It's Recharter Time! Do you know where your boys are?

It’s recharter time! Do you know where your boys are?

“It is the goal of the Commissioner’s staff to recharter units on time with a minimal loss in membership.”  -A minimal loss is a sign of quality program delivery.

Our council is one of the best in the nation when it comes to recruiting boys into the program. Unfortunately, we have a higher than average rate of losing boys when it comes time to recharter units in the first three months of the year. And we are one of the worst when it comes to transitioning Webelos to Boy Scouts.

We have all heard the statistics, “The longer a boy stays in Scouting, the greater impact it has on his character.” All of us believe in and understand the positive effect the program has on boys. With the problems our nation faces in this day and age, it is important that we do all that we can to keep them involved as long as possible. If a boy has not attended a meeting recently, don’t cross him off the recharter before calling his parent and encouraging them to return and become active again. Many times they just need to know they are wanted and that someone cares about them.

Recharter Processing

In an effort to improve service and to speed up the processing of recharters as well as all membership applications, the council service center will be enforcing a long standing procedure from which we have strayed in recent years.

ALL youth and adult applications for membership as well as recharter papers will only be accepted at the Reservations Department (the half window,) in the lobby of the service center. The council’s Registrar (Johnnie Hooper,) is no longer available to meet with volunteers to accept, receipt or discuss paperwork.

It is the role of the district commissioner’s staff (with support from the District Executive,) to guide and facilitate the recharter process for each of our customers – the “Chartered Partner.”

This group of Commissioned Scouters is responsible to see that units deliver a high quality program to their youth members and to assist and guide the unit leadership through the annual recharter process. When this procedure is properly followed, every unit recharter submitted to the council office will be complete and accurate, facilitating prompt entry.

This will accomplish three important objectives:

1.      It will allow the district to provide prompt and appropriate assistance to unit volunteers in completing and submitting recharters.

2.      Interaction between unit leadership and district leadership will help maintain open lines of communication which are necessary in order for the district to provide necessary, ongoing support to the unit in all matters of programming, (activities and civic service, advancement and recognition, camp promotion and outdoor, leadership training, membership and risk management.)

3.      It will enable the council’s Registration Department to be more timely and efficient in processing the large flow of work that comes during the unit recharter period of January through April and the recruitment period of September through November.

The job of the council’s Registrar is to perform data entry of all youth and adult applications and recharter paperwork. Not to assist in the completion of same. Every minute she spends meeting with someone to discuss their paperwork is a minute taken away from the few hours she has each day to perform her primary task.

Units with questions or needing assistance with their paperwork should contact the Unit Commissioner assigned to their unit. In the absence of a functioning unit commissioner or if you do not know who that person is, contact your district executive. They will put you in touch with the appropriate person. If they do not have a unit commissioner assigned to your unit, they or the district commissioner will personally assist you in completing the recharter process.