Boy Scouts Seek Funds to Sustain Character Building
CANFIELD, Ohio -- Boy Scouts and the friends of scouting get emotional at times.
One of those times was Tuesday morning at the ninth annual Whispering Pines Friends of Scouting Breakfast at Camp Stambaugh, the first such breakfast held at the camp.
Elinor Zedaker, widow of Robert I. Zedaker paid tribute to her husband’s 24 years as scoutmaster of Troop 44 in Poland and George Grim and John Wolboldt’s years of service to the movement, troops 59 and 25 respectively. Zedaker, Grim and Wolboldt died earlier this year.
The Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council paid tribute to what they meant to scouting and Wanda Clark, principal of Williamson Elementary School in Youngstown, and Eagle Scout Alek Ball, who just finished his freshman year at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., spoke on how the movement molds character.
Clark, a former Girl Scout, spoke to how Scoutreach has shaped the character of the 700 boys in Youngstown City Schools in grades one through five while Ball recounted how being a Boy Scout has made him the man he is.
The annual breakfast, which Grim helped to start, is a fundraiser for the Greater Western Reserve Council that serves scouts in 5½ counties including Mahoning and Trumbull. Stacia Erdos, managing editor of The Business Journal and anchor of the DailyBUZZ, was mistress of ceremonies.
As Kurt Hilderbrand, volunteer chairman of the Whispering Pines District, noted, “It takes $150 to support one scout one year.” That includes the maintenance and upkeep of Camp Stambaugh and Scoutreach.
The Greater Western Reserve Council, with the help of 2,500 adult volunteers, supports 8,000 Cub Scout and Boy Scouts in those 5½ counties, Jason Wolf, reported. Wolf is the scout executive of the council.
Benefactors of the Western Reserve Council are Boardman Rotary, Youngstown Kiwanis, the United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning County, the Cafaro Family Foundation, Farmers National Bank and the James and Carol Bacon Charitable Foundation, said John Barkett, vice president of community services for the council.
Scouting in the district “is strong,” Wolf said, as evidenced by “operating with a balanced budget, maybe even a little surplus.” This year’s budget is 3% larger than last year’s and the district “is growing” as reflected by the formation of 11 new troops within the jurisdiction of the council.
In addition, the Boy Scout troops are retaining 75% of their membership, a figure “above the national average," Wolf said. Moreover, the number of boys in scouting last fall was 10% higher than in fall 2010.
The hours of community service that scouts and their leaders give back grew last year as well.
“We are passionate about what we do,” Wolf said. “We see changes in life of not only scouts but their families.”
Clark, who also described herself as passionate about scouting, addressed the success of Scoutreach. “I get emotional when I talk about it,” she said. Boy Scouts and their leaders visit Williamson School every Friday.
“You provide them with opportunity,” she said, and Scoutreach “is a way you help them develop character. That’s why I appreciate the Scout program and the principles you teach.”
Ball, wearing a sash covered with merit badges, told of the “strong ties I developed with my fellow scouts that continue today” and how camping under Robert Zedaker’s tutelage taught him the value of seemingly simple things, such as dry socks. He also learned other practical aspects of scouting, such as first aid and camping in subfreezing temperatures at Camp Stambaugh.
Ball didn’t neglect its character-building aspects. “I saw how important competent and dedicated leadership was from Mr. Zedaker,” Ball said. “I learned organizational skills. I have come to appreciate the skills Mr. Zedaker taught me in becoming an Eagle Scout.
“Scouting remains useful in college,” Ball concluded. “My first year would’ve been much different without the skills scouting taught me.”
Zedaker, Grim and Wolboldt remained in scouting long after their sons graduated from high school and were no longer active members of the troops they advised, Elinor Zedaker noted. As she put it, “They shared a strong commitment to scouting their adult lives. They didn’t bolt” unlike many parents who are advisers or volunteers only when their sons are active scouts.
She recalled how Robert Zedaker lived the Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared.” Even as Zedaker was dying last winter, “He was packed and ready for the Klondike,” she recalled. Klondike is an event that brings scouts to camp outside at Camp Stambaugh in the subfreezing temperatures Ball referred to.
“Camping. It’s not always glamorous. We heard that,” Zedaker said. But her husband, Grim and Wolboldt were always ready to help their charges and tend to the nuts and bolts, operationally and financially, that scouting needs to continue.
For Robert Zedaker that entailed escorting scouts from Troop 44 to Poland Riverside Cemetery each year before Memorial Day to “place flags on the graves of our veterans,” Mrs. Zedaker said. It meant holding he courts of honor when a young man made Eagle Scout after guiding that scout through his efforts to he qualified. Zedaker was “father” to 34 of the 137 Eagle Scouts who attained that distinction, his wife said, and only the 11th scoutmaster at Troop 44 since it was formed in 1923.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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