Message from the Ethan Allen District Committee Chair

Greetings Ethan Allen Scouters.

The year is quickly coming to an end.

All the charters have been handed out. This year the BSA has made it a little easier to get them completed. There are many things that are tied to the charter, that will help our district succeed. A couple of major items are:

• To remain on the charter for 2019, all registered leaders must complete the new youth protection training (YPT2). This includes chartered organization representatives.
• New Scout registration forms should be submitted as soon as the Scout registers. If units don’t submit the forms, or hand their charter in after January first, then new youth are not covered under insurance, can not participate in District or Council activities, and can not complete any advancement requirements until registered.

As a reminder, please try to enter all community service hours that your unit participates in. One activity that gets overlooked is, participating in parades We all do a lot of projects. It is important to get credit for our volunteer hours. As a district, our JTE level is very close to silver, and as a Council we are very close to gold. Making sure we get your hours recorded could easily push us up to the next level. Here is the link to enter your service hours: servicehours.scouting.org/UI/Security/Login.aspx

On a completely different note.  Mark your calendars for our District Dinner, Saturday March 30th at the VFW in Rutland. This is a chance to rub elbows with fellow Scouters and friends in our district and to publicly recognize them for their service to Scouting. We would love to see units present awards to fellow Scouters. We also have District awards such as, Cubmaster of the year, Scoutmaster of the year, Scouting Sparkplug, and of course District Award of Merit.  This year the District Award of Merit application is due by March 1st. Up to two Ethan Allen Scouters can receive the award each year. Send all applications/Nominations to: Jim Rivers, Advancement Chair 160 Lower Hardscrabble Road  Bristol, VT  05443  jlrivers@accessvt.com

Here are a few links to awards, including the District Award of Merit:
www.scoutingvermont.org/district-award-of-merit.html
http://www.scouting.org/home/Awards
http://www.boyscouttrail.com/square-knots.asp

That’s it for now. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. Your District Committee is here to help you succeed.

Thank you,
Russ Baker (rusbaker@gmavt.net)
Ethan Allen District Committee Chair