Bob Hermanson Passing

Bob Hermanson was involved for many years with Pack 350 in Woodstock as a Cubmaster and Committee Chairman, among other duties. Bob passed away December 26. The visitation will be Tuesday, Dec. 30, from 9 a.m. until the 11 a.m. service at Woodstock Bible Church, 770 E. Kimball, Woodstock.

Bob was one of the first people I remember meeting at a Kishwaukee (now Sycamore) Roundtable when I started as a volunteer in scouting. He was a dedicated scouter and will be missed.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to either Hospice of Northeastern Illinois, 410 S. Hager, Barrington, IL 60010; or Cub Scout Pack 350, 179 Ridgewood Drive, Woodstock, IL 60098. For information, call Windridge Funeral Home at 847-639-2191 or visit www.windridgefuneralhome.com.

You can view the notice in the Northwest Herald where a guest book is available.

Eagle Scout - Dinner and Scholarships

This time of year there are a number of opportunities for Eagle Scouts.

If you are an Eagle Scout, you should plan to attend the Council Recognition Dinner on March 8th to honor the Eagle Scout class of 2008. If you are a member of the Class of 2008, you are invited to send in some pictures of your project for use in the video presentation to be played during the dinner. Those pictures can be emailed to Phil McCrery at phmccrer@bsamail.org by February 13.

In addition to the Council Recognition Dinner, now is the time to submit applications for various scholarships that are available to Eagle Scouts.

National Eagle Scout Association Scholarships (application due 1/31/09): NESA awards a varying number of national $3,000 scholarships each year from its general fund, in addition to the Mabel and Lawrence S. Cooke Scholarships. These include four $20,000 awards (payable at $5,000 per year) and one $48,000 scholarship (up to $12,000 for four years). In addition, the Hall/Mc-Elwain Merit Scholarship pays a varying number of Eagle Scouts $1,000 awards. As merit-based awards, these are available to students from their senior year in high school through their junior year in college. Applications can be found at www.nesa.org.

Within Blackhawk Area Council there are two additional types of scholarships available.

Wayne & Ruth Diehl Scholarship (applications due 1/5/09): This scholarship provides financial assistance in the amount of $1,000 for education and training beyond high school. The application form is available from the Blackhawk Area Council Service Center.

Ray & Nola Wood Scholarship: This scholarship provides financial aid to a student accepted into a four year program at Rockford College. Information is available through the Financial Aid Office at Rockford College.

Communication

One of the fundamental tools we utilize daily is communication. The more we can communicate the more efficiently we can operate. In Blackhawk Area Council we need, and have, a variety of ways in which we communicate with our volunteers. We need these different ways to communicate because our volunteers obtain information in different ways. Some are present at meetings, such as Roundtable, where information may be provided orally. Others may go to one of the various websites we support to get newsletters or flyers related to events. Each of these forms of communication is good, and needed; but we can not count on these reaching all of the volunteers.

The only form of communication that we have that we know goes to every registered volunteer is the printed version of The Blackhawk Courier. The Courier gets mailed to every registered volunteer every other month. Yet we continually underutilize this opportunity to communicate with our volunteers. Partly because it requires more advance planning since information needs to be submitted several months in advance. But this is important and should be built into the event planning.

This is not to suggest that your communication be limited to the Courier. We should be using all forms of communication to ensure that we are reaching the largest number of volunteers. But if you fail to provide a timely Courier article, you will be missing out on your opportunity to reach the most volunteers.

The next printed edition of the Courier, which has a January 6th deadline, should contain information on any February-April activities and events.

International Volunteer Day - Dec. 5

Today is International Volunteer Day. I want to thank all of our volunteers for the work you do throughout the year to help provide the Scouting program to the youth of Blackhawk Area Council. Below is a message from Rick Cronk, current Chairman of the World Scout Committee and former BSA President, which can be found at the WOSM site.

On December 5th each year, we celebrate the "International Day of Volunteers" in Scouting.
The most powerful force in our efforts to deliver an exciting Scout programme to as many young people as we can possibly reach, are the skills, enthusiasm and care of our volunteers.
Volunteers are passionate Mums, Dads, neighbours, men and women, adults old and young who are deeply concerned for the safety, character and feelings of self worth in the lives of children.
To all volunteers in every corner of the world, we thank you.
Without you there would be no Scouting.
Peace be with you,
Rick Cronk

District Fireside Chats

The Fireside Chats held in each district are opportunities for the Executive Committee to talk with the district scouters about their local concerns. The chats are held at district Roundtable meetings.

Dec. 11 White Eagle District in Dixon
Jan. 7 Arrowhead District in Darlington
Jan. 8 Wanchanagi District in Rockford
Feb. 11 Wetassa District in Freeport
Feb. 12 Sycamore District in TBD

Camp Lowden - Nov. 26

My son Jason and I were at Camp Lowden on Wednesday to continue cutting the trees that were removed for the Boeger Leadership Lodge. There is still more work to be done if anyone has time to put in.

2008 Sycamore District Dinner

Congratulations to the 2008 Sycamore District Award of Merit Recipients: Susan Clancy-Kelly, Marty Guzik, Greg Dertz, Randy Goerdt, and Greg Buck.

2010 National Jamboree

Are your scouts interested in attending the 2010 National Jamboree? If so, NOW is the time to register. The council will be making a decision on how many scouts will get to attend from our council in early January 2009. The maximum number of Boy Scouts, council wide, is 72 scouts. That is less than one per troop. Make sure all of your scouts are aware that there is an important deadline coming up SOON so that they have a chance to register.

Pow Wow

Thanks to Gail and her team for putting on a great Pow Wow last weekend.

Sycamore District Recognition Dinner

The Sycamore District Recognition Dinner is this Sunday at 4:00PM. Registration forms can be found on the web site at www.sycamorebsa.org/Flyers.asp.

Council Communication

This is a test to see how well this blog would work to communicate with others in the council.