DECEMBER 2020 NEWSLETTER OFFICE HOURS The Golden Spread Council Office and Scout Shop are open: Monday thru Friday 8:30—5:30 OFFICE CLOSURES The Golden Spread Council will be closed for the following holidays in 2020: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; New Year’s Eve Be sure to check out our website calendar for ALL of the exciting events happening in the Golden Spread Council or follow this link: https://goldenspread.org/ 1 COUNCIL EVENTS EDITOR’S NOTE Hello Golden Spread Council volunteers, parents, staff and board members! I hope this finds all of our volunteers and families doing well during this continued coronavirus pandemic! The good news for this month is: Christmas! As we begin to (finally) close this year down, I have started reflecting on what 2020 has reminded me to be mindful of in my life. Patience, resilience, kindness, hope, joy are just a few reminders given to me. In the toughest year that I can ever remember, there is still so much to be thankful for. I still have my dad, my kids, my sister, nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family and friends plus God still reigns! We have all had extra challenges in 2020 and I am thankful to be going through the scouting challenges with all of you amazing volunteers and my work family. Whatever happens, we will all be stronger for it! Peace and blessings over all of you and your families! Merry Christmas! Lots of events coming in 2021 so read all about it! Be sure to visit the council website at www.goldenspread.org regularly to get information on upcoming events, registration and deadlines and any date changes that may occur. The newsletter will be going out every month and will contain the most current information available for council, district, and unit events. Please send unit event information, dates and pictures to Gemma Mitchell at [email protected] or call 806-282-8296 and leave me a voicemail. Don’t forget to forward all of your unit fun and activities to your district executive! If you don’t know who they are or how to contact them, look on the green tabbed district pages here in the newsletter. We are really excited to get this newsletter out to you and we are even more excited to include you and your youth! The youth of the Golden Spread Council is why we all do what we do in Scouting and when we stay focused on them, we all win! Yours in Scouting, Gemma Mitchell 2 COUNCIL EVENTS 2021 GOLDEN SPREAD COUNCIL CUB SCOUTS AND SCOUTS BSA CAMPING AND ACTIVITIES January 23: Merit Badge University February 20-21: OKPIK Winter Adventure Camp March 27: Scouting for Food (Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA event) April 9-11: Woodbadge Weekend #1 (Camp Don Harrington) April 16-18: Camporee April 24-25: Woodbadge Weekend #2 (Camp MK Brown) April 24-25: Cub Scout Extravaganza April 30-May 2: Philmont Family Weekend June 5: Cub Scout Adventure Day Camp June 6-11: National Youth Leadership Training Course (NYLT) June 20-26: Scouts BSA Summer Camp Week 1 June 27-July 3: Scouts BSA Summer Camp Week 2 July 16-18: Wolf/Bear Only Resident Camp July 23-25: Webelos Resident Camp August 21: Waterfront Day (Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA event) August 28: BB/Archery/Slingshot Day September 17-19: Webelos Woods Camp September 25-26: Cub Scout Family Campout October 16: Spook O Ree October 23: Spook O Ree November 13: Environmental Science Merit Badge Class For details on all of these camps, activities and to register, visit www.goldenspread.org. Click on the “Calendar” tab and scroll to the date to find the camp/activity. Please check with your unit leader for details on how to register for these events as some are unit registrations and others may be individual registrations. If you haven’t liked us already, go to the Golden Spread Council page on Facebook and like us! We also put a lot of information about upcoming events and news on this page. 3 COUNCIL EVENTS SCOUTING IN 2020 As the year-end draws closer, there is always a curiosity as to how our Scouting units fared in advancements throughout the year. It has been a difficult year for everyone; however, here is a recap showing the advancements that were done throughout 2020 (as of October 31) - even through a pandemic! It shows a resilience that when the going gets tough, Scouting gets going! Congratulations to ALL of our Cub Scout Packs and ScoutsBSA troops! You rock! 2020 Cub Scout Advancements (By District) Lone Wolf – 105 Adobe Walls – 98 Golden Eagle – 429 TOTAL – 632 2020 ScoutsBSA Advancements (By District) Lone Wolf – 147 Adobe Walls – 159 Golden Eagle – 1111 TOTAL – 1,417 2020 Total ScoutsBSA Ranks - 289 Top 3 Merit Badges 2020 – Citizenship in the World – 69 Badges (62 Badges in 2019) Fingerprinting – 65 Badges (69 Badges in 2019) Communications – 60 Badges (42 in 2019) Did you know that as you holiday shop you can be giving back to charities? Sign up for Amazon smile at https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/homepage?orig=%2F, pick your favorite charity (yes, the Golden Spread Council is listed!), sign in with your regular Amazon sign in and begin shopping away! Each time you shop Amazon by going to Amazon smile you will be giving 5% of your total eligible purchases back to your favority charity! So this holiday season, give an extra smile! 4 COUNCIL EVENTS 5 COUNCIL EVENTS Journey to Excellence Scouting’s Journey to Excellence (JTE) is the BSA aspirational planning, performance and recognition program designed to encourage and reward success of our units, districts, and councils. It is meant to encourage excellence and continuous improvement in providing a quality program at all levels of the BSA. The JTE standards are based on achievements the previous year or previous few years, both individually and for the creation of national standards. Due to the extraordinary circumstances occurring in 2020, benchmarking 2019 to 2020 at the district and council level is not constructive and similarly basing 2021 standards on 2020 for districts and councils is equally inappropriate. Many units, however, have largely adapted their programs to the challenges of 2020 so their members have continued to enjoy Scouting. For these reasons, the Journey to Excellence recognition program for districts and councils is discontinued immediately. The Unit level recognition program will continue, and recognition patches will be available for units.. Journey to Excellence for Districts and Councils also represents data which is important to help districts and councils. A new membership reporting tool is under development to aid districts and councils with key membership data including gender and ethnic inclusion. You will soon hear more about this. Unfortunately, the council and district JTE dashboard (dials) and finish line report require substantial manual compilation and data assessment each month. With the significant reduction in staff at the BSA National office, the staff support necessary to keep the dashboard current and helpful to you is simply not available. Consequently, it is necessary to decommission the JTE dashboard and finish line report effective September 18. We suggest that even if JTE recognition is not available, the JTE standards still represent a vision of good Scouting for Districts and Councils and can be used in strategic planning. Unit Recognition Revised unit criteria, due to the pandemic, is available at https://www.scouting.org/awards/journey-to- excellence/unit/2020-scorecards-english/ 2021 unit scorecards are available at https://www.scouting.org/awards/journey-to-excellence/unit/ We will be considering what assessment and/or recognition system will be most helpful to councils and districts for 2022 and beyond. It is very premature to speculate on what that might be. Questions can be directed to [email protected]. Thank you for all you do for Scouting and for your support of the Journey to Excellence program. 6 COUNCIL EVENTS WOODBADGE WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Wood Badge is designed to meet the advanced leadership needs of all Scouters, particularly unit level Scouters, such as Cub leaders, Scoutmasters and assistants, Venturing Crew Advisors, Committee Chairs and members. Additionally, Scouters serving at the district and council levels can achieve greater effectiveness through Wood Badge. To attend a Wood Badge course, individuals must: Be registered members of the Boy Scouts of America. (Youth 18 and older may attend as long as the appropriate Youth Protection guidelines are followed. They do not need to be registered in an adult leadership role.) Have completed the basic training courses for their Scouting position. Be capable of functioning safely in an outdoor environment. All participants are required to complete the Annual Health and Medical Record form Part A & B. WHY ATTEND? By taking Wood Badge, Scouters will acquire valuable tools such as listening, communicating, conflict Management, project planning and leading change. Participants will better learn to understand and appreciate diversity and differences in our society. They will learn skills that will make them a better Scout leader. Units with trained leaders are able to deliver an improved program and a more meaningful experience for the youth Scouting serves. By attending Wood Badge, the participants will internalize the 5 themes of Wood Badge: Living the Values, Growing, Connecting, Guiding, Empowering. Cost per participant is $260.00 and you can register online at www.goldenspread.org Course Dates: April 9-11th at Camp Don Harrington AND April 24-25th at Camp MK Borwn If you have further questions, call Joe Rahija, 2021 Course Director at 806-930-0645 7 COUNCIL EVENTS HUGE SCOUT SHOP SALE! Time is of the essence and supplies are limited so don’t delay! Hurry and come by the Golden Spread Council Scout Shop at 401 Tascosa Rd.