This summer, Thẳng Tiến returned to the Washington D.C. metropolitan area for the first time in 20 years, and Camp William H. Snyder was thrilled to be the host site for the largest gathering of Vietnamese Scouts in the nation. For 7 days from June 28th to July 4th, Vietnamese Scouts from around the globe for a week of action-packed adventure and fellowship, This year’s theme was “Tighten our Bond & Set New Record”.
Can we Scout You In for a National Day of Service on the National Mall?
Through a partnership with our great friends at The Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service, the Boy Scouts of America have scheduled September 22nd as a National Day of Service right here in our nation’s capital. To register, please visit https://scoutingevent.com/082-ServiceProjectMall2018.
For each Youth and Adult, a special Council Shoulder patch is being secured to thank each registered participant for their dedication to this project, benefiting our National Mall.
As the days grow closer, the National Park Service will be confirming the exact meeting location and a list of projects. Projects that may be undertaken include painting posts and chains, painting park benches, landscaping work, and/or debris removal.
Participants are encouraged to please consider taking the Metro system down to the National Mall to prevent having to find parking in the area.
To best manage this project, there will be two groups of volunteers with the first starting at 8:30 am and the second group taking over after lunch at 12:30 pm.
Proposed Schedule:
Group 1 – 200 Total (8:30am-12:30pm; includes lunch)
LUNCH FOR BOTH GROUPS
Group 2 – 200 Total (11:30-3:30pm; includes lunch)
Over the decades, the Boy Scouts of America has been a leader in developing training and policies designed to keep young people safe. Groundbreaking when they were developed, they soon became the standard used by other organizations for safeguarding youth. But when it comes to the safety of children, our goal is to continually improve. Sustained vigilance on youth protection is a central part of our culture.
Over the past two years, the BSA has worked with experts in the field of child abuse, child sexual abuse and maltreatment to develop new training and resources that will further strengthen our ability to protect youth. These changes include:
In addition to updated training and resources, the BSA announced new policies to ensure compliance with mandatory training requirements. These policies have been in place in the NCAC for a number of years. These policies include:
By October 1, 2018, all new and currently registered leaders will be required to complete the updated training. The enhanced and updated content will allow leaders and councils to comply with all current legal requirements. While this may be inconvenient for some, it reflects the BSA’s commitment to the safety of all youth.
For camps this summer across the BSA, adults accompanying units on activities who are present at the activity for 72 hours or more, must be registered and take Youth Protection Training. The 72 hours need not be consecutive. If your unit desires to set a stricter policy (e.g. ALL adults going to camp must be registered and have current YPT), that is certainly permitted.
To learn more, discover additional resources, or take the training now, please visit
www.Scouting.org/youthprotection.
Or stop by the Marriott Scout Service Center to use one of our training stations. Be on the lookout for additional live trainings this summer and fall.
On June 11, National Capital Area Council hosted the 38th Annual Boy Scout Golf Classic at Manor Country Club. Scouting’s benefactors, donors, and supporters in the DMV region look forward to the annual event for its spirited comradery, a round of competitive play with their colleagues, and of course the surprise swag that’s to be found at many of the holes.
Rain or shine, this event is never short of players, sponsors, and smiles. It’s an opportunity to have a lot of fun while supporting an institution that you love. That’s Scouting.
Though more rain than shine, this year’s tournament brought out a who’s who of DC-area industry in support of NCAC and the festivities, including ValueMomentum, Safelite AutoGlass, Dynatrace, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, CCC Information Services, Inc., Horizon Media, Insurance Auto Auctions, Lockheed Martin, BMC Software, Cisco, KPMG, Praxis Consulting, Splunk, Black Diamond Media, ISG, MYTA, Recovery Point, Rivkin Radler, Service King, GEICO, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and RedPeg Marketing.
We did not see a hole-in-one during either the morning or afternoon rounds, but the scores that came back showed that a few rain showers would not dampen the fun or competition amongst our players.
All participants received gifts throughout the course. Golf bags, gloves, Amazon Echo Dots, and other goodies filled carts, while on other holes players had added bonus opportunity to win if they could hit a hole-in-one.Hole 5 featured a shot at winning a BMW and a Harley Davidson motorcycle while holes 8, 11, and 17 offered chances at a Corvette, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Range Rover, respectively. Other contests including closest to the pin and best score brought accolades, awards, and additional prizes at both the noon luncheon and evening banquet.
For more information or to learn about sponsorships for the 2019 39th Annual Boy Scout Golf Classic, please contact Geoffrey.Thomas@Scouting.org.
Fellow commissioners, we have a unique opportunity to serve Scouting at a historic time of change!
I personally am thrilled that through Scouting we will be serving the whole family. Through visiting two of our council’s Vietnamese long-standing Family Scouting groups, I have seen a vision of the future, and it looks fantastic! At the Vietnamese Scouting groups, I saw boys, girls, and entire families (including grandparents) at a Scouting meeting where they shared fellowship, prepared young people to live by the Scout Oath and Law, and had separate but linked programs by age and gender where appropriate. I do not view family Scouting as accepting girls into Scouting – rather, I view it as serving the whole family.
The most recent issue of The Commissioner, the national newsletter for commissioners and professionals (http://bit.ly/2tUJ1VC), contains several excellent articles on commissioner service and Family Scouting.
While commissioners will continue to serve units and Scouters as we always have, we need to be ready to support growth in our movement. Specifically, this means:
Working closely with district membership teams to form sustainable new units based on the processes described in the Unit Performance Guide (http://bit.ly/2Nt5Zvm)
Working closely with district training teams and our roundtable commissioner staff to get our Scouters the training they need to succeed
Continuing our traditional role as “agents of change” by keeping up with the latest information available at www.Scouting.org/FamilyScouting and communicating that to our districts and units
Commissioners, as friends and mentors, will play a crucial role in family Scouting’s success. As the national newsletter notes, “If the trend holds true from what we have seen in the early adopter program, many of these new families will not have a background in Scouting, making the presence of the unit commissioners who will follow these units through their first two charter renewal cycles more important than ever.”
This is a time of change. We have the opportunity to make a real difference in Scouting by serving the whole family. We need to be ready and set to go!
The Patuxent District held its Good Scout Breakfast on June 5, 2018. The Patuxent District honored Isiah “Gene” Pugh who was killed in a crash in Upper Marlboro during a Key Three Meeting. Isiah held nearly every adult leadership role from Scoutmaster to District Commissioner. He was a role model and shaped the lives of many young men who have excelled in society. His legacy will continue to live on as Scouting breathes.
Isiah’s family was there to honor their father and speak further on his love of Scouting. This fundraiser was to support the mission of Scouting. It was an incredibly successful event and we could have not done so without our sponsors. Revere Bank, Robert Oxygen Company, Inc, Perry Ives, The Michael Companies, Art Witmann/Witmann Financials, St.Johns Properties Sharon Akers, Friends of Lyles, Tim Abell, Dr. Tommie Thompson, CPA, Bernhard Treidl. W.F. Chesley Real Estate, B Bowie LLC, O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore, P.A., and Berman Enterprises. Special thanks to Jo Posluzny and Joe Brown for creating a special encasing for the award. Great job to Troop 1657 who presented the colors for the ceremony, and to our Scout speakers Quincy Bryant and Jaden Cooper
