SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY

Good Turn For America

Sam Houston Area Council

From barn raisings to soup kitchens, ordinary Americans have always made an extraordinary difference in the lives of their neighbors and in their communities by lending a helping hand. Today, America needs the service of its citizens more than ever. Hunger, lack of adequate shelter, poor health—these are issues that affect all of us. The Boy Scouts of America believes that we can do something about these issues—if we work together. That's why we've created Good Turn for America. Good Turn for America is a collaboration with The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, and thousands of other community organizations that focuses the power of volunteerism on these important community issues.

For information, visit http://www.goodturnforamerica.org/

Kommssioner Karl

Seneca District, Buckeye Council

The Boy Scouts of America's Good Turn traces back to American businessman William D. Boyce who was lost in a London fog. A boy offered to take Boyce to the address he wanted and refused a tip, saying he was a Boy Scout. Boyce's curiosity was aroused. He later had the boy take him to Scouting's British founder, Lord Baden-Powell. From this chance meeting, the Boy Scouts of America was born.

Since 1912, Boy Scouts nationally have been called to serve, from selling war bonds during World War II to collecting canned goods in the 1980s. 

Good Turn for America is a national call to service by the Boy Scouts of America to address the issues of hunger, homelessness, and poor health in our nation.

In this effort, the Boy Scouts of America is partnering with some of the nation's most respected service organizations, including The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and Special Presentation the American Red Cross. These organizations, and thousands of others, will work to provide opportunities for youth and volunteers to fight hunger and homelessness, and teach the habits of healthy living.   Youth and volunteers are looking for ways to serve their communities. At the same time, service organizations need dedicated volunteer help. By working together, we can improve our young people, our communities, and the nation.

Project Ideas

·         The project should be age-appropriate. Youth should not be asked to participate in activities that are beyond their physical, mental, and emotional capacity.

·         There should be proper adult supervision during all phases of the project.

·         Appropriate safety guidelines related to the project should be communicated to all participants.

·         Those within Scouting should follow the Guide to Safe Scouting.

Food drives

·         Conduct or expand Scouting for Food programs

·         Participate in collaborative food drives and collect food donations for food pantries

Provide meals to the hungry

·         Assist agencies that provide meals to the needy by helping them prepare and serve the meals

·         Help deliver meals and food to the homebound and elderly in conjunction with organizations such as Meals on Wheels

Assist organizations that build homes for the needy

·         Take part in a Habitat for Humanity homebuilding project

·         Assist community beautification projects, including repairing/repainting homes and sprucing up the yards of those in need

·         Assist organizations that provide home maintenance services for those in need

Assist shelters and their occupants

·         Collect clothing, toiletries, and supplies for people living in shelters.

·         Collect books and school supplies for children living in shelters

·         Collect toys and gifts for children of prisoners or those living in shelters

·         Conduct visits and reading programs for residents

·         Conduct entertainment programs for residents

·         Provide other volunteer services that improve the quality of shelter life

·         Conduct a fund-raiser for a not-for-profit shelter

Offer unit-level community and school-based sports and fitness clinics

·         BSA Physical Fitness Award and the Venturing Quest Sports and Fitness Award

·         Take a unit hike day/weekend

·         Fun run/walk/cycle event

·         Scout field games

Conduct a community health awareness project

·         Blood drives

·         Distribution of healthy living and drug abuse awareness literature

·         Distribute organ donor cards to the public

·         Conduct a child fingerprinting event

Conduct service projects to build healthier environments

·         Tree-planting and revegetation projects

·         Park or camp trial maintenance and repair

·         Projects to enhance wildlife habitats

·         Conservation and recycling projects

·         Beautification and litter cleanup projects

How Do I get Involved?

«  Go to http://goodturnforamerica.org/

«  Click on the “TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROJECT” in the left side menu.

«  Click “click here to log in or create an account.”

«  Click the red underlined “Click here.”

«  Click “I agree.”

«  You will need your unit Good Turn for America Unit ID number for the first line.  You may get this from your District Executive. 

«  Complete the rest of the information on this page to complete your account creation.  Be sure to let others in your unit know what your unit’s ID, registration and password is so they can log their hours as well.  Or designate someone to enter all of the information for your unit and have the den leaders submit the necessary information to them for entry.

«  When you need to enter your service hours, be sure to login from the “Tell us about your project” menu selection.  Simply follow the prompts to enter your project hours and details.  The website will keep track of the information for you.

Information you will be asked to provide will include:

·         The organization or group benefiting from the project

·         Partnering organizations

·         Date of the project

·         Number of Scouts participating

·         Number of non-Scouts helping

·         Number of adults participating

·         Total hours worked

Service projects may be entered throughout the year as they are done, no matter how big or small. After you enter the data for each project, your unit will be eligible to receive the Good Turn for America patch and year segment which can be obtained from the Scout Shop.

Boys’ Life Reading Contest for 2008

SAY ‘YES’ TO READING

Enter the 2008 Boys’ Life Reading Contest

Write a one-page report titled “The Best Book I Read This Year” and enter it in the Boys’ Life 2008 “Say Yes to Reading!” contest.

The book can be fiction or nonfiction. But the report has to be in your own words — 500 words tops. Enter in one of these three age categories:

­  8 years old and younger

­  9 and 10 years old

­  11 years old and older

First-place winners in each age category will receive a $100 gift certificate good for any product in the Boy Scouts official retail catalog. Second-place winners will receive a $75 gift certificate and third-place winners a $50 certificate.

Everyone who enters will get a free patch like the one shown above. (And, yes, the patch is a temporary insignia, so it can be worn on your Cub Scout or Boy Scout uniform shirt, on the right pocket. Proudly display it there or anywhere!) In coming years, you’ll have the opportunity to earn different patches.

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, self-addressed, stamped envelope, to:

Boys’ Life Reading Contest

S306

P.O. Box 152079

Irving, TX 75015-2079

Entries must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2008 and must include entry information and a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

For more details go to www.boyslife.org

Knot of the Month

Department of Defense Outstanding
Volunteer Service Medal
(MOVSM)

Kommissioner Karl

Buckeye Council, BSA

The OVSM is an honor awarded to members of the armed forces who perform outstanding volunteer community service of a sustained, direct and consequential nature subsequent to 31 December 1992.  This is considered a Boy Scout Community Organization Award, so recipients may wear the community service knot above on their BSA uniform, plus the medal or service ribbon is awarded for their military uniform.

To be eligible, an individual’s service must:

·         Be to a civilian community, to include the military family community

·         Be significant in nature and produce tangible results

·         Reflect favorably on the Military and Department of Defense

·         Be of a sustained and direct nature

There is no specific time period, service should merit the special recognition afforded by this medal.

Here is an award I did not know about.  I am sure most all of us have active duty personnel helping our units and councils. Lets see what we can do for them.  I wish I had known about this a few months ago.  Our District Commissioner just retired after 20 plus years of active duty.  It sure would have been great to see him receive this.

Kommisoner Karl

For more information on this award or what other organizational awards are eligible for recognition with a
Boy Scout Community Service Award go to

National's Website -

http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-582.aspx

Or

Our (USScouts) website -

http://www.usscouts.org/awards/community_org.asp