100 YEAR OLD PARTNERSHIP

A longtime friend of Rotary -- the Boy Scouts of America -- marked its 100th birthday on 8 February.

The two organizations have worked together since their early days. Rotary founder Paul Harris, after meeting with Chief Scout Executive James E. West in 1910, urged Rotarians to assist in the expansion of the Scouts. By 1930, Rotarians had organized more than half of the then 500 Boy Scout councils, and today Rotary clubs sponsor 1,483 Scout units for 45,528 youth. 
Rotary clubs have also contributed financially to Scout troops and helped construct Boy Scout camp buildings. Individual Rotarians have led the Scouts at local, district, and national levels.
“It makes good sense that Rotary would be involved in helping make the community a good place by starting out young,” says Mike Birkholm, a member of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles and chair of the Inter-American Region of the International Fellowship of Scouting Rotarians, a network of 1,200 Rotarians who are also involved in Scouting. The fellowship counts RI President John Kenny and past presidents Wilf Wilkinson, Bill Boyd, and Cliff Dochterman among its members. “Scouting is a great way for Rotary to grow itself into the future.”
Kenny said being a Boy Scout led him toward Rotary. "The Scout organization is a tremendous organization for young people," he said. "I've often been speaking at a Rotary club and have asked, 'Just put your hand up if you were a Scout.' And I found that at least half of the audience put their hands up."
In honor of the Boy Scouts of America centennial, Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazzuca will address the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. The Boy Scouts have taken part in RI conventions before. In 1934, Walter W. Head, president of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, presented Paul Harris with the Scouts’ highest honor, the Silver Buffalo Award. At the 1984 convention, the World Organization of the Scout Movement received the Rotary Award for World Understanding and Peace.
“The values of Scout Law, the Scout Oath, and The Four-Way Test are very similar,” notes Al Kugler, director of the Office of the Chief Scout Executive. The Scout Oath is a promise that Scouts make to, among other things, “help other people at all times.”
The Boy Scouts of America is part of the worldwide Scouting movement that began in Great Britain in 1907. International Scouting has more than 28 million members in 160 countries. In the United States, 1.2 million adults volunteer with the Boy Scouts to serve 4.1 million youth every year.
The Scouts are celebrating their birthday throughout 2010 with programs, service projects, and a 100th anniversary National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, in July.