Our Council Scout Executive, James “Jim” Rushton, concluded six years of service as Chief Executive Of- ficer on August 31, 2014. Mr. Rushton accepted a new position as a fundraising specialist at the Boy Scouts national headquarters in Irving, Texas effec- tive September 1, 2014. Mr. Rushton’s service as a Scouting executive began in Pennsylvania over thirty years ago! He has served Scouting and guided councils from Maine to Hawaii and since 2008 lead the Western Los Angeles County Council. Mr. Rushton is proud to have been our Scout Executive at such a challenging time. Despite the impact the substantial recession has had on our nation and state and chal- lenges facing Scouting, Jim’s many accomplishments include leading our coun- cil to a balanced budget for five consecutive years, overseeing an unprece- dented expansion of the W.L.A.C.C. Board and overseeing major improve- ments at our three Scout camps. At a luncheon on August 26, Mr. Rushton recognized the Council’s Board and staff members for their dedication and thanked them for the opportunity to serve our Scouting community over the past six years. The Official Newsletter of the W.L.A.C.C. serving the Antelope Valley, Balboa Oaks, Bill Hart, Cahuenga, Crescent Bay, Las Colinas and Scoutreach Districts and Exploring Division SEPTEMBER 2014 MONTHLY EDITION VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9 Scout Sentinel Western Los Angeles County Council Inside this issue: Bill Hart Dinner 1 Training (HAT) 2 Commissioner Conference 3 Meet a Board Member 4 World Jamboree 5 Camping Fun 6 Tony Horton! 7 Win a GoPro 8 Naval Road Trip 9 In Memoriam 11 Roundtable 12 2nd Century Society Award 13 Corporate Matching Funds 14- 15 The Puzzler 16 Eight Pages of Summer Photos! 17- 24 Pow Wow 25 NEWS, EVENTS AND OTHER IMPORTANT IN- FORMATION RELATED TO SCOUTS AND SCOUT- ING IN THE WESTERN LOS ANGELES COUNTY COUNCIL OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA The Bill Hart District will honor six Santa Clarita Valley residents this October for their exemplary contributions to the community and as examples of char- acter with the annual Leaders of Character award. The six honorees—three couples—are Arif and Pam Halaby, Michael and Mary Delorenzo and Scott and Vanessa Wilk. Bill Hart Leaders of Character Dinner: October 17 On the Web at: www.bsa-la.org Popcorn Sales Now in Full Swing The start of the school year coincides with the kick- off of our annual popcorn campaign. The BSA and Trail’s End launched the annual popcorn sales cam- paign on August 1, 2014. By now unit leaders should have placed their order for Show and Sell product. NEW NEW continued on page 10 continued on page 8 Scout Executive James Rushton Accepts Promotion with Boy Scout National Office WIN A GOPRO! See Page 8
Transcript
Our Council Scout Executive, James “Jim” Rushton, concluded six years of service as Chief Executive Of-ficer on August 31, 2014. Mr. Rushton accepted a new position as a fundraising specialist at the Boy Scouts national headquarters in Irving, Texas effec-tive September 1, 2014.
Mr. Rushton’s service as a Scouting executive began in Pennsylvania over thirty years ago! He has served Scouting and guided councils from Maine to Hawaii and since 2008 lead the Western Los Angeles County Council. Mr. Rushton is proud to have been our Scout Executive at such a challenging time. Despite the impact the substantial recession has had on our nation and state and chal-lenges facing Scouting, Jim’s many accomplishments include leading our coun-cil to a balanced budget for five consecutive years, overseeing an unprece-dented expansion of the W.L.A.C.C. Board and overseeing major improve-ments at our three Scout camps.
At a luncheon on August 26, Mr. Rushton recognized the Council’s Board and staff members for their dedication and thanked them for the opportunity to serve our Scouting community over the past six years.
The Official Newsletter of the W.L.A.C.C. serving the Antelope Valley, Balboa Oaks, Bill Hart, Cahuenga, Crescent Bay, Las Colinas and Scoutreach Districts and Exploring Division
SEPTEMBER 2014 MONTHLY EDITION
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9
Scout Sentinel
Western Los Angeles County Council
Inside this issue:
Bill Hart Dinner 1
Training (HAT) 2
Commissioner Conference
3
Meet a Board Member
4
World Jamboree 5
Camping Fun 6
Tony Horton! 7
Win a GoPro 8
Naval Road Trip 9
In Memoriam 11
Roundtable 12
2nd Century
Society Award
13
Corporate
Matching Funds
14-
15
The Puzzler 16
Eight Pages of
Summer Photos!
17-
24
Pow Wow 25
NEWS, EVENTS AND
OTHER IMPORTANT IN-
FORMATION RELATED
TO SCOUTS AND SCOUT-
ING IN THE WESTERN
LOS ANGELES COUNTY
COUNCIL OF THE BOY
SCOUTS OF AMERICA
The Bill Hart District will honor six Santa Clarita Valley residents this October for their exemplary contributions to the community and as examples of char-acter with the annual Leaders of Character award.
The six honorees—three couples—are Arif and Pam Halaby, Michael and Mary Delorenzo and Scott and Vanessa Wilk.
Bill Hart Leaders of Character Dinner: October 17
On the Web at:
www.bsa-la.org
Popcorn Sales Now in Full Swing The start of the school year coincides with the kick-off of our annual popcorn campaign. The BSA and Trail’s End launched the annual popcorn sales cam-paign on August 1, 2014. By now unit leaders should have placed their order for Show and Sell product.
From Cub Scout Den specific online training, to hands-on weekend training, the BSA and the Council have something for everyone. A number of great courses are being offered throughout the Council this fall.
High Adventure Team (HAT) Offers
Outing Leader and Basic Backpack
Awareness Course
The Council’s High Adventure Team is offering an Outing Leader and Basic Backpack Awareness Course for those individuals who wish to learn about the excitement that backpacking activities add to Scout-ing programs. This is a fine opportunity to build on your HAT outdoor skills. The course will expand your
knowledge of the challenges different terrain creates and help Scouts to develop the confidence to safely hike, backpack and camp with your unit.
The course will cover how to prepare and enjoy backpacking, improve map & compass skills, cooking, personal and troop gear, weather, health, safety, and all the other things needed to know to plan and conduct a safe, rewarding outing.
Who should take this course? First, the novice back-packer will develop his or her first backpacking ex-perience under the guidance of experienced back-packing instructors. Secondly, experienced back-packers will learn how to organize a hike for Scouts.
The course itself includes a one-day indoor session and a two-day outdoor session. The indoor session is scheduled for September 20, 2014 from 7:30 am– 5:00 pm. The outdoor course is slated for October 4-5, 2014 (for LDS, an outdoor course of October 3-4 is available, if requested).
The course costs just $30 and an early bird price of only $25 is available until September 12, 2014.
For further information, please contact Mark Rener at (661) 252-0419 (email at [email protected]). You can also contact George Curtin at (661) 538-0195 (email [email protected]).
The website wlacchat.org is also available for fur-ther information. Mail your payment along with your name, address, phone, email and unit number and position to:
HAT Course W.L.A.C.C. Scout Office 16525 Sherman Way, Unit C-8 Van Nuys, CA 91406
Nominations for Annual Silver Beaver Award Now Being Accepted
The Silver Beaver Award is the Council-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Nationally, all recipients of this award are registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the Coun-cil. The Silver Beaver is an award given to those who implement the Scouting program and perform community service through hard work, self-sacrifice, dedication, and many years of service. It is given to those who do not actively seek it.
The deadline to nominate a Scouter for the Silver Beaver Award is October 10, 2014. The nomination form is available online here and must be submitted to the Council di-rectly. Completed forms should be submitted to Maricela Orendain at the Council’s Van Nuys office. Maricela can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at (818) 933-0120.
Area 4 Commissioner Conference Scheduled for September 20, 2014
On Saturday, September 20, the Western Los Angeles County Council is hosting an important conference for all Commissioners in Area 4. The purpose of the conference is to learn about recent developments in Com-missioner Service, including a brief preview of Commissioner Tools (the revolutionary digital reporting tool). There will be multiple breakout sessions and networking opportunities.
The featured guest speaker is National Commissioner, Tico Perez. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to meet and hear Tico! For a brief biography on Mr. Perez, please see the following link: http://scoutingnewsroom.org/about-the-bsa/national-leadership/national-commissioner-volunteer/.
At this meeting, there will also be the opportunity to meet the new Western Region Commissioner, Judge Bob Johnston. If all goes as planned, we will have Commissioners represented at every level, from National to Regional to Area to Council to District to Unit at this important and unique conference.
Start thinking about which breakout sessions you want to attend. They currently include the following:
Unit Commissioner Best Practices
Training Commissioners Overcoming Resistance from Commissioner Service
Effective use of Commissioner Tool reports Unit Service Plan
Rechartering Encouraging Commissioner Recognition
Risk Management “Chartered Organizations – Friend not Foe”
Scouting in the LDS Church Camp Commissioning
The conference will be held at the LDS Church at: 136 North Sunset Canyon Drive in Burbank (91501)
The conference fee is $15 per person and includes continental breakfast and lunch. The appropriate attire is the Scout field uniform. Doors open at 8:00 am, the first session begins at 9:00 am, and the last session ends at 4:00 pm. Register here: http://bsa-la.doubleknot.com/event/1589139. If you have any questions please feel free to contact: Larry Turner [email protected] or Marty Kasman [email protected].
Meet a Board Member: Tanya Acker Stars in New Courtroom Show
As a new feature of the Scout Sentinel, a Council Board Member and/or a staff member will be featured in each edition of the Council’s newsletter. The first Council Board Member featured in this new column is Tanya Acker. Ms. Acker joined the W.L.A.C.C. Board in 2013. She is an experienced attorney and civil litiga-tor. Ms. Acker is an attorney with extensive experience in both the trial and appellate arenas. Her litigation prac-tice spans a broad variety of areas, including general commercial litigation, trade secret, product liability, and employment matters. She has also counseled and assisted clients in various non-litigation related mat-ters, including the preparation of Congressional testimony and the management of media issues. In addition to her legal background, Ms. Acker is also an experienced commentator, having been a featured guest on The Early Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, CNN Reports and many other programs. C Magazine included her in an election season profile on noteworthy California women in politics and she also contributes to the Huffington Post. Ms. Acker received her B.A. degree at Howard University in 1992, where she graduated summa cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduating from Yale Law School, Ms. Acker clerked for Judge D.W. Nelson on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. She subsequently worked as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the United States Department of Justice, where she drafted Supreme Court briefs and helped pre-pare the Solicitor General and his assistants for oral argu-ments, including those before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ms. Acker serves on the boards of Public Counsel, the na-tion’s largest provider of free legal services, the West-ern Justice Center, which promotes alternative dispute resolution, Special Spaces, which provides dream bed-rooms to sick children, and Hunt Investors LLC, which invests in various technology companies and devices. Expanding on her experience as an attorney and as a temporary judge with the Superior Court of California and her television background, Ms. Acker serves as one of three judges on CBS Television Distribution’s new syndicated court show Hot Bench, created by Judge Judy Sheindlin. In a departure from existing television courtroom reality shows, Hot Bench has a panel of three judges. The trio hears court cases, argues the merits of the case amongst themselves and then renders a verdict. When Judge Judy Sheindlin and her husband Jerry Sheindlin were in Ireland recently, they visited the courts and watched a three-judge bench, finding the experience “both fascinating and compelling," Judge Judy Sheindlin said. 'Hot Bench' is a term used to describe a court where the judge or judges frequently interrupt lawyers' presentations with questions, often leading to lively exchanges. Hot Bench premieres nationally on September 15, 2014. Here in Los Angeles, the half-hour program will be broadcast weekdays on KCAL 9 at 10:00 am.
Attorney and W.L.A.C.C. Board Member Tanya Acker (left) stars in Hot Bench, a new courtroom
series produced by Judge Judy Sheindlin.
5
Start Planning Now To Attend the World Jamboree in Japan
Late summer, 2015. The stage is set for more than thirty thousand
Scouts and their leaders from 161 countries worldwide. The
occasion? The 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Kirara-hama, Yamagu-
chi, Japan!
The world jamboree is a unique opportunity for participants to expe-
rience an exciting program of activities, including: Global Develop-
ment Village, City of Science, Cross Road of Culture, and the Peace
Program.
The jamboree—held July 28-August 8, 2015—will provide opportuni-
ties to raise awareness about global issues, explore the environment,
participate in community service, make friends from around the
world, and deepen understanding of developments in science and technology.
Participants will live and learn with fellow Scouts from around the world. They will be housed in tents along
with the BSA contingent but will soon venture out to mingle with tens of thousands of people for two weeks
of activities and adventure.
“Wa: a Spirit of Unity” is the theme for the 23rd World Scout Jamboree. The kanji character “wa” means har-mony, unity, friendship, and peace. It is in this spirit that the Scout Association of Japan will welcome Scouts from around the world to the 2015 World Scout Jamboree. For more information on the 2015 World Jambo-ree, visit www.scouting.org/worldjamboree.aspx.
“Carnival of Training”
Courses Offered
The Las Colinas District will present a Carnival of Training on Saturday, September 13, 2014. Specific courses for Cub Leader, Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster, Venture Leader, Unit Commissioner and Unit Committee Member will be available. All (five) courses begin at 9:00 am and have a cost of only $5!! The last course ends at 2:30 pm.
The training will be held at the LDS Ward property at 4501 Deseret Drive in Woodland Hills, 91364. Cub, Boy and Venturing Unit Leaders, Troop/Pack Committee Members and Unit Commissioners are encouraged to attend.
Preregistration is preferred and recommended and ends on September 10, although attendees can register on the training day. The Class “A” uniform is recommended attire. Please contact John Over-
ton at (818) 470-4770 or [email protected] with any concerns or questions you might have. Online registration is available at: http://bsa-la.doubleknot.com/event/1592931. To register by mail, mail your payment along with your name, address, phone, email and unit number and position to: Please be sure to state which one of the five specif-ic courses you would like to take: 1) Cub Leader; 2) Scoutmaster/ACM; 3) Venturing Leader; 4) Unit Commissioner; or 5) Unit Committee Member.
Carnival of Training W.L.A.C.C. Scout Office 16525 Sherman Way, Unit C-8 Van Nuys, CA 91406
Emerald Bay Cub Scout Family Weekend: November 7-9, 2014
Camp Emerald Bay is a prime spot for any Cub Scout Pack or family to explore. Experience everything Catali-na has to offer at Camp Emerald Bay when you take part in our Cub Pack Family Weekend in November.
Activities Include: Swimming, snorkeling, marine center tours (where Cubs can pet a shark!), canoeing, ar-chery and BB guns (with belt loop pro-gram available) outdoor skills, arts and crafts.
The cost is $180 per person for tent hous-ing and $1,500 for a cabin with eight spots per cabin (and you can share space with another pack). The individual cost per person for a cabin space is $210.
Price includes round trip boat transporta-tion to Emerald Bay, all activities and meals from Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast.
Camp Josepho Cub Parent Weekends: Two Weekends to Chose from
This Fall: October 24-26 and
November 7-9, 2014
Bring your Cub Scout for an incredible weekend at our local gem! Camp Josepho’s Cub Parent Weekend offers an unique and 1:1 ratio affair that allows a Cub and their parent (or guardian) to experience an incredible weekend in the out-doors with time for bonding, activities and qual-ity time learning and building skills.
Click here for more information: www.campjosepho.org/cub-scout-weekends
Do you have an upcoming Scouting event that you would like to announce to the Western Los Angeles County Council? Do you have a Eagle Scout service project planned, but need volunteers to make it a reality? Provide your information to the W.L.A.C.C. newsletter staff! Email your Scouting event information to David Lasher at [email protected].
Two Eagle Alumni Association events are being scheduled for the fall. The Association plans to hold an event in late October in Encino for Valley Eagles and a second event in Santa Clarita. Both events are sponsored by Arxis Technology. The Association is grateful for Arxis
Technology’s support. An announcement for both events will be released shortly with emailed invitations to area Eagle Scouts to follow. For more information about Eagle mixers and related Eagle alumni events and opportunities, please contact David Lasher at [email protected] or call (818) 933-0104.
Tony Horton, P90X Creator, Offers Charitybuzz Item
The latest Charitybuzz auction offering is a private workout with the one and only Tony Horton, fitness expert and creator of the best-selling P90X DVD fitness-exercise series. The auction includes a one-hour private workout for one or up to two people at Mr. Horton’s private state-of-the-art gym in Santa Monica and an autographed copy of his latest book.
All of the Council’s Charitybuzz auctions are online at Chari-tybuzz.com/support/1165. This specific auction ends on September 11, 2014. The Council If you have celebrity connections or season tickets to events (such as a Dodgers game) or connections to very spe-cial venues (like Disney’s Club 33) and would be willing to help our Council establish a Charitybuzz item, please contact David Lasher at (818) 933-0104 or via email at [email protected].
Historic Crescent Bay Films Online
The Sentinel’s staff was alerted via the W.L.A.C.C. Eagle Alumni Facebook page that the Crescent Bay Historical Project has uploaded many stunning, amazing films (not videos!) going back decades to www.youtube.com/user/CrescentBayCouncil.
The films are truly amazing. Some have sound...some don’t. They all document the rich his-tory of Scouting in the region so long ago. The link here will lead you to a professionally produced Camp Josepho film from 1944! See Scouters during WWII on the SAME parade deck you and your kids use today!
Jump-Start Membership with Back-to-School Activities
Believe it or not, the 2014 school year has already started for most, if not all Scouts in the Council. The council staff hopes all our Scouts had a great summer and a fantastic time at our district day camps and on other Scouting outings! As the school year and fall Scouting programs commence, the staff who work on our membership responsibilities need a few pieces of information from you:
1) The Council is in the process of re-verifying which schools are covered by each unit. Please make sure to let your district membership chair or unit commissioner know if anything needs to be amended in terms of which schools are affiliated with which Scouting units.
2) We would like to ask that each unit attending their “Back to School” night have flyers available to hand out announcing the pack's fall recruiting night or event. Equally important--can each unit leader please provide the date of this event to your district membership chair or commissioner? If you provide the date, time, location and event name of your recruitment event, the district will print flyers with the necessary language and either provide them to you for distribution or the council staff can drop them off to the school for you. Ideally, the event should be within a week of the “Back to School” night so it is fresh in eve-ryone's mind.
3) If we do not receive information from you about your recruitment event, we would still like to flier your school with information about your pack. This information will in-clude contact information for the primary unit leadership. Our goal this fall is for each pack to recruit at LEAST FIVE new boys to the unit!
4) Any unit that recruits over fifteen boys to the pack before the end of September will receive a gift certificate for a pizza party! Who doesn’t love pizza?!
5) CHECK THIS OUT! Any unit that recruits over twenty boys by the end of October will be entered in a drawing to win a GoPro camera to use to capture pack memories!
For recruitment events, please visit: www.scouting.org membership
This ninth annual recognition dinner will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at 24500 Town Center Drive in Valencia at 6:00 pm on Friday, October 17. Tickets are $150 and sponsorship opportunities are available.
The goal of the award is to recognize those in the Santa Clarita Valley who have made an impact on local youth or the community as a whole, said Ransom Boynton, Bill Hart District Executive. The Halabys have been long-time scouters, Boynton added.
Arif Halaby is the founder and CEO of Total Financial Solutions in Newhall, which offers financial advice, retirement planning, debt counseling and a variety of seminars.
Scott Wilk, State Assemblyman for the 38th District, and his wife Vanessa have lived in the Santa Clarita Valley for years. Boynton said that the Bill Hart District is happy to have the support of the Wilks.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Mary Delorenzo are owners of Santa Clarita Studios, a full service, independent studio featuring ten sound stages, production center and screening room. Boynton praised the De-lorenzos' efforts to keep the film industry in the Santa Clarita Valley. “They have been bringing a lot of good commerce to our valley for a number of years,” he said. For more information about the Leaders of Character Recognition Dinner, contact Boynton at (661) 284-6330 or [email protected].
Two great pack and troop day trips honoring our nation’s naval history are available (year-round) to your unit! In San Die-go, the retired aircraft carrier USS Midway is a behemoth; a floating museum with over sixty exhibits and twenty-nine restored aircraft, hands-on displays, (affordable) state-of-the-art flight simulators and yes—an equally spectacular gift shop and a cafe on the rear fantail of the ship. The highlight of a visit to the Midway are the many docents and volunteers found throughout the ship. From the engine room to the flight deck, these veterans—experts really—stand ready at their specific stations to describe their work on the carrier.
Routinely, the Midway has WWII or other combat veterans as guests on the ship, discussing their military experience, often as part of book signings. The Midway is berthed permanently at 910 N. Harbor Drive in Downtown San Diego. Group tickets (for groups of ten or more) are available for $15 (ages 13-61), $12 for seniors (age 62+) and $8 for youth (ages 6-12). Packs and troops have an additional exciting option to spend the night on this, the longest-serving aircraft carrier in Navy history! For $85 per participant (with a twenty person minimum), youth will experience the flight simulators, participate in scavenger hunts and sleep in the enlisted crew berths. For more information or to register, email [email protected].
Lastly, Boy Scouts can earn the Aviation Merit Badge aboard the USS Midway in one day. The program runs from 10:00 am-5:00 pm on selected Saturdays. The program fee is $50 per Scout and includes complete in-struction, supplies, simulator time and even lunch aboard the ship! For more information or to register,
email [email protected]. For a PDF of the Aviation Merit Badge please click here.
A little closer to home, the Battleship Iowa, the last lead ship of any class of United States battleship and
the only ship of her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II, is berthed in San Pedro. From the massive 16” guns on her deck to the unique facilities built to accommodate President Roosevelt, a visit to the Iowa exposes Scouts and families to a substantial amount of history from WWII to the Cold War.
Videos, static displays and interpretive signs round out the experience on BB-61. As far as tickets go, groups of ten or more receive a $2 discount with adult tickets costing $16 (ages 12-61), youth $8 (ages 6-11) and seniors $13 (age 62+). Future plans include overnight experiences on the Iowa. The Iowa is located at 250 S. Harbor Boulevard, just north of Ports of Call in San Pedro. See their website for additional information.
Show and Sell product will be available for pickup on Sep-tember 6, 2014. It is not too late to join in on the 2014 sale! Contact Andrew Sisolak at (818) 933-0123 or via email at [email protected] to register your unit today. Online selling accounts can also be created with Scouts re-ceiving credits for any sales made beginning August 1. Con-gratulations to Ben Z from Troop 22 in the Las Colinas Dis-trict. Ben has already sold $480.75 of popcorn online in the first few weeks for the sale. Online orders are fulfilled by Trails-End and the product is shipped directly to the custom-
er. Send out your customized e-mail invitation to friends and family encouraging them to buy today.
Many popular popcorn items are back and great sales opportunities await! Whether your pack (and ulti-mately your customers) prefer microwave popcorn or pre-popped popcorn, all sales help your unit’s fund-raising efforts.
As in past years, Scouts can earn great prize incentives. Prizes start with a patch or pin, escalate to gift cards and include even (free) summer camp sessions worth hundreds of dollars!!
Unit Kickoff Kits are available for pickup at each of the Council Service Centers and will include the following items:
Campaign Planning Kits (includes posters and military dona-
tion receipts).
Product samples (for White Cheddar, Dark & White Choco-
latey Drizzel, Premium Caramel Corn with Almonds, Pecans,
and Cashews).
One bonus prize (a great radio control car).
‘Take Order’ sales forms for your families.
A lesser known benefit of popcorn sales is the Trail’s End college scholarship program. Scouts who sell at least $2,500 (online, face-to-face or via a combination of sales) in any calendar year receive 6% of their total sales invested in their own college scholarship account. That is six cents of every dollar sold!
Once Scouts are enrolled, six percent of their sales each year will be added to their account-with compound interest! Scouts only have to hit the $2,500 minimum one time and online sales count! If your Scout starts early (as a Tiger or Wolf Scout for example) and adds sales each year, when they are ready for college, a nice nest egg for tuition, books or other college expenses awaits.
Popcorn (continued from page 1)
Over 70% of Scout popcorn sales
stay within local Scouting!
Support Our Troops: Popcorn is shipped directly to our military men and women, their families and veterans’ organizations!
Nationally, Scouting lost two incredible Eagle Scouts recently and another Eagle Scout deserving our attention passed away earlier this year. Sam Berns, James Brady and Colo-nel Lawrence Dahl each made a difference in our world through their words and actions, but especially with their true grit and courage in the face of enormous challenges.
First, Eagle Scout Sam Berns, 17, a Massachusetts high school junior died earlier this year due to complications of progeria, a genetic disorder that causes premature aging. Worldwide, only a few hundred people have this disease. Sam Berns told us about his life and progeria, through the documentary “Life According to Sam”. He wanted people to get to know him, but he never wanted people to feel bad for him, adding “This is my life.”
Sam’s TEDx talk video espouses his philosophy on happiness. “No matter what I choose to become, I believe that I can change the world,” he said in his TEDx talk last year. “And as I’m striving to change the world, I will be happy.”
Distinguished Eagle Scout James “Jim” Brady served as White House Press Secretary under President Reagan. He had been on the job only eighty-four days when an assassi-nation attempt on President Reagan in 1981 left him seri-ously injured. He survived the shooting, but used a wheel-chair and had other health consequences due to the shoot-ing for the remainder of his life. He passed away on August 4, 2014.
Brady went on to be an advocate for gun control and re-ceived the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is remem-bered for the incredibly bravery he showed as he selflessly served our nation.
Eagle Scout and Army Colonel Lawrence Dahl had a tremen-dous record of service from Germany to Kosovo to Afghani-stan and Iraq.
Colonel Dahl received serious head and neck injuries in a 2007 IED attack in Iraq and was again injured in Afghanistan. While his recovery was painful and difficult, Colonel Dahl stated that his “Scouting experience helped me get through it.”
Colonel Dahl inspired Scouts and Venturers at the 2013 Na-tional Jamboree’s stadium show. “You are this country’s best and brightest,” he told the tens of thousands of jam-
Scouting Mourns the Loss
of Three Amazing Eagles
Sam Berns with his parents, Dr. Leslie Gordon and Dr. Scott Berns.
Distinguished Eagle Scout, James Brady, press secretary to President Ronald Reagan.
Army Colonel Lawrence Dahl, speaking at the 2013 National Jamboree.
boree youth. “You are this country’s future.”
Before he passed on August 1, 2014, Dahl published a final letter that was shared by his wife with Army colleagues, friends and Scouts.
His passionate, heartfelt message to Scouts and about Scouts can be found online here. Like Sam Berns video, it is worth reading—more than once.
Have you attended a District Roundtable Recently? A tremendous amount of cur-rent programming information, Scouting opportunities and other information is conveyed at each and every roundtable. See the schedule below for each district’s unique roundtable information.
Antelope Valley: September 2 and October 7 Cahuenga: September 11 and October 9 7:30-9:00 pm 6:45 pm 750 East Avenue J, Lancaster, 93535 4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, 91601
Balboa Oaks: September 4 and October 2 Crescent Bay: September 11 and October 9 7:00-9:00 pm 6:45 pm (6:00 pm Dinner) 17101 Plummer St., Northridge, 91325 3400 Sawtelle Boulevard, Los Angeles, 90066
Bill Hart: September 4 and October 2 Las Colinas: September 10 and October 8 7:30 pm 7:00 pm 27405 Bouquet Canyon Road, Saugus, 91350 4501 Deseret Avenue, Woodland Hills, 91364
District
Roundtable
Information
Balboa Oaks District Hosts Mega Roundtable Event for Fall Kickoff
September’s roundtable event in the Balboa Oaks District is not your ‘ordinary’ roundtable. The September kickoff of the fall roundtable season is a super event with food, tons of Scout-ing information, prizes, and uniquely, a Troop/Webelos Showcase. Many units will be at the event, showcasing the specifics of their pack and troop! If you have a Cub Scout or Webelos in the Balboa Oaks District this is the opportunity to check out the various troops in the district and talk to their Scouts and leaders. Find out which troops you want to put on your list to visit or get more information from.
The fun starts with free hot dogs, salad, drinks and dessert at 6:30 pm. The roundtable itself will occur from 7:00-8:00 pm with a raffle drawing closing out the event at 8:15 pm. All the excitement will occur at the LDS Church at 17101 Plummer Street in Northridge (on Plummer Street at Amestoy Avenue, just west of Balboa Boulevard. Join the fun in making scouting the best experience for your son and yourself!
All kinds of Scouting Information will be available:
Network with other Leaders
Learn what Resources You Have Bring Info Back To Your Pack & Troop
Adult Leader Knots
Recruitment
Patrol Challenge Popcorn Fund Raising
Merit Badge Midway & MB Counselor Cub Scout Day Camp & Family Camp
Religious Emblem Program
Scout Shop Display
Meet our District Executive
High Adventure Scouting for Food
Order of the Arrow
Camporee 2015
District Awards & Dinner District Programs-join the team
Adult Leader Training & Wood Badge Silver Beaver Award
Summer Camp
Camping & Outdoor Info
13
Alan and Julie Solursh Recognized by
BSA President Dr. Robert Gates
Mr. and Mrs. Alan and Julie Solursh, were recognized by BSA President Gates at a special ceremony in Anaheim recently as part of the annual Top Hand conference for the tremendous legacy that they have helped create for the Council.
President Gates presented the Solurshs with a special framed certificate for their substantial financial contribu-tions to Scouting, as recognized by their membership in the Second Century Society as Lifetime Investors. Mem-bership in the Second Century Society begins with a gift of $25,000 or more, given outright or payable over five years, or a deferred gift of $100,000 or more, to the Western Los Angeles County Council for their endow-ment fund.
Mr. and Mrs. Solursh have made significant annual finan-cial contributions to the Council’s operating and capital fund at Camp Emerald Bay and pledged a substantial planned gift to the Council’s endowment.
In accepting the certificate, Mr. Solursh, a member of the Council’s Executive Board, urged our Scouting families to contribute to our endowment fund, stating that “the endowment fund is the future of our Council’s financial stability in perpetuity. We need to build it up.” He added that we always need and appreciate financial support for the operating and capital budgets within the council, but urged our Scouting family (as a whole) to “remember the Council in your estate plans, because the legacy we leave is the investment for the future generations of Scouting within the Western Los Angeles County Council”.
The Solursh Family loves Scouting and appreciates the passion of the Scouters in the Council. They thanked the Council and President Gates for the recognition of their continued financial support to Scouting. Both Mr. Solursh and his son Brandon are Eagle Scouts.
Individuals interested in discussing and arranging for planned giving should contact Romy Longwell at [email protected] or (818) 933-0103.
Former Secretary of Defense, Dr. Robert Gates, BSA President with Board Member Alan Solursh
“the legacy we leave is the in-
vestment for the future ”
-Alan Solursh
Are you an Eagle in the Western Los Angeles County
Council? Join your fellow Eagle Scout Alumni at a variety
of fun, important and worthwhile activities from net-
working mixers to charity projects, outdoor adventures
and more. You are encouraged to visit our Facebook,
LinkedIn and Twitter pages, established just for Eagle
Alumni within our Council. For more information contact
Boeing...Other Area Companies...Provide Volunteer Matching Funds
Does YOUR Employer Provide Matching Funds or Pay for YOUR Volunteer Time?
Unique opportunities exist to help Scouting through corporate gift match and volunteer time pro-grams. These programs exist to support numerous 501(c)3 organizations in our communities and pro-vide a valuable incentive to increase donations through employers and to record volunteer time.
To summarize matching gift programs, participating companies match an employee’s donation to a non-profit—such as the local BSA Council. The employ-ee’s generous $500 donation becomes a $1,000 gift! Numerous companies within the Western Los Angeles County Council region participate in match-ing gift programs. The accompanying list contains the known employers in our region that offer gift match programs and/or participate in volunteer time programs.
Volunteer time programs are playing an increasing important role in non-profit fundraising. To support Scout-ing (and other n o n - p r o f i t s ) ,
participating companies pays the non-profit an hour-ly fee for each hour the volunteer (their employee) serves the non-profit. The Boeing Corporation main-tains such a program. For every hour a Boeing em-ployee volunteers for Scouting, Boeing contributes $10 to the organization. If an Assistant Scoutmaster (and Boeing employee) recorded (with Boeing) that they volunteered 40 hours in one quarter with Scouting, Boeing would provide a check for $400 to the Council!
Adding up all the Boeing employees in the Council
that volunteer with Scouting as ACMs, Cubmasters, parent volunteers and more can result in significant and needed funds for the Council...and this is just one company that assists organizations such as Scouting!
The individual volunteer must be employed by the participating corporation and the employee must submit proper paperwork with the employer. The Council hopes that you will check with your human resources and/or benefits department to see if your employer participates in a volunteer time, gift match or other similar program.
The following local companies offer gift match and/or volunteer time programs for their employ-ees:
3Com Corporation 3M Corporation Abbott Laboratories Adaptec, Inc. Adobe Systems, Inc. Aetna Foundation American Express Corp. American International Amgen Aon Corporation Applied Materials Argonaut Group, Inc. Aspect Global Giving AT&T Automatic Data Processing Bank of America
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Blue Shield of California BP Foundation BTW Consultants, Inc. Business Wire Cadence Design System, California Endowment California HealthCare Calpine Corporation Capital Group Carnegie Foundation C.B. Fleet Chubb & Son, Inc. Cingular Wireless Citigroup Clorox Corporation CMP Media, Inc. Coca-Cola Foundation Colgate-Palmolive Compton Foun-dation Computer Associates Int'l Del Monte Foods Deutsche Bank Americas eBay Electronic Arts, Inc. eLuxury - LVMH - SDG Emerson Electric Fair, Isaac & Company First Data Corporation FleetBoston Financial Fremont Group The Gap Gartner, Inc. Genentech, Inc. General Electric General Mills General Re Corporation GlaxoSmithKline Google Grainger Greater Bay Bancorp Guidant Harris Bank Hewlett Packard Household International IBM Corporation Integrated Circuit Systems International Data Group
Intuit Johnson & Johnson Johnson Controls JP Morgan Chase Juniper Networks Libbey, Inc. Macromedia Mal Warwick Associates Maritz, Inc. McGraw-Hill Companies Mellon Financial Corporation Merck Company MFS Investment Management Microsoft Corporation Nestle Nokia Northern Trust Company Oracle Corporation Pepsi Pfizer Providian Financial Prudential Qualcomm Inc. Quest Diagnostics Rockefeller Foundation SBC SPX Corporation SBC Schwab Corporation Sephora Sony Electronics Inc. Sprint Starbucks Sun Microsystems Symantec Corp. Synopsys Tenet Healthcare Tiffany & Co. Unilever United States, Union Bank of California Union Pacific Railroad United Technologies UPS Verizon Yahoo!
If your employer participates in volunteer incentive programs or will match donations and you don’t see them listed here, please let us know by contact-ing David Lasher at [email protected] or by phone at(818) 933-0104.
Aviation Scholarship
Winners Announced
The Council is proud to an-nounce that Alizabeth Blackburn of North Hills and Sean Lorenzo de Asis of Northridge are the proud Aviation Scholarship re-cipients for our Council.
Both Ms. Blackburn and Mr. Lo-renzo de Asis will receive $3,000 scholarships under the Mechan-ic category, as offered through the National Aviation Exploring Scholarship Award program.
The funds go to the college, flight school or technical school where the winners will attend classes or training related to air-craft mechanics.
Check out a new (and occasional) feature of the Scout Sentinel—a puzzle—in this case, a cross-word puzzle of general Scout knowledge.
Across 2. Rescue Knot 6. Highest Scout Award 7. 10th Point of Scout Law 9. Palisades Camp 11. North Star 13. Brought Scouting to U.S. 14. Leaves of Three (2) 15. 7th 'District' in our Council 16. Highest Cub Award (3) 17. Scouting Founder (2)
Down 1. New Eagle Scout Merit Badge Requirement 3. War Sir Baden-Powell Fought in 4. Needed to Start Fire 5. Council Newsletter 7. Reserve 8. Needle Points To ________ 10. 9th Point of Scout Law 11. _______ Coast Trail 12. Response to a Fire (3)
( )=Number of Words
Want to win a cool prize for correctly completing the puzzler? Correct sub- missions will be entered into a drawing for a Firestarter 2.0 Fire Steel and a package of Char Cloth (Value $20.00). Correct answers must be received by September 15, 2014 (currently registered Cub, Boy and Venturing Scouts only please). Mail your completed puzzle to the Council office (address on page 25) or scan and email it to [email protected] with a subject line of “Puzzler”. Please be sure to include your District, unit number and rank!
The Puzzler: A New (and Occasional) Feature of the Newsletter
From Europe to New Mexico...Eagles Tom Cantarine and his son Freddy Cantarine trekked to the Philmont Scout Ranch in Au-gust. They prepared for their Philmont adven-ture by completing a number of notable hikes including San Gorgonio and Mt. Baden-Powell.
Eagles Tom and Freddy Cantarine at the summit of the Tooth of Time (left center) at the Philmont Scout Ranch.
Troop 911 enjoyed an Alaskan adventure this summer visiting Anchorage, Wasilla, De-nali National Park and other locales. They enjoyed whitewater rafting (right), a glacier hike (below), a trip to the national Iditarod (sled dog) headquarters (bottom right), a visit to a historic gold mine and more!
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Boy Scouts of America Western Los Angeles County Council 16525 Sherman Way, Unit C-8 Van Nuys, CA 91406 (818) 785-8700 www.bsa-la.org
The Scout Sentinel is the official monthly newsletter of the Western Los Angeles County Council, Boy Scouts of America. To pro-vide story tips, submit photographs or request additional information, please contact the newsletter’s editor, David Lasher at [email protected] or call (818) 933-0104.
Pow Wow Returns Pow Wow, the supplemental, action-packed training event is coming to the
W.L.A.C.C. in January! Pow Wow is for EVERYONE in the scouting program. From first time leaders to sea-soned Scoutmasters. Unit Commissioners to Scouting Program Directors, Pow Wow is for everyone in the Scouting program.
Come and learn about the new and exciting program changes coming to Scouting later in 2015. Get ahead of the curve! Beyond the training and programming information passed on at Pow Wow, attendees also learn about the following subjects:
Doing Derbies – Pinewood Derby, Rain Gutter Regatta, Space Derby Geocaching – A great Outdoor activity for all Scouts Cub Science – Wacky and Weird How to plan a GREAT Campfire Program – Easy and Fun Internet Advancement – Easy, Quick, Convenient First Aid – CPR Classes Camping opportunities for Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturing Making your Pack, Troop, Crew, Ship, or Team Grow and Thrive And much, much more
The date and location for Pow Wow training is currently being arranged. Keep an eye out for updates here in the Scout Sentinel.
Lastly, do you have something fun and exciting that you would like to share with others? Be a presenter. It’s easy and fun. Contact Greg Bassé, Program Director for Pow Wow via email at [email protected].
