Hi Scouters, parents of Scouts, Ventures and Sea Scouts, and friends of American Scouting! I bring you warm Holiday greetings on behalf of the team here at the U.S. Scouting Service Project, Inc.
I wanted to take a few lines and ask each of you to assist us and more importantly the Boy Scouts of America as they enter into the 100th year of service to youth. Officially the BSA will become 100 years young in Feburary of next year. Unofficially, Scouting in America either started with the organization of a British Boy Scout Troop in the United States outside of Bartlesville, Oklahoma or as part of a YMCA program in Burnside, Kentucky in 1908.
The challenge is not in celebrating our heritage, our spirit, our service. That is easy to do and many of the BSA's local Councils, including the one where I am posting to all of you from here in Europe, will be doing so in some grand manner this coming year. There is something more important, however, which local Councils and their volunteer and professional staffs cannot do solely by themselves -- it is too large of a task for them to do alone.
I ask each of you to share the importance -- the relevance -- of Scouting to your friends, your co-workers, your communities during 2010. Many communities have simply forgotten the value of the Scouting program in the United States. Over the last 100 years, we have provided a quality set of programs which developed and created leaders with strong personal character, civic spirit and strong mental and physical abilities. Many of our high schools have been been led in the classroom and on the sports fields by Scouts -- First Class, Star, Life and Eagle Scouts. Our businesses, industries, and governmental bodies were led and are being led today by Scouting graduates. Some, more famous alumni became national figures in law, government, sciences, medicine, and the arts. Others, less famous and perhaps not even Eagle Scouts -- have strong and pleasant memories of their youth as Scouts, Explorers, Rovers, Sea Explorers, or just knowing friends who were part of Scouting. These men are contributing to our economy, our way of life, "the way we roll today".
It will become VERY IMPORTANT for you and me and everyone else involved in Scouting at any level to please tell the Scouting story -- YOUR Scouting story -- and share it with the world.
Whether you are a parent of a Scout; a longtime Scouter like myself with lots of great memories of Scouting; a former Girl Scout; or a youth member of one of the BSA's programs of ANY rank -- we do need you to tell YOUR Scouting story to the public! We need you to share how important -- how relevant -- Scouting is today with your friends, those you work with and where you live!
As we move forward with additional ways to bring Scouting information and resources to all of you, the USSSP thanks you for using our vast family of websites and their content to assist you. With your help, we have pledged to continue this Project well into the next century of service to our nation -- and it's youth!
Happy Holidays to you and your families and may the New Year bring a wealth of great positive to you, our Scouting programs, and to our nation!
Settummanque!
Mike Walton
Board member
U.S. Scouting Service Project, Inc.