(Updated Feb. 19, 2013) Earning the Eagle Scout Award is something to write home about — literally.
Politicians, astronauts, celebrities, and other recognizable figures have been sending hand-signed letters to new Eagle Scouts for, well, 100 years.
The very first congratulatory letter was sent in 1912 when the first Eagle Scout, Arthur R. Eldred, received a note from James E. West, the first Chief Scout Executive.
Today, parents and Scout leaders can request these scrapbook-worthy keepsakes from pretty much anyone with a mailbox.
But who is known to respond, and how do you contact them? And when do you send off these requests anyway?
To help, I searched the Internet and consulted a source closer to home — my dad, who sent away for the letters included in this post when I received my Eagle.
When to request Eagle Scout letters
The basic rule is ASAP, my dad says.
After a boy completes his board of review, he’s officially an Eagle Scout. But most boys don’t have their Eagle court of honor until weeks or months later, so that’s your window for requesting and receiving letters.
My board of review was in March, but my court of honor wasn’t until late April, so my parents had time to collect letters to include in the scrapbook displayed at my ceremony.
Of course, any letters you don’t get by the ceremony date can still be added to the boy’s Eagle Scout scrapbook later.
Whom to ask for letters
- City and county officials: Your mayor, city council officials, school board president, superintendent, parks and recreation director
- Religious leaders
- State officials: The governor, your area’s state legislators
- Business leaders: CEOs and executives at major corporations based in your city
- U.S. officials: The president, cabinet members, senators, representatives, military leaders, department heads
- Past presidents or elected officials no longer in office
- Prominent national people: astronauts, athletes, filmmakers, actors, and famous Eagle Scouts like Mike Rowe or Steven Spielberg
- Anyone who means something to your Eagle Scout: Get creative! Does he have a favorite author, athlete, musician, or actor? Try to track down that person’s contact information. The letter may go unanswered, but it only costs you 45 cents to try.
Where to find addresses
Rather than reinventing the wheel and posting addresses here, I’ll just link to this excellent resource from the U.S. Scouting Service Project.
For addresses not listed there, find the appropriate Web site and look for the “Contact Us” link — usually at the top of the page or at the very bottom.
Some entities, such as NASA or the U.S. Army, allow you to submit request online. Many of those links are at the U.S. Scouting Service Project, as well.
Try local first
NEW: In mid-February 2013, I received this note from Todd Reid, state director for the office of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Reid saw my blog and had this to say:
Just a note on how it works best for our office, which may be representative of most members of Congress.
Requests are best sent to local in-state offices, not the Washington office. Mail sent to the US Capitol undergoes a lengthy security screening that can take up to three weeks from the time the letter arrives in DC until it is delivered to our office. Letters sent directly to our in-state offices go thru their own security screening process, but because the volume of mail is much less, the process moves much faster.
Senator Rubio is always glad to acknowledge the Scout’s achievement, and we are honored that their friends, leaders and loved ones invite us to participate in a small way in the Scout’s Eagle Court of Honor.
Thanks for the insight, Mr. Reid.
What to include
The U.S. Scouting Service Project recommends including the Scout’s full name, troop number, council, and a short description of his Eagle Scout service project. For best results, address it to a specific person, not an organization.
Including a self-addressed stamped envelope makes it that much easier to get a response.
Final thoughts
Go for quality over quantity. Think about it: Would your Eagle Scout prefer four or five letters from people that are important to him or three dozen mainly from people he’s never heard of?
Plus, as the U.S. Scouting Service Project notes, keeping the total number of requests from new Eagles to a manageable size may prevent someone from refusing to accept requests altogether.
What do you think?
Who have you successfully heard back from that isn’t listed here? Post their addresses below.
What are your tips for getting congratulatory letters? Help others by sharing your thoughts below.
My Eagle Scout letters
Just for fun, I thought I’d share some of my Eagle Scout letters:
Reblogged this on Algonquin District and commented:
Bryan blogs for Scouting Magazine. There is frequently pretty good stuff here – such as this guide to Requesting Eagle Congratulatory Letters
Who writes the letters? Does the scout request his letters? For example, do they say “please send me a congratulatory letter” or does the parents ask them to send their son a letter? Thank you!
When my son got his Eagle, I wanted to do something out of the ordinary. So, I did a search on his name (Google was the latest up-and-coming thing back then), and sent e-mails to all the interesting-looking people who shared his name. When the time came for his eagle presentation, I had half-a-dozen or more letters or e-mails from others with his name, congratulating him on his achievement in their collective name.
I read some of them at the ceremony – it took a while for everyone to catch on, but once they did it was a real hit.
Not to diminish the importance of the letters but remember this, when it comes to politicians and dignitaries all the letters same the same thing, just in different words, and the person whose name is at the top of the letterhead didn’t write the letter, and most likely didn’t sign it. Don’t go nuts at the Court of Honor having relatives read all the letters; it just bores everybody there and drags the ceremony on unnecessarily.
our Scoutmasters just pick out a few letters to read, and after the COH put the book out on a table if anyone wants to read the other letters, and it didn’t bore us to look at the letters our son received, they took time out of their busy to send the letter
Pinned on Pinterest
Check out Mike Rowe’s letter to Eagle Scouts:
http://www.mikeroweworks.com/scrap-yard/eagle-scout-letter/
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Certificates and cards for new Eagle Scouts may be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150163156966517.299464.570986516&type=3&l=bd4b435d32
Thanks for sharing these, Ryan, great to look at.
I do have a question: Your entry says “After a boy completes his board of review, he’s officially an Eagle Scout,” but I’ve read on USSSP that the fat lady hasn’t sung until everything has been sent to National and the credentials have been sent back. This last step is on p. 52 of the Guide to Advancement. Is there actually anything that can happen at that point that will stop the rank? (I would try to dig up the post on USSSP, but that place is a digital nightmare, I’d never find it again).
(I would try to dig up the post on USSSP, but that place is a digital nightmare, I’d never find it again).”
Hey, even I have problems finding stuff on the USSSP.
We do have a LOT of information there.
Could it have been on Scouts-L?
Bryan’s blog pot is great, and we appreciate his endorsement of our site. But he left out an important point that I would add. He indirectly mentioned it in passing, but I hope this makes the following point clear.
At the end of our page is a list of individuals and organizations that have specifically asked us to remove them from our listing, either because of the work load involved and/or a lack of staff to handle the requests, or in some cases due to the incapacity of the individual.
So please check that list and avoid sending requests to those people and groups.
Thanks,
Paul S Wolf
Secretary, US Scouting Service Project
(I maintain that page for the USSSP and I welcome additions or corrections)
PS: In response to PJ4378′s comment: While the official date that a Scout becomes an Eagle Scout is the date of his Eagle Board of Review, the advancement is not official until the credentials have been returned by the National office. In some VERY RARE cases, the advancement has been rejected or postponed when the national office has found a discrepancy in the records or some other reason to deny the advancement. So, at the end of the EBOR the Scout is already an Eagle, but the advancement is still subject to verification by the national office.
Paul
Good point. Thanks for clarifying!
Can you post where your list is of people that don’t want to be contacted?
Cynthia, I don’t keep that list, but the U.S. Scouting Service Project does. Look here, and scroll to the bottom.
When our sons got their Eagles we did the letter requests, but we also purchased a flag that had flown over the nation’s capital on the day they had their board of review. Contact your Senator.
how much did that cost?
SHOUT it to the world. Let no one be surprised. Ths is THIER time and celebration. Yours in Scouting.
Reblogged this on Lewis and Clark District Committee.
I was lucky enough to plan my son’s Eagle Court of Honor as ASM of Tr 17 Cumberland, MD. Eli is our creative son. Does not care in the least if he had a letter from any official from anywhere. (although I did try to get some) I asked Eli, Son, some people get letters and certificates from the Military, govt officials etc. Who is important in your life that you would like to get a letter from. He rattled off several bands…Phish, Keller Williams, and several others. So I wrote to them. Phish sent a photo with all of their signatures and Keller Williams wrote a long letter in pencil on ripped out spiral notebook paper and sent an autographed tee shirt. The letter was very interesting and I read it at the ceremony. An interesting idea for the more creative Eagle Scouts that come along. BTW Eli had dreds to his shoulders at his ceremony. (to each his own I suppose)
That’s awesome and I wished I had thought of that when helping plan my sons ceremony! My congratulations to Eli!
Love this…My son too is named Eli and just like your son he could care less about the political letters…I am also going for his favorite band members and the like. He just made Eagle this past Thursday. Great to see Your Eli’s Court of Honor was a success ….now I know I’m on the right track! Thanks for a great post!
I have found several sites with addresses but nothing on what the letter should say that is being sent to the people at these addresses. Do you just gives the boy’s name and a description of his project? A sample letter would be a lot of help. Any idea where I could find one?
Karen, here’s a good source for Eagle Scout invitations, etc:
http://www.eaglescout.org/finale/coh/invite.html
I would also love to get a sample letter. Also, can you share the websites that you found addresses on?
When I helped organized Eagle COH for my troop, I tried to find out what interested the scout. In one case, a scout had great-grandparents who fought in the civil war; he was very interested in civil war history. I found a group organized for and by descendants of those who fought in the civil war.His letter from that group was very personalized to the scout and included an invitation to join the group. He was very touched. In addition there was a scout who was the troop’s “knotmaster”; he could figure out a knot by looking at it and was able to teach others how to tie the knot. I found an organization that focused on “knots”; they sent a very special letter to the scout, inviting him to join their organization. Letters to politicians are great; letters to groups or people that recognize the Scout’s special interests are greatly appreciated and treasured. But they do take more time.
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Bryan,
You missed the boat entirely on this one. An Eagle Scout should send out invitations to his Court of Honor to whomever he wishes would attend, be it Chuck Norris or President Obama. The letters are their polite way of declining those invitations.
You don’t write to famous people and ask for a letter. That is rude.
In fact, it is really, really, really rude.
I invited our state and national senators and the president to my COH. I received nice letters in return, but some of them actually showed up at the COH, and we had some pretty heavy-hitting politicians speaking.
Sending a request for a letter is a selfish act of self-aggrandizement. It is against the Scout Law. It is not in the service of others. It is not friendly, courteous or kind. It certainly is not helpful.
It is helpful to yourself, unfriendly and rude to others, and a total violation of what the Boy Scouts have represented for 100 years. We are the guys who help others. We are not the guys who ask others to give us free stuff.
Send your invitations out and offer to host and feed your guests. That is polite.
Ask for a letter? You probably not be an Eagle Scout if this is how your mind works.
Keep repeating the meditation, please. “We are not princesses, and this is not our wedding.”
Thanks for your comments, but I’ll politely disagree.
I think you misread my post and thought I was suggesting that the boys themselves request the letter. Actually, I’m addressing parents. My blog is aimed at Scouters and Scout parents — adults.
With that in mind, I’ll note that parents have been requesting letters for their Eagle Scout sons for decades. It’s often intentionally done without the boy’s knowledge so he can be surprised with these letters at his court of honor.
In fact, in the time since I put up this post, three parents have written me requesting that I write a letter for their son. I found this quite friendly, courteous, and kind. In fact, I found it flattering that people would invite me to be a tiny piece of their son’s important moment.
Not in the service of others? Wrong. That’s exactly what a parent or Scouter who requests a letter is doing. They’re creating a memory for an Eagle Scout that will last for generations.
Thanks,
Bryan
Great response Bryan,
I am a parent of an Eagle Scout and I’m in the process o equesting letters o my son,s court of honor.
Thanks for the great ideas!
Jim
I have been sending for these for my Troop since my son became Eagle in 1998. It is a joy to do them and I truly appreciate how happy the Eagle and his family is with the book.
Steven Spielberg will not send any letters until the Gay issue is removed. Mike Rowe’s is very expensive since you need to send each request separately (we sometimes have two to three Eagles at one time) and with a self addressed large manilla envelope.
Also, Supreme Court Justices will not reply.
One of the nicest requests I had a few years ago was to write my own letter so that years later the Eagle will remember who took the time to put his book together.
I did something similar for the BSA 100th. My son was a cub scout at the time and I had the boys in his den write letters to former scouts in various professions requesting either a birthday wish for boy scouts our some of their fondest memories of scouting. We used them to create a birthday area at our blue and gold banquet. I had a connection to an astronaut who helped with other astronauts contacts and I had a connection to a congressman who was an eagle. The most touching letter was a hand written note in shaky penmanship from John Glenn. Each boy got to keep the letters that he solicited.
I think this is a wonderful idea for Eagle recognition!
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Does anyone have the adress for Chuck Norris?
I, too, am searching for the address of Chuck Norris. Please help. Thanks.
Thanks for all this great info – very helpful!
Here is Chuck Norris’ website. Good luck!
http://www.chucknorris.com
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was floundering wondering how I would do all of this. I really appreciate all of the help. My son just completed his board of review & is now an Eagle scout. Very grateful for the help!