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Jamboree On The Trail is an annual day for the World Scout Movement to hike together. All Scouts, whatever their age and wherever they may be in the world, are invited to participate in whatever way they can. Cubs and younger Scouting sections could visit a local nature trail as part of a weekend camp. A Scout Troop might check out a hiking trail while working on badge requirements. A Rover Crew might make a Service Project out of restoring or maintaining a hiking trail. In their own way, everyone will be hiking the same direction: towards a better future through Scouting. JOTT is held on the second Saturday of May each year.

This is a world-wide event with Scouts in dozens of countries all hiking on this day.  Want to learn more?  Go to the official JOTT website at http://jott.org/

Want to register your Scout group? Go to the US registration page at  http://jott.org/Registration?country=US

You can order a patch (of course!) at this page.

There is still time to nominate special Scouts and Scouters to the National Hall of Leadership. One nominee will be selected from each Council and one from Nationals.  Don’t miss the chance to recognize people who have made a real contribution to Scouting!

Click here to nominate someone or for more information

On Thursday, September 17th, the Town of Westwood saw a first for that community, a Scouting recruiting night for all levels of Scouting. The event was the result of planning and collaboration between volunteers in programs of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts Westwood. Several of those leaders are pictured here.

The results were astounding to the point that the parking lot was full for much of the evening. It was indeed an exciting time for all involved. In addition to representatives from Girl Scouts of the USA, there were leaders and youth present from all three Cub Scout Packs in Westwood and Islington, the two Westwood and Islington Boy Scout Troops, and even the advisor from the yet-to-be formed Westwood Venturing Crew.

While the numbers have swelled some since that night, recruited at the event were 35 Cub Scouts, 4 Boy Scouts as well as several people learning about Venturing. It is unknown how many Girl Scouts joined that evening.

This success did not happen overnight. Much of the credit goes to BSA Unit Commissioner Nick Pirelli, who engaged all of the BSA units and reached out to local Girl Scouting. Pack 2 Committee Chairman Elaine de Reyna did lots of leg work in promoting the effort.

Yes, flyers were distributed at the schools, but this was not the first time that people heard about it. Local Scouters took the following steps before flyer distribution:

• They put ads in local newpapers starting three weeks before the registration date
• Specially made signs were placed around town in strategic locations, the production cost being shared by the local units
• Elaine placed an announcement in the weekly school bulletin for two weeks prior to registration
• They displayed scout registration posters that were provided by the Boston Minuteman Council in various storefronts around town
• Lastly, Elaine sent reminders to scout leaders about what they should bring to registration and requested that they ask their scout leaders to spread the word and attend registration.

As families arrived, they were greeted at the door by Nick Pirelli and Great Blue Hill District Commissioner Marian McQuaid. The were asked which school the boys attended and the families were directed to the program in which the boys would most likely be with their friends. Of course, people were free to join whichever program provided the best match for the boy, but that was a starting point.

Before the event was concluded, leaders were already talking about how to improve for next year. We look forward to what the future holds. Congratulations, Westwood!