweek (not my son because of baseball practice). Our SM is also the exception to the rule, as stated elsewhere he is a Scouter, not someone who was just called. He’s not the strongest member, although he does regularly attend church (usually without a white shirt and tie) but sometimes he works Sunday to get time off for Scout activities. I won’t say our troop is perfect, I have lots of criticisms, but it is outside the norm of church troops (and also has a large non-member enrollment) and it does offer a real Scout experience. Before he was called we had a horrible Scout program. It was not even possible for the boys to do the things they need for the lower rank requirements – not enough activities and such. My two older sons both started “dual registered” in the church troop and the one at the local Methodist church where they had friends from school anyway. That troop did camp until Sunday morning but it was always local and they didn’t care that we picked up our boys late Saturday night.
As a side note, I think the coming home Saturday morning has two main causes: to many members (especially men) Saturday is more sacred than Sunday, and the guys called are doing it because they were called and not because they necessarily love Scouting. In troops outside the church the guy leading is there totally because he wants to be, which just happens to be true of our troop’s SM.
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