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MOLDING BOYS INTO
MEN AND LEADERS
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BY JONATHAN
SCHLERETH
Sixty-three thousand. That is the number of scouts in the Greater
St. Louis Area Council, Boy Scouts of America. Put another way,
one out of every five boys, within the Scouting age and the Council
boundaries, is enrolled in the character-building program, creating
the largest market share in the nation. The Council also covers
26 counties in Missouri and 10 in Illinois and is ranked as one
of the top three area councils in the United States. Those impressive
numbers are made possible by the devotion of scout leaders, volunteers,
administrators, and St. Louis’ top civic and corporate leaders that
form the Council’s Executive Board.
Boy
Scouts of America Executive Board
(Seated left to right): TERRY
L. SCHWARCK, scout executive—Greater
St. Louis Area Council, Boy Scouts of America; DAVID
C. DARNELL, council president; president,
Commercial & Real Estate Banking, Bank of America
(Standing left to right): STEVEN
O. SWYERS, council commissioner; managing
partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC; C.
RAY HOLMAN, council chairman of the board;
chairman of the board, Mallinckrodt, Inc.
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“The Board is one of the busiest groups of people in St. Louis,”
says Terry Schwarck, Scout Executive. “They are very active in finding
real solutions for the Council’s needs.” The Board was instrumental
in the 1996-2001 Strategic Plan, which succeeded in maintaining
a strong financial position, improving camping facilities, preparing
a capital campaign, and implementing quality programs. The goal
of the Council’s new 2001-2005 Strategic Plan is “to be the premier
youth-serving organization in our community and the program of choice
for the youths of tomorrow.” “We are continually trying to bring
better scouting programs to more young people,” says C. Ray Holman,
Chairman of the Board. “We have the highest market share [based
upon number of eligible youth] in the country, but we cannot rest
on our laurels.”
The Boy Scouts of America has a reputation for using activities
such as camping, canned food collections, and merit badges as a
means of instilling values of character, courage, and commitment
in today’s youth. Last year alone the St. Louis Area Council exceeded
that reputation by performing 347,213 hours of community service
and collecting two million cans of food in their Scouting for Food
program; the largest single-day canned food drive in the United
States. The Scouting for Food program has reaped more than 25 million
canned goods in its 18-year history. For more than 90 years, the
Council has been molding boys into young men and community leaders.
The Scouts have a number of relationships with institutions that
assist children with special needs. The Missouri School for the
Blind is among the longest tenured of these institutions. “It helps
to have people who have been there, done that,” Holman says. Many
board members bring real-life experiences to the Council. And board
members are nominated based upon matching skill-sets with Council
needs. Realizing the value in experience, the Board does not have
serving terms for members. “The longer they serve, the more they
know,” Schwarck says.
The Council’s board members are experts in their fields or have
been prior scout leaders, some both. And, with committees such as
camping, membership, special needs, finance, and investment, board
members are involved in a wide-array of activities. They are even
encouraged to participate in day/summer camps. “Our board members
are very active,” Schwarck notes. The camping committee alone deals
with the logistics of planning camp-resources for 8,000 kids in
three camps. “Every four years the Boy Scouts of America has a jamboree
in Virginia. We fly our board members down to camp, have various
activities, and dinner around the campfire. It’s a great time.”
The jamboree is a time for board members to meet and interact with
Scouts, to see the results of their efforts, and to revitalize their
passion for scouting.
Passion is the reason many members of the Board joined the Council.
“They recognize the great value scouting provides and they really
want to help,” Holman says. Some board members carried that passion
from being scouts in their youth or from seeing the positive effects
from being a troop or den leader, others had children who were scouts.
Holman, for example, readily accepted the role as Chairman of the
Board, in part because he saw the effects the Scouts had on his
own children. Like many parents, Holman remembers connecting with
his youngest son in constructing a racecar for the classic Pinewood
Derby—his son finished second in the district.
Whether volunteers are board members or scout leaders “there is
no one way to serve scouting,” Holman says. “A successful scouting
program requires three things: great scouts, great staff and great
volunteers. We are very fortunate to have all three, and [more than]
63,000 children benefit.” Still, the Council is looking to make
improvements.
In the current Strategic Plan, the Council has focused on growth
areas including increasing programs in urban and special need areas,
expanding their staff and growing their endowment. “We have $28
million in endowment,” Schwarck says, “but we are looking to expand
that number and it’s getting tougher every year, especially currently.”
The largest single source of funding is Friends of Scouting. The
Council also receives funds from program fees and the United Way—the
Boy Scouts of America is a United Way Agency. But the Scouts cannot
make it on dues alone and is looking to raise money for renovations.
“We want to raise $12 million to renovate, remodel and repair camps,”
Holman says. “With 8,000 kids attending camps, you can imagine the
wear-and-tear.”
“The Council is very fortunate,” Schwarck says. “We have no major
issues right now. We just finished a record session of summer/day
camps with approximately 15,000 kids. We have 545 kids with an eagle
ranking. This is all due to the leadership of the board.”
“But the board is only one part of the Scouts, a vital part, but
only one part,” Holman says. “We have only 85 full-time employees,
but we have more than 17,000 truly great volunteers. With crime,
drugs, and so many distractions and diversions, there is a real
need for scouting. The Boy Scouts of America is an organization
that instills good values, real-life skills, and helps boys mature
and develop.”
Jonathan Schlereth is a freelance writer based in St. Louis.
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