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Greetings to Volunteer Scouters in Pushmataha Area Council from Dan Wrather, Council Commissioner Welcome to Volume 1, Issue 1 of “THE BIG PUSH”, our first issue of a newsletter from your volunteer Commissioners written especially for Volunteer Leaders. As your representative on the Key Three, I have asked the Commissioner Staff and the Executive Committee of the Board to allow me to use this method to bring you up to date starting this new year in the Council. They were all for it. (OK, I may go overboard with the BIG PUSH idea…but I hope it is informative to you…). We have asked Allen McBroom (yep, he’s the Boy Scout Roundtable commissioner as well as the Webmaster) to display it prominently on the Pushmataha.org webpage. Our own Lori Chitwood plans to email it to you every two weeks at the least…more if needed. Things are looking up for us in Pushmataha and we are preparing for a great year in 2010. Several topics are covered below in order to be sure you will know what is happening in the Council as we speak. TRANSITION TEAM FORMED TO PREPARE FOR NEW SCOUT EXECUTIVE AND TO HANDLE COUNCIL ACTIVITIES. At this time, Philip Cranford (Area Director of the Southern Region, BSA) has been named our Interim Council Scout Executive until a new Executive is chosen. He is providing professional scouting advice and service for us whenever needed and is a source of knowledge for the transition team (below). Council President George Purnell has formed a Transition Team consisting of the Key Three of the Council (Council President, Interim Council Scout Executive, and Council Commissioner) and the Executive Committee of the Board (made up of the Vice Presidents of the Council--see the council website www.pushmataha.org for details). We have asked Curtis Hollingsworth of the Commissioner Staff to be volunteer Operations Coordinator for the transition team and he is charged with coordination of the day to day activities of the Council office with the advice and counsel of the Transition Team. Members of this team communicate daily with Curtis and the Council Office to ensure normal operations and the transition team meets regularly to make necessary decisions for our Council. Please call the Council Office (662 328-7228) for any day to day questions you may have about scouting operations or activities. Curtis will be available to provide information or route you to someone on the Commissioner Staff or Transition Team who can help. We are all making a “BIG PUSH” toward having a very successful transition to a new professional staff and an emphasis on communication to our volunteer leaders. COMMISSIONER STAFF INVOLVEMENT IN TRANSITION As is obvious, the Commissioner Staff is making a “BIG PUSH” and performing most duties normally charged to the District Executive(s) until the position(s) are filled. This includes unit formation, service, and support, as well as District and Council activity coordination such as award banquets, camp Seminole events, training operations, etc. They are serving as information agents and will provide any answers they can and will provide direction toward other answers that may be needed. Our goal is that the with the commissioner system in place, nobody should feel that their own unit or district efforts should be slowed down because of a temporary lack of paid professional staff. This kind of involvement by our volunteer commissioner staff can only be good for our council as it improves communication and increases all our knowledge of how of scouting works. Perhaps some of you experienced volunteers out there would like to join us on the commissioner team. Please let us know if you are available and looking for a rewarding position on a scouting team. EAGLE SCOUT RECOGNITION DINNER AROUND THE CORNER…. As you know, the Council is preparing to honor the recent year’s Eagle Scouts with our annual Eagle Scout and Religious Emblem Honoree Recognition Dinner on Tuesday Feb.9,2010. The Eagle recipients will be honored as the Frances Wells Memorial Eagle Class. Keynote speaker is Distinguished Eagle Scout Sam Haskell, noted entertainment agent and author . He will have remarks concerning his autobiographical book “Promises I Made My Mother” to entertain the crowd. Be sure and take a look at www.pushmataha.org for the details. (By the way, this is an example of events usually coordinated by the District Executive(s) which are now being handled primarily by a commissioner--Cecelia Bowden, Asst. Council Commissioner – she is making a “BIG PUSH” to have an outstanding event). FRIENDS OF SCOUTING CAMPAIGNS The Council Friends of Scouting Campaign is the primary way our council raises the funds to support scouting. The FOS campaign operates by getting community committees to contact those donors (both large and small) who will support scouting with funds to support our operations. In the past, these efforts have not been as concentrated or as successful as they might be. This year, the Commissioners and Board are making a “BIG PUSH” toward having fund raising campaigns in as many communities as possible. These campaigns are now being planned or are in progress and vary widely by community in terms of how they operate. If you know of anyone who might be a scouting backer, please let the office know and they can get contacts to that individual. Additionally, if you wish to help, let us know that as well. All the activities coordinated by the Council including Office and professional personnel and operations, Camp Seminole and all that happens there, and the other things the council provides depend on our raising funds each year in this fashion. The commissioners are working on presentations to be given to gatherings of prospective donors in order to show them the good work we are all doing for the youth of our area. UNIT FRIENDS OF SCOUTING are another aspect of fund raising that has been in hibernation in our council for a long time and is one the District Commissioners (Brian Wells & Curtis Hollingsworth) have decided to make a “BIG PUSH” for this during this year due to its local unit emphasis. With unit campaigns, we provide the opportunity to unit gatherings (courts of honor, committee meetings, Blue & Gold banquet, etc) to have a presentation of council and unit activities and then see if individuals wish to contribute to council support or if they know others who might. In a couple of test meetings across the council we have had some good support and many good suggestions of others to approach for possible donations. THINGS ARE LOOKING UP! We are optimistic about the future of our Council and teams are hard at work all over the Council to make our council better. Let’s sell the importance of Scouting in this 100th year of BSA existence and make a “BIG PUSH” for the beginning of another 100 years of Pushmataha Excellence.
Thank you for your time and service, Dan
Wrather
Commissioner Staff and their contact numbers: Brian Wells, District Commissioner 662 251-3275 Curtis Hollingsworth, District Commissioner 662 552-1747 CeCelia Bowden, Asst. Council Commissioner Interim District Commissioner 662 312-1760 Brice Stubbs, Asst. Council Commissioner. 662 617-3933 Joe Weirauch, Asst Council Commissioner 662 315-9581
KEY THREE NUMBERS Dan Wrather, Council Commissioner 662 574-4933 George Purnell, Council President 662 295-3738 Phillip Cranford, Area Director of the Southern Region, BSA & Interim Pushmataha Council Scout Executive 850 955-8572
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