FROM YOUR COUNCIL COMMISSIONER, MIKE LEWIS
This newsletter finds us beginning a new calendar year, 2012. This is normally a time for ear of us to reflect on our accomplishments and our goals. We look back to see if we achieved the goals we set out to achieve last year. So what were your personal goals in 2011? What goals did you have for Scouting in 2011? Did you achieve them? Or did you at least make measurable progress toward your goals? From the Council level, I believe we can answer these questions with a resounding YES! So now what about 2012? What are your resolutions for this New Year for yourself and for Scouting? I would challenge each volunteer, leader or parent, to make several resolutions for 2012 so that we can continue to move Scouting forward in the Northern Lights Council.
One way to do this is to do a Time, Talents, and Treasures evaluation. How have you allocated your time, talents, and treasures? The success of the Scouting movement depends on many things, but the time of our volunteers is the first and most important element. Leading our youth to a successful experience within Scouting depends on hundreds of leaders dedicating thousands of hours of their valuable time. We often laugh at the phrase “one hour a week” but we also realize that this time commitment is worth the end result, an enjoyable and rewarding achievement. I know that many of our volunteers spend countless hours each, well beyond the one hour a week, to make sure the youth gain this experience. The hidden secret is that most enjoy the time and would spend more in the efforts if they had the chance. Challenge yourself to find the time to continue your leadership of our youth, make sure you are using time wisely, and find at least one way to serve Scouting in another way.
The second element is Talents. We each have our individual and unique talents. They might be physical skills where we have the ability to teach or demonstrate a process to our youth. Hands on efforts are one of the mostly valuable ways for a young person to learn something new. It might be knowledge. Knowledge we can impart to the Scouts to assist in learning skills or to other adults so that they can become better leaders in our units. It might be in an ability to mentor the Scouts. Scouts always will look up to someone who takes the time to talk with them, listen to them, and help them understand the expectations and challenges they face, both in or out of Scouting. Finding out where and how your talents can benefit Scouting is a very important part of the process of leading and contributing to the success of our Council.
The third element is Treasures. Maybe your treasure is your time and / or talent. If so have you wisely invested it into the youth and the events that take place every week? We need this treasure more than ever, and your help in finding and motivating additional leaders work with our Scouts. For many the treasure is a financial consideration. Each year we work hard to make sure that our Council and the units are financially strong and successful. This is no small effort and takes the contributions of many to achieve our goals. You should know that our Council is among the financially strongest in the nation and we have great leadership and guidance to keep it that way. But continued support for our efforts such as popcorn sales, candy bar sales, capital fund campaigns, endowment fund raising, and Friends of Scouting are vital. We all know that the cost of providing the support of our organization never gets cheaper, and to remain strong our efforts must always achieve more. Please commit yourself and your treasures to making sure we are always moving in a positive direction. There is always a way for your treasure to provide and create a memorable and lasting impact in Scouting.
So as we move into this New Year, each of us that have a connection to the Northern Lights Council and Scouting in general can continue to maintain or improve how we divide and dedicate our time, talent, and treasures. The continued success of the Boys Scouts of America depends on our volunteers. Each of us, unit leaders, commissioners, committee members, parents, and professional staff have an important part in the process to make sure the youth who are members can continue to gain quality and memorable experiences in Scouting that will last a lifetime.
Thank You.
Sincerely yours in Scouting, Prepared. For Life.
Michael Lewis
Council Commissioner