I was not a model Boy Scout. From a merit badge perspective, I did just about the bare minimum required to achieve Eagle. I never participated in the high-adventure outdoor hiking and canoeing experiences offered through my troop. I grudgingly attended summer camp, where the smell and summer warmth of those WWII-era canvas tents will never quite leave my senses. But despite these hurdles, Scouts had, and continues to have, a significant impact on my life.
And that’s the promise of Scouting. It’s a promise of dividends that far exceeded my personal investment of time and energy. The skills and leadership-building opportunities that Scouting provided affected me profoundly; I can never repay that.
Instead, I’ve focused on ways to make this same experience available to youth in northeast Mississippi. It started with my son, finding a Cub Scout home in Starkville in kindergarten just before the COVID pandemic. Like me several decades ago, he’s this generation’s typical video game playing, TV watching, Rec League soccer kid who is searching for himself among all the distractions and stimuli today; distractions that are much louder than when I was his age.
But he’s found friends in Scouts. He’s found role models in Scouts. He’s found fun and adventure in scouts. And he’s starting to find himself in Scouts. This is the promise of scouting.
It’s a promise that isn’t offered in travel ball, or a PlayStation, or nearly any other activity provided for kids today. The promise of Scouting – that you’ll get more from it than you put into it – has been a defining characteristic of the organization for over a hundred years. This is also the beginning of the Natchez Trace Council’s centennial year, recognizing the longevity of our predecessor councils’ impact in northeast Mississippi. So many of us in the Golden Triangle have been impacted by scouting; rest assured that our council staff and volunteers spend every day working to create that same impact in kids like my son and his Scout brothers.
As an Eagle, I am so proud of what I was able to achieve in Scouts. As a parent, I’m excited at the possibilities that will be presented to my son as he embarks on the second chapter of his scouting experience. And as an adult volunteer, I am so, so grateful at the support our community provides to Scouts across northeast Mississippi.
Your gifts of time and money are difference makers in the lives of our youth. I encourage you to get involved in your local Scouting units or through the Natchez Trace Council. For information on ways you can help, visit us at NatchezTraceCouncil.org.
David Garraway
Starkville
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
