Beaver Blues & Beaver Burdens
A few days from now there will be the annually held banquet to report on the previous year's progress & achievements of our local Boy Scout Council and they also take the opportunity to recognize & honor some volunteers with the highest national award a local council can give, the Boy Scouts of America's Silver Beaver Award. Created back in 1931 to honor those volunteers that give of their resources not only to Scouting but within their communities; resources like time, mentor ship, heading up fundraisers, organizing activities & events while sometimes still camping, hiking, swimming, boating, and adventuring with local small or large Scouting units; Packs, Troops, Crews, Teams, Ships, Posts, Labs, and Clubs depending on the program and age, the Silver Beaver is not just another fruitstripe knot an adult volunteer puts on their uniform to show their accomplishments much like the youth wear patches of rank and special medals and such, it is the 3rd highest award given by the BSA. The Regional highest award is the Silver Antelope & The highest Nationally presented award for service to Scouting on a national scale is called the Silver Buffalo.
When I began as a Scout Leader, originally my role was just going to be that of an involved parent. My son wanted to join & I remembered fondly my own limited Cub Scouting experiences while being raised in Illinois. We went to the Original meeting and we joined a local Cub Scout Pack. A different individual volunteered to be the Den Leader of their Tiger Cub Den but she was asked, within a couple months, to take over as Cubmaster for the Pack as the existing one quit abruptly. She was new & all the other leaders and parents did not want the responsibilities and/or were planning on moving up to the Boy Scout Troop (when their sons went from 5th to 6th grade) — Trouble is she was not trained & did not have the inclination to stay long term. Before the end of the year was over, She too had quit.
After a little cajoling, I was talked into being my son's new Den Leader. I dove into it head first. I prepared. I read the Leader guides. I trained myself by purchasing handbooks, guides and took both my first youth protection training course and a Den Leader training course. They would not be my only BSA training courses. My son, and his fellow Cubs in the Den graduated one level at a time.
A new Cubmaster was found & at the end of that first program year, I was presented a "Rookie of the Year" by our Pack. A few years and several camping trips, food drives, activities and events later, and I was approached to take over as Cubmaster. My son, bless him, took his Father being a leader in stride. He never complained. When the time came for him to bridge up to our Troop, I offered him a choice:
He could remain in Scouting but if so, I expected him to see it through to the end. However, if he chose to quit, I would understand.
Some studies show that only 7% of those that begin Boy Scouts actually earn their Eagle Scout tank. My son had told me in the cafeteria of the grade school at our first meeting to learn about Scouts that he wanted to be an Eagle Scout. He meant it. When given the choice to quit or continue, at ten years old he made the choice to keep going. Within a few years, he would complete his goal, earning the highest award in the Boy Scouts of America.
Over the years we went to many weekend camps, week-long summer camps, hiking trips, canoe trips, he even swam the Mile Swim at summer camp. He even helped start up a brand new unit, a Venturing Crew, which is a high-adventure based unit that is for young men and women ages 14 thru 21. But, as with all youth, eventually he graduated high school and left home for college. However, whenever he is back in town he visits the other Scouts, attends service projects and keeps active.
Myself, I also continued my private Scouting career. After three-years as Cubmaster, during which I also took on the main leadership position within our Troop as Scoutmaster, I found someone to take over the main leadership role in the Pack. However, adult volunteers are difficult to come by in smaller, rural communities; the new Cubmaster left after a year or two as was followed by another, and another, and another. I stayed on, and still hang on, as a Den Leader and Committee Chair for the Pack.
The same year my son earned his Eagle Scout rank, I took Wood Badge training, an intense mountain-top training course for Scout leaders. After 18-months I finished the Wood Badge program and earned my 2nd Wood Badge bead, forever a member of the Beaver Patrol. Read up on Wood Badge and you will understand the importance of your Patrol and Patrol Critter.
When I returned from my original 3-day training session, the first of two 3-day weekend sessions, my Wife asked me what Critter I was assigned. Buffalo, Raven, Owl, Antelope, and Bear were some of the possibilities but when I replied that I was now, and would forever be, a Beaver, she smiled and laughed and said she hoped that would be the one.
Today, I continue to serve our Pack, in reality I serve in two different Packs, I also serve in my original Troop plus I was asked a few years ago to do double-duty as Scoutmaster of a new Troop at one of the nearby Children's Homes. I serve in our Venturing Crew and I volunteer at a District and Council level as Cub Scout Day Camp Director, District Camping Committee Chair, a Unit Commissioner, I served as Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner for several years and have helped as a District Trainer, Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner, former District Membership Committee Chair, a Friends of Scouting presenter plus have been asked by both the local schools and the local Girl Scouts to come teach Scouting skills like how to properly pitch a tent, tie knots, or work the STEM program with things like rockets. My life has been active and full of Scouting activities, trainings, meetings, conferences, camp outs, Order of the Arrow weekends and even national high-adventures at Northern Tier and Swamp Base, things I got to do with not only my son but other Scouts that needed volunteers with them. To date, I have accompanied three Council treks to Northern Tier for a week of canoeing the Boundary Waters.
Next week, I will be presented the highest national award a Council can give, the Silver Beaver. No longer will I just be a Wood Badge Beaver but an Old Silver Beaver that will join the less than half-a-dozen still active Silver Beavers in my District. Although we have many dedicated leaders in our area, many do not think to put in their peers for recognition and awards BUT I will always be thankful for those that nominated me and for my Wife, she talked with other leaders in our area and was one of my biggest supporters, one whom without I would never have had the dedication or ability to volunteer like I do.
The Burdens & Blues leading up to next week's banquet that I have been feeling have to do with some of what I have been asked to do since being informed of being nominated for the Silver Beaver and having been chosen to receive it; Assembling 20 or so photographs of my Scouting career (which consists of literally thousands of photographs), write a short biography, plus decide which 7 other people I would like at my table for the banquet. All of that is now done, as I have went on two camp outs and held two activities since finding out, Scouting marches on and my Blues & Burdens are in the rearview mirror.
Now, as I watch the rains outside, I relax a bit and prepare myself mentally for next week. Large crowds make me nervous and I hope to get thru the night of the banquet despite the ease it seems I have with public speaking. It is all smoke and mirrors. I follow the old Cub Scout motto; Do Your Best. Maybe if more people did the World would be a better place.
Some great people have assisted me and been by my side for most of my time in Scouting. Paid District Executives, Fellow Volunteers, and Parents & Families not only in our unit but others have all been my support and cheering section as I support and cheer on them. I would not be the Scout Leader I am without them. I would not be the Person I am without them. Not just in Scouting. When my Mother passed away, my own family did not come out to assist with expenses but my Scouting Family did. Whenever I have been down and troubled and wondering if all I do is worth it, sometimes these folks show me not only how much our youth, the kids need me to keep going but so does our families and communities. I will keep going as long as I can. Beavers Rule!!
