"Where Can I get some HELP!?

The BSA's official website has a trove of information geared to parents and volunteers. But to be brutally honest, getting around their family of websites is an exercise in frustration!! It is getting better, thanks to your feedback and input from other sites. Here, in no particular order, are other resources you may want to use to get addtional Lone Scouting information, reference materals, ideas and suggestions and to just kick back and enjoy what you've found there.

Let's start with uniforming, because Lone Cub Scouts and Lone Boy Scouts want to look their best in playing the game of Scouting!! There are two resources here -- the official BSA's Supply Group website called Scoutstuff.org, in which you and your Lone Scout can peruse the BSA's online catalog of uniforming and insignia items, order or develop a shopping list, and find out where the nearest Scout Shop™ is located.

The Lone Scout neckerchief has been returned to the online catalog. Just in case you cannot find it, you can order the neckerchief using the following information: Lone Scout Neckerchief (worn by Lone Cub Scouts, Lone Boy Scouts and their Friend and Counselor) BSA#611209 .

Thanks to you and so many other Lone Scouters (volunteers serving the Lone Scouting program), there is a NEW uniform strip which replaces the old circular emblems used in some design or another since the 1930s. The strip is shown at this location. You can order the patch which is worn by LONE SCOUTS ONLY using the following information: Lone Scout emblem (worn by Lone Cub Scouts and Lone Boy Scouts) BSA#621122.

The other resource as far as uniforming is the unofficial Badge and Uniform Site. Within those pages, one can find out how to wear the BSA's official uniform and it's insignia, to include Lone Scouting insignia.

Next, let's talk about program.

Please download your copy of the Lone Scout Friend and Counselor manual and read through it. This manual, redesigned from the blank page upward, was created by Lone Scouting volunteers and approved by the BSA's programming and advancement leadership. It describes the Lone Scout Plan, how Lone Scouting works and resources you can use to develop your son's Scouting experiences.

It is located within three locations online:
at the BSA's publication website; on this website (it is also listed in the listing of references elsewhere on this site); and at the U.S. Scouting Service Project, Inc.'s advancement website.
(You can also purchase a copy from your local Council's Scout Shop(tm) )

It's a little more than just picking up a manual and following the pages to meet the requirements. Entire cottage industries have emerged to assist you and your Scout as you meet the requirements for various rank and options. The granddaddy of them all is the U.S. Scouting Service Project, Inc.'s family of websites, reference material and resources. Bookmark it...you'll be going back to that site over and over and over (psst: members of the BSA's national and regional staffs bookmark that page because it is organized much better than the official sites, has more information told and explained by volunteers and professionals with significant experiences in "the field", and it gives you many sides of the information you seek...including those sides that you wished they would have kept to themselves *grinning*. )

There is a spreadsheet which is on the Financing Scouting website. The spreadsheet calculated the costs of Scouting, how volunteers can show parents and interested people why those costs are needed, and gives some suggestions on how to pay for their Scouting adventures.

If your Commissioner can't assist you, each District within your Council has a person working Scouting as a full-time job. He or she is titled differently, according to their responsibilities within the local Council. Most are titled "District Executive" and some may be titled "Senior District Executive" or "District Director". These men and women received about a day's worth of training and instruction on the Lone Scouting program (as part of their initial two-week national professional management course) and how it should be conducted on a "global" or "ideal" basis. Then, when they return to their local Council, they are coached by senior managers on how Lone Scouting will be used (or not) in THEIR COUNCIL. Not all Councils use Lone Scouting in the way taught at the BSA's Professional Leadership Institute (PDI); therefore, there is no consistancy from one Council to another. However, these men and women KNOW SCOUTING, and should be able to answer your questions or concerns if your Commissioner cannot assist you.

To find your Commissioner or your District's Executive or other professional, use the "RESOURCES" sheet or contact your local Council office via phone or web. Contact information of the BSA local Council office nearest you is found from a search using the BSA's official Council locator webpage. You can also go to Be a Scout.org and enter in your zip code.

If nobody in your Council can assist you, please use our "Discussion" area above to post your question or concern. There are lots of Lone Scouting families and individuals who can be of major support and assistance to you and your Scout as they go through the Scouting program. If you have not subscribed to the Yahoo Lone Scouting discussion group, follow the instructions on the site to do so. And participate yourself -- share your experiences, both good and bad, with the Lone Scouting program and Scouting in general -- with other families and Lone Scouters!!

If the discussion area cannot be of assistance, then your situation is one to which you should send an email to Mike Walton. As described elsewhere, Mike Walton is a longtime BSA volunteer, former part-time professional and Lone Scout Friend and Counselor and Lone Scout. He knows Scouting and has resources to help you and your Scout to make through the "wickets" of the Scouting program. Please post him as a last resort, however. MOST of the issues dealing with Lone Scouting are issues which "traditional Packs and Troops" deal with and are LOCAL ISSUES for the most part. So give the people locally a chance to be of service with you before posting a note to Mike.