Chestermere’s Cub Scouts desperately need more volunteer leaders to keep the program running.
“We need people to jump in and go,” said cub scout volunteer leader Jeff Hodgson.
Two adult leaders are required to run the program.
“You need to have two Cub Scout leaders…you don’t want an adult by themselves with all the kids,” he said.
Currently the scouts have only got two volunteer leaders, Hodgson, and Chris Henrikson.
This means that if either one is sick or has to work on a Monday night the Cub Scouts can’t meet.
Hodgson said this is particularly difficult since he works out of town and is making a bid for the Mayor’s chair in the upcoming election.
“I’ve always been a part time Cub Scout Leader,” he said.
To keep the program running without interruptions, Hodgson said they are looking to get at least two-more part time leaders enrolled.
He said that the commitment can be as little as completing the training and showing up on some of the Monday nights.
“That’s the core of the program,” he said.
While the weekly meetings make up the bulk of the program, there are also two camping trips each year and occasional special events such as weekend bottle drives.
Hodgson says that the process to become a volunteer is easy and really supportive.
Potential volunteers are required to complete an online training course and to have a police background check completed.
“It’s a few hours of study at most,” he said.
The course covers topics on how to deal with kids.
“There ares sections on bullying, leadership, emotional development, teamwork and things like that,” he said.
New volunteers will always be working with at least one other cub scout leader.
“Anybody who comes out is going to be thrown into the deep end,” said Hodgson.
He said that working with the Cub Scouts can be a lot of fun and rewarding.
“The kids are good, usually” laughed Hodgson.
Cub Scout leaders have the opportunity to have a big and positive impact on youth as they are growing up.
“It helps all the fundamentals of growing up and it’s kind of a classic way to instill some of these values in kids,” he said.
He also said that the program is valuable in how it provides opportunities to kids that aren’t as common anymore.
“Things like the outdoorsy elements of it and some of the skills building,” he said.
As a leader, Hodgson said it is fun to teach the kids those hands on skills.
For him, the camping trips are usually the highlight of the year, but the variety of programming offered at the weekly meetings makes it hard to pick a single favourite activity.
He’s helped teach everything from bike safety to crafts and science projects.
“It’s broad enough that the kids, they never know what they’re going to get,” he said.
For more information go to www.1stchestermerescouts.ca.
