Boys' Life has a reading contest each year. To enter the 2000 contest write a one-page report titled "The Best Book I Read This Year": and enter it in the Boys' Life 2000 "Say Yes to Reading!" Contest.

The book can be fiction or non-fiction. But the report has to be in your own words. Enter in one of the three age categories:

• 8 years old and younger,
• 9 and 10 years old,
• 11 years and older.

When Pedro receives your report, you'll get a free patch.

(And yes, the patch is a temporary insignia, so it can be worn on the Boy Scout, or Cub Scout uniform shirt, on the right pocket. Proudly display it there!)

The top three winners from each age group will also get a Leatherman multi-tool, copies of Codemaster books 1 and 2, the limited edition Codemaster pin-and-patch set--plus their names will be announced in Boys' Life!

The contest is open to all Boys' Life readers. Be sure to include your name, address, age and grade in school on the entry.

Send your report, along with a business-size addressed, stamped envelope, to:

BSA, Boy's Life Reading Contest,

S204, P.O. Box 152079,

Irving, TX 75015-2079

Entries must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2000

A gift idea for any Pack/Troop Leader could be a flag that has flown over our nation's capital. You can order U.S. flags that have flown over the Capitol Building from any member of Congress (U.S. Senators or Representatives)

Under Web Sites I have included URLs for both Senators and Representatives. Visit the Congress member's Web site and click on the link called "Constituent Services or Flags. Follow the instructions supplied. Most of the Members' Web sites include order forms you can print out and mail in. Each U.S. flag comes with a certificate of authenticity. The certificate can include a personalized message for an event and/or person (example: Cubmaster Joe Doe, Our Thanks) -- but is usually limited to three sentences). Please provide three days advance notice to allow time to fly the flag on the requested date (example: a flag flown on a birthday) .Be sure to include a mailing address to which your flag should be sent. Allow 2 - 3 weeks for delivery. If none of your Senators or Representatives has a Web site, phone or write their office and ask how to order a "flag that has flown over the Capitol."

***********************************************

Start contacting your council office in August or September about this patch. The CS theme for Feb 2001 is "Passports to Other Lands", and this patch would be great for Cubs to be able to earn. Mike Walton, another Board Member of USSSP kindly provided this information.

Basically, any kind of activity with an international theme to it would qualify the Scout and Scouters for the emblem; however, most professionals don't have a clue as to what the award looks like or how it is "earned".

The first stop should be with the Council's International Representative. Every Council should have one...it's a requirement for the Council to be chartered with such a person. Most Councils just put down the name of someone....now is the time for that person to get some work tossed his or her way!! The International Representative's job is to promote "international activities, events and programs in which the Council's youth and adult members can participate." This is a definate example of such an event.

He or she also approves the "requirements" for the International Activities emblem.

So, that's the first person I would "hit up" and ask about this award.

Secondly, I would make a copy of the International Activities Patch and the BSA stock numbers for it and the large six-inch backpatch and pass it around during Roundtables in October, November and December of this year in advance of the Blue and Golds in Feburary. Why not January? Typically, during that month's Roundtable, there's a blizzard of papers running around and I'm afraid that most will see the patch and the requirements and confuse it with other stuff....

Or maybe promote it in January, December and November.

An exhibit of the patches along with the requirements or guidelines from your Council during Roundtables would also help out. Even having the Council's IR to show up at your District's Roundtable would help too.

Those are all of the things off the top of my head I can think of to elevate the interest and knowledge of the emblem; the BSA will do their part by sending information to both IR and the Council itself for distribution to us all in the latter half of this year.