![[TIDEWATER COUNCIL]](images/tidewater.gif)
Greetings from the Scout executive
![[FLEUR DE LIS]](images/fleur.gif)
Tidewater Council, Boy Scouts of America, #596
1032 Heatherwood Drive
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23455-6675
Telephone: (757) 497-2688
Fax: (757) 473-3305
E-mail: Tide596BSA@aol.com
Dear Scouting Community:Welcome to Tidewater Council, No. 596, Boy Scouts of America. We serve more than 12,000 youth members and 4,500 adult volunteers in the Virginia cities of Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk and Portsmouth and the North Carolina counties of Currituck, Camden, Dare, Chowan, Gates, Pasquotank and Perquimans. Our Service Center and Scout Shop are located in Virginia Beach.
There are several ways that you can stay ahead of the game in the Tidewater Council. I will list my favorites right here:
- Training. Take our online courses, take our basic courses, take our regular update training, and keep on going. Scouting's strength depends on everyone being trained. Maximizing quality and safety rests first and foremost with having everyone informed. The faster one takes it, the faster one starts to become more comfortable and the faster our youth advance.
- Attend the monthly roundtable in your district for up-to-date program information. What's a roundtable? It's a monthly gathering of leaders by program group that provides ongoing features and an opportunity to hear the latest news.
- Subscribe to the "Electronic Knapsack" or "EK". This free electronic newsletter contains a wider variety of materials that is not available in print or other forms. You can sign-up by E-mailing Tide596BSA@aol.com. It is not necessary but please tell us your name, what you do in Scouting, and your unit number. Youth, parents, folks from other councils, and others are all welcome to join.
- Scouting is owned by what we called chartered organizations (they are not sponsors). They appoint individuals known as chartered organization representatives (CR's). Make very sure that the chartered organization has appointed a person who will represent your unit at the district meetings and the council meetings.
- Secure, keep and make available the incredible and ever improving Boys' Life Magazine for every person in the unit. A lot of adults who no longer have children in the program are not receiving this inexpensive magazine. Know that the magazine is researched just for boys and it's important that boy's receive something that they want to read on a regular basis. Please take your read copies to work and leave it in the lobby for others to see.
- Quality is unit driven. The smartest, the best and the most effective Scouting units today are driven not only by their caring for their youth members, but prove it by setting and keeping track of their progress. The first place to look is at the qualifications for the Quality Unit Award. Every item is easy to obtain. Furthermore, when we direct a youth to join a Scouting unit, it should be for the pleasure of joining a unit that is driven by the benchmarks located within the Quality Unit criteria. A Quality Unit just doesn't happen, it happens with the direction given by the unit's committee, chartered organization, and the front line leaders.
- Membership. If you think Scouting is the greatest thing going, pay Scouting the highest compliment that you can, support it by asking others to join with you. A very simple idea, but yet, the only reason we exist...for our youth. Some say they didn't join for the character development but the outdoor adventure, but years later they will always say, I was glad I took the trip, but I am glad of what Scouting gave me...the strength in character to persevere through many difficult and trying situations.
A council is volunteer driven. What we have today and what we will have tomorrow will be driven by what we provide in terms of overall teamwork between volunteers and staff. Character development is essential to America's youth.
Yours in Scouting,
Scout executive
PS. Training!
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