January 2021 Newsletter

Happy new year! Below is a rundown from this month’s District Committee meeting but, before we get to that, I wanted to call out that a contact form has been added to make it easy to reach out to our advancement chair, Mike Handyside. He’s the person to talk to if you have any questions about anything advancement related or if you need to schedule an Eagle Board of Review. The form can be found at indianspringsbsa.org/advancement. Now, on to what we talked about this month.

We opened with Pledge, Oath, and Law followed by a prayer.

Helen Albrightson asked if anyone knows of people who might be willing to become part of the District Committee to let Kent know. She also talked about how Tom and Steve have been working on recharters and the good work they are doing.

Georgia Deakin - Program: The new training is out for short term camp administrators. It is about a 10 hour training session from national camping school. There is a training on the 16th for this. Georgia is going to go through this training and is reaching out to a few others about attending. There is also a virtual version available through National.

Drew Lyle - Training: Some Key 3 are coming up as not being YPT certified and this is slowing down some recharters. University of Scouting is coming up in Feb. as a virtual event. Roundtable is the 21st.

The District does not have any scheduled training sessions. Please go to the Council website for training opportunities. Our District training team is available for personalized unit training requested on an as needed basis.

Mike Handyside - Advancement: 4 Eagle board of reviews were done in December. If you have need for one, please reach out to Mike. Also reach out if there are any issues with merit badges or the Life to Eagle process. Mike’s team includes Eric McDonald who handles most things for units in Haralson County, James Hembree who handles most things for units in Douglas County, and Wendy Cullison who coordinates Merit Badge Counselors.

Andy Camp - Membership: A few new youth are being registered as recharters are being done but school closures have hampered recruiting and new unit startup.

Gene Liverman - Communications: we talked newsletter readership and website updates, including the new contact form above.

Carter Smith, DE on Finance, Golden Eagle, Recharter, and Camp Cards:

• Friends of Scouting: Carter is working to contact people who have said they will contribute to find out if they will still be able to and to see if those who reduced their donation are in a better place now and willing to give more. Our district is up to nearly 40% of our yearly goal ($27,903 year-to-date).
• Recharter: about 42% have submitted so far.
• Camp Cards: Charlene Bond is onboard for Camp Card Chair this year. First date for camp card pickups may be delayed - more info to come as soon as we have it. The delay is due to delivery issues related to the pandemic.

Tom Godbold: talked commissioner meetings and what kind of things will be covered at their next meeting. This includes trying to come up with an action plan for 2021 on the best ways they can help units.