Intro to 100 Service Projects Campaign
The Boy Scouts of America celebrates its 100th Anniversary in 2010. The Connecticut Yankee Council is commemorating this historic year with a purpose-driven celebration designed to increase awareness, membership, volunteerism, financial contributions and engagement – all while reinforcing Scouting’s positive impact on the communities it serves.
How, you might ask can we accomplish this lofty goal with one event? Our answer is with what Scouts do best … service (and lots of it). We have chosen to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Scouting with a public commitment to complete “100 Service Projects” from September 2009 to May 2010. Our goal is to mobilize all our Scouts in Packs, Troops, Crews and Ships across the Council in this effort. Since service is already a part of your unit’s annual planning, this initiative shouldn’t be anything new.
What’s new is that we have developed tools and resources to help you plan and publicize your Centennial service project to the local media to ensure that your efforts are recognized as part of the Anniversary celebration. And to make this even more fun and engaging, we’ve developed a way to recognize the projects and recognize those that go above and beyond the expected.
Project Criteria
All projects must meet three basic criteria and anything beyond is up to you:
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All service projects must benefit a local agency and/or organization;
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Projects must be publicized and reported back to Council.
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The theme of 100th Anniversary must be incorporated into the project publicity;
Recognition
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Participation qualifies toward the national “Service” Year of Celebration patch segment.
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All participating Scouts will qualify for the “Year of Celebration” patch (requirements are available at www.ctyankee.org/100years)
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All participating units will receive a Year of Celebration ribbon.
The top 100 Service Projects completed will be featured in a commemorative Connecticut Yankee Council newspaper insert in the fall of 2010. On this website are several tools to help: a project development rubric, based on a five-star rating system will help you design and implement projects that can be selected as “100 Service Projects.”
What do you need to do?
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Identify one unit member to serve as the point of contact for information and updates relating to 100 Service Projects. Visit www.ctyankee.org/100years to give us your unit’s coordinator information.
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We’ll have at least one webinar to answer any questions by the end of the summer.
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Begin planning your project over the summer. Remember, every service project has value and should be submitted.
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Be creative, be generous and think big when developing your service project. Since it’s a celebration, add an element of fun for your Scouts and families involved in the project and for the people and/or organization benefiting from your efforts.
Celebrating 100 Years of Scouting with 100 Service Projects is a notable way we can all make a difference and raise awareness of the tremendous impact of Scouting in our communities. Thanks for being a part of it.
Sincerely,
Joellyn Gray & Debbie Parnon
Co-Chairpersons | 100 Service Projects
Connecticut Yankee Council, BSA