Boy Scouts adapting to changes
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 13, 2018 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Tuscarora Council of the Boy Scouts of America staff, from left, President Steve Moore, Melanie Hopkins, Amanda Greens, Sarah Fernandez and Stefan Spruill inside the Boy Scouts new location in Rosewood. The office relocated to its new site after flooding from Hurricane Matthew destroyed its previous downtown Goldsboro building in 2016. Not pictured are Jason Smith, Ashley Daniels and Tim Wuertzer.
Even though the Tuscarora Council is one of the smallest Boy Scouts councils in the nation, it's also one of the most dynamic -- something council president Steve Moore attributes to the organization founder's mission.
"Baden Powell said when he founded Boy Scouts of America, 'We have to make it fun' and we do make it fun," Moore said. "We have a lot of incredible volunteers, leaders, franchise owners that do an extremely good job, and we have a really dynamic board."
Moore has been active with the council for about 17 years, he said, but his own scouting experience dates back even further, to when he joined a local troop at age 11.
"There are a lot of folks in and around our program that are just like me," he said. "Not all of them are home-grown. We have a lot of people that have come to the area."
The local organization dates back to 1923, when the Goldsboro Rotary Club and a group of citizens from Smithfield and Kinston started what would become the Tuscarora Council. At the outset, it served troops in Duplin, Greene, Johnston, Lenoir and Wayne counties. It now serves Duplin, Johnston, Sampson and Wayne.
Several of the original troops from 1923 are still in existence today, including Troop 7, now sponsored by Daniels United Methodist Church, and Troop 8, sponsored by New Hope United Methodist Church.
The current five-year game plan for the organization is to grow membership to over 4,500 youth and 145 units by 2022, Moore said.
In the midst of all of that, the council is dealing with two major changes -- the aftermath of the 2016 Hurricane Matthew that displaced the local offices and the pending move to allow girls into the Boy Scout program.
NEW OFFICE
LOCATION
Moore still recalls that October day when everything changed for the local Boy Scout office, then housed at 316 E. Walnut Street. That had been home since 1982, he said.
"I think we were at a point where we had needed to make a decision for a while," he said. "The building that we were in, we got by with it. We had thought several times about moving, but I think the flood helped us make that decision."
The storm did not result in a total loss, he said, with some artifacts and things salvaged.
The council also found a "silver lining" in being provided a temporary home. For the bulk of a year, Moore said, the Tuscarora Council set up camp at Wayne Realty.
It has since relocated to the Rosewood community, at 172 N.C. 581 South, the former training center for Johnston Ambulance Service. Jason Smith, Scout executive, and staff operate out of the administrative offices and also run a store that offers uniforms, badges and other scouting supplies. Hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
ACCEPTING GIRLS INTO THE SCOUTS
Membership changes are also pending, as females will soon be allowed into the Boy Scouts program.
Moore said he has chosen to view the shift as a positive way to broaden the program's population.
"We have had some folks come to us and say that they wanted to embrace family scouting, and they want to start some Cub packs that will admit young ladies as part of scouting," he said. "There'll be some that will actually add a den just for girls and there will be some places where they will recharter a brand new unit.
"It's kind of a choice of the charter organization, the church or the civic group. Some way to continue just as they always have -- I have heard some say, we have a great Girl Scout program in our church, for example, and we have a great Boy Scout unit in our church, as well, so we don't intend to change anything."
One thing Moore pointed out is that the admission of girls into Boy Scouting is not about making it "co-ed."
"This is not the first year or the first day if you will of girls being a part of scouting," he said. "Many years ago, the Boy Scouts started the Campfire Girls."
In some respects, females have always been involved, even if only on the sidelines -- accompanying their dads or brothers and wanting to become a part of it themselves.
"They see their brother earn an Eagle Scout one day or have been there on the campouts and that sort of thing but weren't allowed to participate," he said, adding that as the dynamics of the family have changed, with more single parents, it makes sense to include females interested in the program.
"At the end of the day, it's just about bringing great character development and great principles and citizenship," Moore said. "I embrace it. I think it's a great thing, but it'll be rolled out very carefully and national has done a good job of engineering how it will roll out."
Things are preliminary right now, he said, but in the end he said he believes the move could benefit the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts organizations.
The program has evolved over the years, with more of a focus on career exploration and STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- badges and activities offered that appeal to males and females.
All in all, the heart of the Boy Scouts program is alive and well, Moore said.
"Being a businessman, being an Eagle Scout, there's one thing that I know about life -- it's constantly changing," he said. "The family's changing. The way we go about doing business today is changing.
"We have to stay relevant at the end of the day."
A question he hears frequently, he said, is whether the program is teaching timeless values.
His answer, he said, is "absolutely."
"If I get a kid out there at camps on the BMX bike track and he's having a good time or she's having a good time riding that bike and jumping and everything, it's kind of like when your mama tried to get you to eat your peas and carrots that you didn't want, and she figured out a way to put them in a meatloaf, and then sometime later on, she told you," he said, smiling at the analogy.
"Baden Powell always said, 'Make it fun and they will come, and they'll be part of it, and they will become better because of it.'"