NYLT 2009

I was invited out to attend the closing Feast for the 2009 NYLT course. This year course director Jim Reilly had a packed house with 112 participants. The largest group ever to attend NYLT in Blackhawk Area Council. Congratulations to Jim and his staff for putting on this important training and good luck to Rick Haffelle.

Chuck Walneck Receives Silver Buffalo

This evening at the Closing Banquet of the National Annual Meeting Chuck Walneck received the Silver Buffalo. Chuck becomes the fouth recipient from Blackhawk Area Council.

National Convention 1

I just arrived at the BSA National Convention. The convention doesn't start until tomorrow but the exhibits are open today. Here is a copy of the new Handbook that will be out later this year. They were held under a lucite cover and you had to use those rubber gloves that are attached to the inside of the box to handle the books.

2009 U.S. Grant Pilgrimage

This past weekend was the U.S. Grant Pilgrimage in Galena, IL. The weather was typical for this event. When I go to the Pilgrimage I always carry my rain gear and sun screen. I know I'll need one or the other. We had a hard rain early, but by the time the event started it was intermittent drizzles. The canoe races were back for the first time in a number of years. The Galena community is always very supportive of our event and this year Culver's provided signs for use on Route 20 and the Galena Primary School was the registration site. In addition to General U.S. Grant and his wife, President Abraham Lincoln was in attendance. The Elks provided the food for the luncheon which had a great turn out from the community and the volunteer organizers. Put the April 23, 2010 date on your calendars now for the special 100th Anniversary of Scouting Pilgrimage.

Sharon Fanucce - Gone Home

I had the opportunity to work with Sharon on several council events. The last was the 2002 Wood Badge course which we both staffed. Sharon was a dedicated scouter and active member of the OA. She will be missed.

Sharon G. Fanucce, age 60, died Monday, April 20, 2009 at her home. She was born Sept. 26, 1948 in Springfield, Massachusetts the daughter to Edward and Dorothy (Davis) Bourgault. She married Michael L. Fanucce, Sr. on Sept. 19, 1970 in Lakeworth, FL. He preceded her in death on Nov. 18, 1988. Sharon lived in the Oregon and Byron area for approx. 30 years where she was very active in her community especially the Boy Scouts. She served as a invaluable leader including Scout Leader of Troop 140, Byron, District Chairman of the White Eagle District, various other positions on the White Eagle District Committee and also served in the Blackhawk Area Council, Boy Scouts of America. Sharon was a member of the United Church of Byron, served on the Byron PTA, and also the Byron Park District Board. Her hobbies included; quilting, crocheting, and painting. She was also predeceased by her husband, parents, and brother Larry. Survived by her son Michael L. Fanucce, Jr. of Oregon, sister Denise Baurgault of Oregon, four brothers; Barry (Rebecca) Baurgault, Darren Baurgault, Rick (Linda) Baurgault, and Dean Baurgault all of Florida, and her dog Sammy, special friends; Lynn McGarry, Barb McNames, and Carolyn Schlagel and a special Thank You to all those who helped comfort Sharon in her final days.

Council Pinewood Derby

This weekend, April 18 & 19, is the Blackhawk Area Council Pinewood Derby. If you are available to help for a part of the weekend let us know. The races are in Pecatonica High School in Pectonica. If you can help with either the morning or afternoon shift on Saturday or the morning on Sunday come on out.

Leadership Training

One of the things that the BSA does very well is to provide opportunities to develop leadership. It is provided for in training and experience for both our youth and adults. Is your unit taking full advantage of the training opportunities?

In Boy Scouts, the National Youth Leadership Training or NYLT course is offered to provide your troop leaders with the skills they need to be able to successfully operate a troop. If you talk with scoutmasters around the area that have youth running their programs that have been through NYLT they will tell you that it makes a big difference in how their troops operate. Many units help subsidize the cost to the youth by funding at least a portion through a reimbursement to the youth upon successful completion of the course. For more information on the next NYLT course, go to www.blackhawkscouting.org/nylt/index.html .

As important as having our youth trained is having our adults trained. The adult leadership course is Wood Badge which is open to any registered adult. This is not an outdoor training course and it is much more than team building. This course covers, among other things, the stages of team development and the appropriate leadership skills that should be utilized. Over the past several years we have had a growing number of cub scout leaders attending Wood Badge to where recent courses have had more cub scout leaders attending than either boy scout or venturing leaders. Each unit is encouraged to send at least one adult on a regular basis. A number of units help subsidize the cost through a reimbursement following successful completion of the course. For information on the next course see www.boundless.hostrefugee.com/~wbadge/ .

Amerock/Wood Badge/Nature Building @ Lowden

I know what your thinking, the weekend is coming up and your without a scout function. We can help. This weekend, March 28-29, work will begin on remodeling the Amerock/Wood Badge/Nature building at Camp Lowden. The windows and doors are on the agenda to start. Eventually siding and, surprise, a heating/air condition unit will be added. All this work is planned to be completed before summer camp begins. If you can make it please contact Dan Banko. His troop is coordinating the weekend and will feed anyone that comes out to help.

Council Recognition Dinner

On March 8th we held the annual Blackhawk Area Council Recognition Dinner. The dinner is open to anyone in the council and is held in honor of our 2008 Eagle Scouts and Silver Beaver recipients.

Eagle Scout Class of 2008

2009 Silver Beavers

ScoutReach, Sycamore, and Wanchanagi were recognized as Quality Districts and Blackhawk Area Council was recognized as a Quality Council.

Another Busy Weekend

Saturday was an early trip to Camp Lowden with Dave Savone, Ed Allen, and Dan Banko to help cut and move trees that were taken down last fall. They are now in the way of the construction of the Boeger Leadership Lodge. Fortunately for us the NYLT staff had some time and helped out. We were able to get most of the wood moved and the rest is staged where Dave can get at it with his loader.

Later that day we spent several hours hiking through camp looking for the southern boarder. We got well back into camp but I'm not sure we made it all the way. The rest will have to wait for another weekend, hopefully before all the buckthron blossoms this spring. Below are some shots of the area.

Sunday I was at the Sycamore District Venture Bowling Tournament which included two regular games and a third goofy game. There were twelve teams this year with one coming from out of council. The crew from Marengo won the title and the traveling trophy. Fareen Parkitney did a great job of putting on the event.

Centennial Quality Unit Goals

We are now entering the third year of a four year quality program called the Centennial Quality Awards Program. Each unit establishes for itself goals in predefined areas which have been determined to provide a measure of how well a unit is doing. Even though we are in the third year of the program, I still hear comments about how hard it is. When I run into this and start asking questions it is almost always a result of misinformation; either on the part of the unit leaders or in some cases whoever provided them with the original directions.

Let’s start with the hardest goal - Retention. What is an appropriate goal for retention? Since it is different for every unit and their particular circumstances you should look at your 2007 and 2008 retention numbers as a guide. If you don’t have these they are easy to calculate. Take the number of boys on your charter on January 1 of that year (X). Now determine how many of those you removed when you rechartered that same year (Y). Remember Y includes 5th Grade Webelos for packs and youth that have aged out for troops and crews. Then you can do the simple math, (X-Y)/X, to get the percentage. There is your actual retention number. It’s that simple - don’t let anyone over complicate it. If you have already rechartered, since we do not drop scouts from charters outside of rechartering time, you already know this year’s retention number. You can debate whether this is the best way to calculate retention, but you can’t argue that it hasn’t been consistent over time and between units.

Bill & Ruth Frejd Gift

Blackhawk Area Council was blessed recently as the beneficiary of the largest estate gift in our council’s history. George (Bill) and Ruth Frejd through their estate have established two charitable trusts with our council as a beneficiary. The net present value of the two trusts is estimated to exceed $3 million. These funds are provided to support camping and camping programs in our council. Below is an excerpt from the Blackhawk Courier:

“Mr. Frejd, an Eagle Scout who was a young city boy during the Depression, knew the value that a quality experience at camp might have on a young boy. He also carried the values learned in Scouting through his life. He was a dedicated volunteer in Rotary, served for decades as a board member for Centegra Health Systems and was an employer concerned for the well being of his employees.”

Generations to come will benefit from the generosity of the Frejd family. We thank long time family friend Martin Smith and their attorney Jack Ward for bringing the wishes of the Frejd family to life. Both Marty and Jack are recipients of the Silver Beaver Award. Marty has served on the Executive Committee and Board and currently chairs our successful Distinguished Citizens Luncheon in Rockford and the Distinguished Citizens Dinner in McHenry County. Jack is a long time supporter of Blackhawk Area Council and my Scoutmaster from Wood Badge course C-20-98.

Boeger Leadership Lodge Progress

The construction of the Boeger Leadership Lodge progresses a step at a time. Earlier in the week the footing was framed (first picture) and poured. Today the construction crew was out framing the lower level walls (second picture). The cement truck should be out first thing in the morning to pour the walls.

Scouting for Food & Good Turn for America

Is your unit participating in Scouting for Food this week? Today, more people are going hungry in this country than at any other time in the past 25 years. The latest studies show that more than 20 million Americans, including 4 million children, go hungry at some time every month. Your participation this week will directly aid families in your community. It takes just a little time and can mean so much.

Don't forget that the time your unit spends in support of Scouting for Food is a service to the community that should be recognized by filing your unit hours in the Good Turn for America program. Good Turn for America {site} provides an avenue for councils to highlight the service that's going on now, including individual service projects and efforts conducted in partnership with organizations such as The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, the American Heart Association, and others. Each year through 2010, the Boy Scouts of America will sponsor a national reporting day. This event will provide a platform to report service successes back to our communities. Each unit has received a registration number to use to enter your service hours. If you do not remember yours you can contact the council office to get the information.

Boeger Leadership Lodge Construction

I was at Camp Lowden this morning with Dave Savone to check on the progress on excavation. Because of the colder weather we were able to get permission to get the equipment back into camp and start digging. The excavator brought in his hammer tool to help break up the sandstone. It is expected that the digging will take a couple of days to finish. Then they can start on the footing. I uploaded the video to the Boeger Leadership Center blog.

Scoutreach Blue & Gold

I attended the Scoutreach Blue & Gold Banquet today at the Northwest Community Center in Rockford. Thanks to the Scoutreach District Chairman, Willie Ashford, and the District Director, Everette Sherrod, and their staffs, the families of our Cub Scouts were treated to a pot luck lunch and some entertainment by the scouts. The Cub Scouts have been working very hard and many of them were awarded their Bobcat ranks today. Others received Wolf, Bear, and Webelos ranks.

Fireside Chats

We wrapped up our annual Fireside Chats this week with sessions at Wetassa and Sycamore Districts. Thanks to Terry Miller and Blair Piotrowski, the respective District Commissioniers, for allowing us time at their Roundtables. We always get good input as a result of these sessions.

So what happens now? Well, we take all of the comments and catagorize them by function (e.g. training, camping, etc.) and refer them to the appropriate council committee for consideration at our April meeting. Each district should have a representative, usually your district chair for the equivalent committee in the district, attending the council meetings who can relate back to your district committee the results of those meetings.

Something that I've found this year is that many of our volunteers are unfamiliar with the interaction between the council and their districts. Our annual Fireside Chats are not your only opportunity to be heard during the year. Each district has a committee that meets monthly. Each of those meetings are an opportunity to discuss concerns or suggestions as to various functions within the district which mirror the council functions. Using Membership as an example, if there is a suggestion for the council, the district membership representative, the District Vice Chair of Membership, can take that suggestion to the next Council Membership meeting for consideration. So you do not have to wait for our annual Fireside Chats to have your suggestions heard.

Leadership Breakfast and more

On Monday I attended the Leadership Breakfast in Rockford which was sponsored by Ranger District and organized by Jef Heckinger. It was a unique breakfast as we had a video link to live coverage of the Continuous Fire. Our MC for the breakfast, Executive Committee Member Jon Krause, was connect live via video link with Executive Committee Member Dr. Kris Tumilowicz who provided remote commentary during breakfast. Even thought it was breakfast we had desert consisting of cobbler that was brought over hot from the continuous fire, thanks to Troop 181. The breakfast was a success in raising some much needed funds for the council.

Following breakfast I spent the morning in Rockford meeting with a couple of our Board Members. One was Jim Boeger, the benefactor of the leadership lodge we are constructing at Camp Lowden. Jim looked good and was headed out for the afternoon. I ended up spending the rest of the morning in the Service Center, buying more needed Scout Stuff.

I ran home to change into my uniform and was back out to Rockford, actually Cherry Valley, to attend Troop 181's Court of Honor. I was there to present Wood Badge Beads to Phil Reece, a member of the Bobwhite Patrol of course C-23-07, and new staff member for the upcoming C-54-09 course. If you ever need an example of a well run troop, stop out and see Terry Nichols at Troop 181.

2009 Quality Council Goals

In the first two years of the Centennial Quality program Blackhawk Area Council has qualified as a Quality Council both times. For 2009 we will again strive for the Quality Council designation. The Executive Committee and the District Chairs recently met to set the council goals for 2009. These goals are challenging but achievable if we all work together. However, it is difficult to achieve goals of which you are not aware. So I'm posting our goals below so everyone will know what we are going to achieve in 2009.

• At least 60% of our individual units will be Quality Units.
• We will organize 18 new units.
• We will achieve 1.00% growth in traditional membership.
• We will achieve at least a 72.2% retention level.
• We will retain at least 92.0% of our units.
• We will recruit and train 17 unit commissioners and increase commissioner visits to 4.0 per unit.
• We will recruit and train 20 additional district committee members.
• We will have an active endowment committee and secure at least 12 new endowment gifts.

As I mentioned above these are challenging goals. But with everyone from the council and districts working together they can be achieved.

Sycamore February Roundtable Moved

The Sycamore District Roundtable for February 12 has been moved to St. Thomas the Apostle Church located at 451 West Terra Cotta Ave. in Crystal Lake. Please let your fellow scouters know about the change. This is the new church on the corner of Rt. 176 (Terra Cotta) and Oak Street, not the one near Route 14. Roundtable starts at the regular 7:15 PM time. The council Fireside Chat will be at the beginning of the meeting. The Fireside Chat is an opportunity to ask questions or make suggestions about our council operations.