Blog
There is still time to get your Spring Recruitment materials
There are several reasons to hold a recruitment event before the school year ends.
- Summer camp is a great way to kick off a Scout’s adventure
- Registered Cub Scouts can earn the Summertime Pack Award and the Outdoor Adventure Award
- Scouts can start earning their own way with your unit’s Popcorn Fundraiser in August
Spring Recruitment Rallies and Events are good for your unit too!
- Non-scouting families may not realize that they can register this time of the year – a rally event will help them know
- Journey to Excellence and Baden Powell Awards both have Spring Recruitment incentives
- Families who join before summer have more time to get involved and complete training
Contact your District Service Executive for recruiting materials
These materials are designed to help you reach potential members and promote our organization to the wider community.
New Ralley Signs: These signs are specifically designed for parents to have a self-guided tour experience at your unit’s next rally. As you talk to parents, QR Codes to short videos assist adults in your unit to communicate the aims and values of Scouting – even if they are relatively new to Scouting themselves!
Yard Signs: Congratulate your Scout, appreciate a Scout Leader, or recruit for your unit. Visit the Alamo Area Council Website to order yours today!
Flyers: These are perfect for distribution in high-traffic areas such as schools, community centers, and local events. Our flyers feature eye-catching designs and highlight the benefits of being a member of our youth organization.
Cards: Our membership cards are great for personalizing our members’ experiences and giving them a sense of belonging. These cards are professionally designed and feature our organization’s logo and brand colors.
Rally Cards: These cards are perfect for rallies, events, and community outreach. Our rally cards are designed to capture the attention of potential members and inspire them to learn more about our organization.
Website: The Alamo Area Council Membership Tool page is an important tool for volunteers wanting resources for graphics, videos, and all other sorts of media. The website is user-friendly and contains all the necessary information you need to get started.
BSA marketing materials have been carefully designed to promote your unit in the most effective way possible to new families. These products are high-quality, professional, and designed to appeal to young people and their parents! We encourage leaders to make use of these materials in their recruiting efforts. If you need any assistance with using these materials or have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your District Executive.
The Airforce Partners with Bear Creek Summer Camp – Click here to learn of volunteer opportunities.
HQ AETC Public Affairs has approved 5 positions to help staff Bear Creek Summer Camp. These will not only be members of the Bear Creek Summer Camp Staff but they will also be representing the Air Force in an effort to connect Airmen with recruitable age scouts. For this reason, they are authorizing PTDY for 5 airmen to volunteer with us. We are in need of a Medic and various program support. Below you will see the authorization emails and the details from HQ AETC Public Affairs. If you are an active duty airman or know of someone who is, and you fall under this command, please consider representing the Air Force and joining our Bear Creek Summer Camp Staff! For questions related to positions available – please reach out to Linda.Dieguez@scouting.org or 210-740-9370
Notification Sent out on April 13, 2023:
Subject: ACTION:// PTDY Opportunity for Medical Volunteers
Greetings,
The Boy Scouts of America are in dire need of a medical volunteer and are asking if the Air Force can find a volunteer Airman to go PTDY to support the summer camp. The dates would be from June 4th to July 2nd, the location is Bear Creek Scout Camp, 125 Bear Creek Scout Reservation Road, Hunt, TX 78024. Please share opportunity for widest dissemination:
The BSA is in need of a medic with the following qualifications, if this is not filled the camp will close:
At least 18 years of age, lives on-site while camp is in session (dates above).
Qualifications, must be one of the following:
- Licensed Physician
- Licensed Nurse Practitioner
- Nurse (RN, LPN, or LVN)
- Licensed physician assistants
- Paramedic
- Emergency medical technician (basic, intermediate, or paramedic)
- Emergency medical responder, i.e. current state license from the state in which the camp is located or current Nationally Certified First Responder listed on the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians.
They would prefer a female Airman but will take any volunteer that meets the qualifications. BSA will provide lodging and food for the duration of camp and ask the volunteer wear appropriate military summer uniforms.
Names of volunteers are needed by 1 May. Please share opportunity for widest dissemination
Permissive TDY:
Current legal review describes the PTDY limits at each level of command for a boy scout camp; 10 days at the squadron CC level, and 30 days at the wing CC level (or equivalent positions). Camp days (4 June – 2 July) is 28 days, so a wing CC or equivalent could approve the PTDY.
Attached is DAFI36-3003, 3.2.4. for questions regarding PTDY.
Purpose:
This is part of a recruiting effort to connect Airmen with recruitable age audience. The camp supports 350 youth each week, plus adults and parents. This is an AETC command priority to connect Airmen with the community.
POC
AETC Public Affairs Ms. Jennifer Gonzalez, jennifer.gonzalez.17@us.af.mil, Comm: 210.652.8377; DSN: 487.8377
Notification Sent out on March 23, 2023 (Some of these position needs have changed, but please reach out if you are interested in a program role):
What: Searching for five Airmen to volunteer for permissive TDY to support Boy Scouts of America
Who: Any interested Airmen over 21-years-old, in good standing with the Air Force and with commander approval
Supporting Organizations: AETC/Public Affairs in support of Boy Scouts of America
Deadline to Volunteer: Commander approved names due to AETC/PA by noon Tuesday 11 April
Open Volunteer Positions:
- Aquatics Director – 21 years of age or older. Experience as a lifeguard. Required to attend National Camp School to be certified as an Aquatics Instructor for the BSA (BSA will pay for this training and certification is good for 5 years). This position has high visibility as the aquatics areas of the camp are high traffic areas during Texas summers.
- Climbing Director – 21 years of age or older. Not afraid of heights and good at knot tying. BSA will certify volunteer as a Level 1 BSA Climbing Instructor and then they are required to attend National Camp School to be certified as a BSA Climbing Director (BSA will pay for this training and certification is good for 5 years).
- COPE Director – 21 years of age or older. Not afraid of heights and good with team building, confidence building. We will certify volunteer as a Level 1 BSA Climbing Instructor and then they are required to attend National Camp School to be certified as a BSA COPE Director (BSA will pay for this training and certification is good for 5 years).
- Rifle Instructor x 2 – 21 years of age or older holding a current Military Range Control Card. This person will teach our Rifle Merit Badge and run our ranges during open shooting time periods. This person has high visibility for youth and adults as our ranges are always in demand.
These staff members would be in charge of a team of youth staff that are assigned to them to run their areas for the camp. Volunteer Airmen would work with specific youth for an entire week teaching them skills and working with them daily. Volunteer Airmen would be present for all large group presentations in front of the entire camp.
Food and Lodging will be provided for the time periods they are with BSA.
Dates:
- National Camp School training
- May 13-19, 2023
- Location: Coldspring, TX (Camp Strake)
- Required for the Aquatics Director, COPE Director, Climbing Director*
*Climbing director will attend Camp School in Osceola, MO, travel will be provided.
- Summer Camp Staff at Bear Creek Summer Camp
- June 4 – July 9
- Move in on June 4th by noon
- Run camp through July 2nd
- Location: 125 Bear Creek Scout Road, Hunt, TX 78024.
- June 4 – July 9
Purpose:
This is part of a recruiting effort to connect Airmen with recruitable age audience. The camp supports 350 youth each week, plus adults and parents. This is an AETC command priority to connect Airmen with the community.
POC
AETC Public Affairs Ms. Jennifer Gonzalez, jennifer.gonzalez.17@us.af.mil, Comm: 210.652.8377; DSN: 487.8377
EAGLE APPLICATION UPDATE
In June of 2022, the Eagle Scout Application for the Boy Scouts of America was updated to include the Citizenship in Society Merit Badge. It has come to our attention, that this has caused some confusion among our members. Scouts applying for the Eagle rank need to use the newest version of the application, yet it is our experience that even Google may point excited Scouts to old form links.
The correct revision says “June 2022” at the bottom right of the second page.
Our team has been working diligently to ensure that all Eagle Scout Application links on the Alamo Area Council website are updated and accurate. However, if you do happen to come across an incorrect link, we kindly ask that you reach out to us at Marketing@AlamoAreaBSA.org with the URL of where the error was found. We appreciate your help in ensuring that all Scouts have access to the correct and up-to-date resources they need to succeed.
We hope that this update to the Eagle Scout Application will help to further develop the skills and knowledge of our Scouts, as they work towards becoming leaders in their communities. Thank you for your continued dedication to the Boy Scouts of America, and we wish all Scouts the best of luck in their pursuit of the Eagle rank!
Web address to the Eagle Scout Application: https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/512-72822c-Eagle-Scout-Application_WEB.pdf
BSA’s SAFE Checklist for Units
Scouts and their parents expect all Boy Scouts of America activities to be conducted safely. To ensure the safety of participants, the Boy Scouts of America expects leaders to use the four points of SAFE when delivering the Scouting program.
SUPERVISION
Youth are supervised by qualified and trustworthy adults who set the example for safety.
- Accepting responsibility for the well-being and safety of youth under their care.
- Ensuring that adults are adequately trained, experienced, and skilled to lead the activity, including the ability to prevent and respond to likely problems and
potential emergencies. - Knowing and delivering the program of the Boy Scouts of America with integrity.
- Using qualified instructors, guides, or safety personnel as needed to provide additional guidance.
- Maintaining engagement with participants during activities to ensure compliance with established rules and procedures.
Council Led Activities and Camps – Keeping You Updated
Many of you may have already noticed that we have canceled some Cub Scout programming in April and removed Session 3 from the Bear Creek Summer Camp page and are wondering why? We are adjusting our focus from quantity to quality and redesigning the Adventures that we offer.
Why are we doing this? Membership in the BSA as a whole had a very large decline during the pandemic and we are still recovering. National BSA membership dropped from over 2 million scouts to just over 700,000 scouts. We have grown to over a million scouts since then but getting us back to our pre-pandemic numbers is going to take time. We are thankful for the many leaders and parents out there working with us locally and nationally to help the BSA grow so that we can continue to reach as many youth as possible. Many other councils are considering making the same tough decisions we are making now. (CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT NATIONAL MEMBERSHIP)
What does this mean for Bear Creek Scouts BSA Summer Camp? We have made the choice to remove Session 3 and run 2 full weeks of camp this year. We are working very hard to ensure that we have a full summer camp staff this year to be able to provide the quality program that we promise to each and every one of our scouts and leaders. We have been pushing this all year (I’m sure you have seen the emails or you talked to us at CWC at our in person recruitment table). If we run more weeks with low attendance numbers, we have to start trimming down our staff and that means cutting the number of classes we offer or limiting our programs. Is running a week with less program and staff doable? Yes, absolutely, but is it the best use of our resources? Not necessarily. For one, it creates tired staff that is stretched thin trying to provide the same quality of program that we could provide with a full staff. We believe having the full program and the full staff and a full camp for 2 weeks is the better choice.
What does this mean for Akela Adventure Camp? We are committed to running two full sessions of Akela Adventure Camp! Please note that this camp has been moved from our regular time slot in July to being our first camp in June. Our staff and camp is ready to host you this summer! Session 1 Session 2
What does this mean for Cub Scout Day Camp? We are running 3 full weeks at McGimsey Scout Park (2 day camps and 1 twilight camp), our Boerne Day Camp, our Canyon Lake Day Camp, our Tiger Day Camp and our Lion Welcome Event in 2023. We will be reviewing these events to see if they should continue into the 2024 schedule or if we should consider redesigning them.
What does this mean for events going forward? As we said above, our focus this year and in 2024 for the AAC Outdoor Adventures is “Quality over Quantity”. Meaning that we are going to decrease the number of smaller events we run and we are going to focus on running larger events very well. When we say decrease, we don’t mean we are removing any of the program that we have run before – we plan to combine them into larger events where more programming options are available for you to choose from. Our goal is to be smart with our resources. When we mention the word “resources” many people automatically think of financial resources. As a “Volunteer Led Organization that is Professionally Advised” we are talking about our adult leaders and professional staff. When our youth membership dropped so did our adult membership, ultimately affecting the number of volunteers available to provide Council level program. Did we stop running that program? No, we just asked a number of volunteers to help out with more than they were doing before, stretching them more than necessary. By combining these smaller events into larger ones we are combining committees and groups of volunteers into a larger force to help.
We hope that you can understand the direction we are moving in and will continue to support us. We are always looking for help and ideas. If you want to be a part of where the Alamo Area Council Outdoor Adventures is going in 2023 and 2024, please reach out to us at Adventure@AlamoAreaBSA.org
We encourage you to register to attend Cub Scout Day Camp, Akela Adventure Camp (WEBELOS Resident Camp) or the 2 weeks of Scouts BSA Summer Camp that our camp staff has been working very hard to prepare for you. Our Campmaster Corps, Rangers, Properties Committee, NCAP Committee, and even some of our youth and adult unit volunteers have been up at Bear Creek and at McGimsey Scout Park working to prepare the camps for you. We are ready for the most exciting year of camp in 2023, are you?!!!