Service Projects

[milominderbinder2]

This is the discussion for the Boy Scout Advancement page on meritbadge.org.

Please help proofread the text by comparing it to your BSA Advancement Policies #33088 © 1989, 2007 Printing. Please make corrections directly to the Wikipedia page. Once we can confirm the text is exact, we can lock the Wiki page.

Also included is the Eagle Project Plan Checklist compiles all 27 Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project requirements from the Advancement Policies and the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook into a single reference.

- Craig

[milominderbinder2]

Sorry, I am not able to edit the opening post so here it is corrected...

This is the discussion for the Service Projects page on meritbadge.org.

Please help proofread the text by comparing it to your BSA Advancement Policies #33088 © 1989, 2007 Printing. Please make corrections directly to the Wikipedia page. Once we can confirm the text is exact, we can lock the Wiki page.

Also included is the Eagle Project Plan Checklist which compiles all 27 Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project requirements from the Advancement Policies and the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook into a single reference.

- Craig

[AquilaNegra2]

What constitutes a service project? Does it need to benefit a community organization or can it be for an individual? I can't find a definitive answer in the books.

[RWSmith]

Short answer: It depends on the rank; and, it is in the books -- mainly, the Advancement Guide. Hopefully, somebody can come in and give you a more definitive answer before I can get to a book and look it up.

[AquilaNegra2]

Service Projects

Star and Life Ranks..."For Star and Life ranks, a Scout must perform
six hours of service to others. This may be done as an individual
project or as a member of a patrol or troop project. Star and Life
service projects may be approved for Scouts assisting on Eagle service
projects. The Scoutmaster approves the project before it is started."

33088

It just says "Service to others". I couldn't find anything more specific, except for Eagle.

Hoping someone else has more info.

[smtroop168]

There isn't anything more specific to allow both the scout and scoutmaster flexibility.

Leadership service projects shall be meaningful service not normally expected of a Scout as a part of his school, religious, or community activities. Service to others for me includes projects for the Food Bank (not Scouting for Food), the Homeless shelter, local nursing homes, Salvation Army, Habitiat for Humanity, clean up days at their church etc.

One of the things I tell my guys is that one of the (not so obvious) purposes for the Star and Life service projects is to provide the Scout with practice for the much larger and more involved Eagle Scout project process. It can also trigger many ideas for what they might want to pursue for their EP. This is the same logic used for the 8 hours of service to an organization that is required for Cit in Comm MB.

[alex gregory]

I understand that the interpretation of "others" has meant more than an individual. The plural seems to exclude the the classic example of building a wheelchair ramp at a single-person private residence, which is still a very worthy project.

[AquilaNegra2]

Thanks. The "others" is a good argument for it being an organization. This Scout helped a family, though. I think I'm going to try and find ANOTHER place that he can count the work he put in, and recommend that he find a community-based organization for the service hours. It's not like he needs 50 ...

[smtroop168]

Did the scout have this project approved and was it completed? If yes...sign it off.

[Quailman]

I am disheartened when I see scouts and leaders asking what qualifies as service hours for rank advancement. It seems to me that if a scout is living up to the scout oath (to help other people at all times), he should have no problem meeting this requirement. Helping other scouts with eagle projects will count. I regularly receive communications from my OA chapter about service opportunities and let my sons know that they're expected as arrowmen to participate in at least some. Our chapter also has a network of arrowmen available to help with eagle projects that might require more resources than are available from within a troop at a given time. There are always food drives and beach clean-ups going on. Some troops in this area (not mine - grrrr) participate in the semi-annual beach clean-up every year.

[Quailman]

{I wanted to edit that post but couldn't find the edit button}

I forgot to add that the requirement works out to an hour or so per month of service to others. The challenger little league that my son used to participate in gave a certificate for two hours for the volunteers that helped each week, and they have an eight or ten week season.

Perhaps an ASM should be assigned to keep an eye on service oportunities in the community. If you have a troop OA representative (PoR), one of his responsibilites is "Encourages Scouts to actively participate in community service projects." he should be keeping his eyes open as well.

[RWSmith]

Most recent posts regarding Star & Life mini-Eagle Projects have been split into a new thread.