A Scout’s daily Good Turn can take on any form.
The boys in Troop 339 of Ridley Township, Pa., were looking for a way to warmly welcome the members of their linked troop: a new Scouts BSA troop for girls that shares their troop number, meeting place, chartered organization and committee but meets and camps separately.
Without any prodding from the adults, the young men came up with the perfect idea. They’d use some of the troop’s extra funds to purchase new uniforms for the girls. These extra funds, I should mention, were available thanks to some smart money management from the Scouts and Scouters of Troop 339.
“This is why you’re a youth volunteer — to see a group of young men put their own personal interests aside and do good for others,” Jim Walls, Scoutmaster of Troop 339 for boys, told the Delaware County Daily Times. “It’s all about doing one good thing each day for somebody else. This year, it happened to be buying uniforms for the girls.”
Visiting the Scout shop
Instead of just handing off a check or Venmo-ing the funds, the boys met the girls at the Cradle of Liberty Council’s Valley Forge Scout Shop in Wayne, Pa.
Turns out a Scout shop is a great place to go over the basics of the Scouts BSA program. The guys pointed out their favorite merit badges, talked about camping gear and explained the pieces of the Scouts BSA uniform.
Barbara Steinmetz, Scoutmaster of Troop 339 for girls, watched the Scouting kindness unfold in front of her.
“The girls troop is so thankful that the boys are doing this,” she told the Times. “They’re happy and excited, and it’s a fantastic start to all of this.”
A running start
With uniforms under their belt, Troop 339 for girls can get started on all the fun, character-building moments that are part of being a Scout.
Like all Scouts BSA troops, this one’s led by the youth. So the girls — not the adults — get to decide what’s next. Those planning and leadership skills are part of being a Scout, too.
“I want to be there to see them experience what they want to in the program,” Steinmetz told the Times. “There is a lot of stuff they’re talking about: camping, orienteering and seeing what the program’s about and what they can do with it.”
Read the Delaware County Daily Times story here. Photos courtesy of Jim Walls.
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