Vision

Every young person deserves a high quality Scouting experience that will give them a moral compass to navigate life.

I remind myself of that short mantra every day, knowing that the work we put in as volunteers and professionals in Scouting makes a difference in the lives of generations of families across Vermont. The pandemic we are all facing and the aftermath of current events in Minneapolis and across our country have laid bare a tremendous need for trust, brotherly love and courage to stand up for what's right and always do the right thing.

When I was a district executive in Connecticut, I became close friends with a wonderfully generous donor in the highly affluent town of Darien who had sincere concern about the well-being of immigrant families in neighboring Stamford. Eric and I worked together to identify a partner at the Haitian Community Center, recruit a Scoutmaster and organize a Troop. Eric personally funded the Scouts their equipment and summer camp costs. Because this was their first time at camp (for most the first time outside their neighborhood), we buddied them up with a Troop from Darien for the week.

The first night it rained like cats & dogs. Sleeping on metal cots resting on wooden platforms in canvas tents, these Haitian boys thought they were going to float away. The boys ended up sharing tents with the affluent Darien Scouts and something magical happened. By the end of the week, there were no Haitian boys and Darien boys, there were just boys who became friends and looked past the color of skin or the economic circumstances and realized they were more alike than different.

Volunteers and professionals partnering together made that possible. We were able to match the resources to the volunteer energy and bring in training and program elements to change lives over one week at summer camp.

Green Mountain Scouting

There is no better place for Scouting to flourish than Vermont. When I joined Scouting as a district executive I remember thinking to myself that if Scouting can grow anywhere, it's in the incredible beauty that is Vermont. And yet I've seen year over year a dizzying trend of membership loss across the state and especially in the hardest to serve neighborhoods of Burlington. But change is only possible if we believe in it and if we can present Scouting as a relevant way to prepare young people for life.

I know that Scouting can grow in Vermont. It has to. Our mission is too important and our impact too critical. But the only way to grow Scouting is to reintroduce ourselves across the state. We have to demonstrate that we played a key role in keeping kids active and mentally strong during COVID-19 and that we will play a role in reintroducing them to the outdoors.