Rallying the boys!

Join Cub Scouts!This week we’re kicking off the big recruiting push. I’ve been involved in a number of activities:

  • Helping a fledgling pack we started last year get their recruiting drive underway, plan some activities and try to get more parents involved. They limped along last year with about ten boys and a bit of turnover, but we are hoping to make a better push this year with some solid recruiting efforts and a quicker start to their activities.
  • Working with two other packs helping to coordinate their Join Scouting Nights. We’ll be entertaining the boys, talking to the parents, and hopefully turning in a lot of applications. These two packs have established leadership and good programs planned, and my involvement should largely be helping on the administrative side.
  • Promoting the October district camporee and November troop meet & greet nights to the Webelos Scouts in the packs I work with. Recruiting is only one side of the coin; retention is the other, and we have to keep both sides in view (that’s a tough task!). Statistics show that we lose nearly half the boys we recruit into Cub Scouting each year. Showing them how Boy Scouts kicks the fun up several notches is a great way to hang on to them.

Now that my sons’ Boy Scouting days are over, it seems like I’m starting again back at the beginning. It seems similar to what they say about having grandchildren – you get to have fun all over again, but with someone else’s kids!

This post first appeared on Bobwhite Blather.
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