Joliet Herald feature on the rapid growth of Scouting in Rainbow Council

1. Fast track Scout programs experiencing great growth
The Herald News - Joliet (IL)
March 14, 2004 | Jeanne Millsap
Cub Scout Sean Phillips studies a knot tied by his den leader Bryan Hendrex during a
Den 6 meeting Tuesday night at the Morris United Methodist Church. Pack 476 den
leader Bryan Hendrex shows his Bear Cub Scouts how to tie a sheet bend as well as
many other knots during a Den 6 meeting Tuesday night at the Morris United Methodist
Church. Scouts are (clockwise from bottom right): Brandon Hendrex, Sean Phillips,
Geoffrey Lamaze, Houston Millsap, Josh Wren, Brian Bernier and Jacob Collins.
The Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts programs in the area are
the fastest- growing around Chicago and rank second for
growth in a 13-state region of the Midwest. More than
8,000 6- through 18- year-olds are active Scouts this year
in Will and Grundy counties. Around 12,000 were served
in the entire Rainbow Council area, which is Grundy and
Kankakee counties, most of Will County and Seneca. That
number represents a growth of 9.6 percent. Thousands of
adults are volunteers, too -- 1,900 are officially registered.

2. The area is growing, of course, but leaders say only part of the recent boom in Scout
popularity is because of just population growth.
A good Scout program, they say, adjusts to the needs of the boys it serves.
"A couple of years ago, we were declining like everybody else," said Craig Lincoln,
council advancement chairman for Rainbow Council. "We've innovated so much lately
to keep Scouting growing strong, and I think a big part of our growth is also going back
to our roots."
Boy Scouts not just for boys
Bringing girls into the program is one of the ways the council has adjusted to meet this
generation's needs.
Venture Scouts offers high-adventure outings of white water rafting, rappelling, kayaking
and extreme camping to boys and girls age 14 through 20. It's a very popular program,
said Matt Skelly, council director.
"We're getting a lot of young men and women involved in Venture Scouts. You really put
gender aside," Skelly said. "It's the entire team working together first. They're very
respectful of each other. Kids are more aware of the rules than most adults think."
The council also is building 10 small cabins at its rural Morris campgrounds for those
campers and their parents who have never camped outside before and who might want
to ease into the whole outdoor thing before braving tent- camping.
Another local innovation has made becoming an Eagle Scout, the highest rank of Boy
Scouts, easier to fit in around other extracurricular activities.
"We offer every required Eagle Scout badge at summer camp," Craig Lincoln said.
"We're the only one in the country that does that."

3. Lincoln said children are just busier than they used to be, with band camp, soccer,
traveling baseball and other activities. It started to become difficult for some of the
Scouts to fit their Eagle Scout requirements in during the busy school year. Fifty-seven
young men have earned the respected Eagle Scout designation while under the wing of
Rainbow Council.
Family, religious values
In addition to innovations, Lincoln said he thinks many parents encourage Scouting for
its strong stand on traditional family and religious values. In a time where some
organizations are abandoning faith to be eligible for government funding, the Scouts
have held firm that a faith in God is not open to negotiation.
Promising to do their best for God and their country and to help other people remains
part of the Cub Scout promise.
"It's such a great program," Lincoln said. "I know of nothing else like it. And it still holds
true to the Christian ethics that I want so bad."
Scouting, one might say, is in Lincoln's blood. In addition to working for the council,
Lincoln rose through Scouting ranks to achieve Eagle Scout. His father, Bill, has been
honored with the highest honor in Scouts, the Silver Beaver. Lincoln also is a Tiger
Scout den leader for his son Mark's first-grade den in Morris.
"It's everything to me," he said. "I tell my den, `Someday, God's going to need you to be
a hero.' They'll learn that here."
Life-saving move
Indeed, the Boy Scouts still place importance on learning to swim, first aid skills, life-
saving and how to deal with other emergencies, as well as learning how to prevent such
emergencies from happening in the first place.

4. Steve Miller, Rainbow Council Scout executive, says he hears about his Scouts saving
lives all of the time. Many choking victims have been saved by a Scout or a former
Scout performing the Heimlich maneuver. Just last year, a local Cub Scout led his
family to safety after detecting a fire in the home.
When asked how he knew just what to do, the 6-year-old boy replied, "I'm a Cub Scout,
and that's what they teach us."
Miller said one out of every 100 scouts will use skills learned in Boy Scouts to save their
own lives someday, as well.
Miller says the family-based values and the reasonable costs of the programs are what
make Scouts remain so popular.
Scouts teaches leadership, builds confidence, promotes team work and teaches many
skills, he says.
"It teaches them that they can all win," he said. "They don't have to be the biggest or the
best. Sports is good, but Scouting gives a chance for everybody to win.
"Our mission is to help youth make good choices," Miller said. "Our methods to achieve
this are tremendously varied. Kids don't join Scouts to learn how to make good
decisions and be trustworthy and ethical. They join for the fun, the adventure and the
outings. What they get while they're having fun camping, hiking, fishing and swimming is
a lot more than they realize."
"We're a program of the outdoors. Three-quarters of Scouting is outing," Skelly said.
"We use the outdoors to teach teamwork, self- motivation, problem-solving, tolerance
and becoming self-reliant. There's something in Scouts for everyone, from first grade all
the way up through high school. Even the first-year Tiger Scouts will get something from
it that will make their lives better."
Jeanne Millsap

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