Good Turn for America

[Quailman]

Maybe I've missed this discussion somewhere, but I couldn't find it through searching. I just received the following e-mail.

We are currently doing the Good Turn for America as a “request” from Council, but come May 1st, 2008, it will be on the back of all Eagle Applications. No big deal. It is easy enough to record the Good Turns anyways.

Is this a new requirement, or just an information request to record service hours from Eagles?

[riverwalk]

The Good Turn site/effort has been around for some years. There are also segments one can add to the main patch, for service rendered in subsequent years. Unfortunately it seems to be under-promoted? It is something BSA says would help them show what Scouts do in their communities.


Locally, I was told as Health & Safety Chair, that I was the contact for this program. I promote it, like after this recent Food Drive, to ask units to log their hours. I can't know how many do however.

[smtroop168]

The 2008 Eagle Application requires the Project name and Grand Total of hours spent on the project to be entered. I was told the reason (but with no basis of fact) for this was so the BSA, since they don't get the Project book, could capture the billions of hours of volunteer effort spent by scouts which could be used to show different groups such as the United Way how valuable (read $$ in donations) the scouts are to your communities.

[Quailman]

That was the explanation I received when I questioned this. There are many, many hours that are performed outside of Eagle projects that probably go unreported, though.

[Chief J]

That was the explanation I received when I questioned this. There are many, many hours that are performed outside of Eagle projects that probably go unreported, though.

You are correct, not only are Eagle hours not reported, but alot of the good work units do goes unrecorded.

The site is a collection effort so the BSA can show the value of their service, and if it equates into bigger donations because we patted ourselves on the back, I think that is a good idea.

Best Regards,
Chief J