 Good Turn For America
From barn raisings to soup kitchens, ordinary Americans have always made an extraordinary difference in the lives of their neighbors and in their communities by lending a helping hand. Today, America needs the service of the Boy Scouts of America more than ever. Hunger, lack of adequate shelter, poor health—these are issues that affect all of us. The Boy Scouts of America believes that we can do something about these issues—if we work together. That's why we've created Good Turn for America. Each unit has been given a login and password to the Good Turn For America website, so they can tell the whole country about their service projects. If you do not know your password contact your district good turn for America chairman or your district executive.
Help Needed - Operation Support Our Troops - Illinois
Over the past six years Operation Support our Troops - Illinois has served as the link between the citizen and the military person by collecting items from the community, packaging them into "care packages" and mailing them off to troops serving in harm's way. Each 25 pound package contains a wide variety of snacks, toiletries, books, treats, first aid items, etc. While each box is addressed to an individual military person (whose name is submitted through our website), there is enough to share with approximately 10 people. Each box also contains hand written letters from the community as well. In total, OSOTIL has sent over 220 tons of these packages - one 25 pound box at a time! We hear over and over in letters and in person from our troops that say "you have no idea what it meant to know that someone cared about me - someone I didn't even know took the time and effort to think about me.”
We know that American citizens want to support our military and we provide a vehicle for them to do this by collecting items off of the "Top Ten" most requested list and bringing them to us along with letters of support. However, with the events of the past months and the shaky economy that has developed, people have their minds on other things. Our troops, however, continue to serve regardless of political or economic changes here at home. They need us to continue to support them, but for the first time in our six years, our ability to do that is threatened by a lack of collections from the community.
We are reaching out and asking all of you who care about our troops to consider organizing a collection of goods off of our "Top Ten" list. It's very easy to do:
1. Pick a week or a two week time frame to hold your collection.
2. Pick your collection venue (church, work, community groups, and plan to put a few collection
boxes at the site for items to be dropped off.
3. Contact us at
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to schedule (so we know what we have coming in!).
4. Create a flyer or prepare an e-mail to send out to your contacts with the "Top Ten" items and ask everyone you know to participate by purchasing one or more items off the list and drop off in your collection box during the scheduled collection.
5. Coordinate with OSOTIL to bring the items to our warehouse.
6. Relax and know that you have helped to put a smile on the face of our troops.
OSOTIL will handle the rest and see that your collected goods get into the hands of our troops. You do not have to worry about the postage or boxes to ship - we will take care of it all! Our troops need to know that we care about them - please help us to show that our commitment to them equals their commitment to us - regardless of the economy we are here for them because they are there for us!
For more information about scheduling a collection please contact
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or visit our website at www.osotil.org to see a list of the current "Top Ten" most needed items. Thank you for caring for our troops.
Deborah Rickert, President - Operation Support our Troops - IL., Inc.
Good Turns within the Three Fires Council
Like most Cub Scouts, Timmy and Tommy C. of pack 227 sold popcorn this year. What made these two Scouts a little different? They elected to accept Wal-Mart Gift Cards totaling $287.00 instead of personal prizes and donated products to three local charities; Ronald McDonald Charities at Loyola Hospital, Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin, and PAD’s Homeless Shelter in Elgin.
They chose the Ronald McDonald House because this charity demonstrated an "act of kindness” to the family when the they had to stay there while Tommy was in the hospital at Loyola. Anderson Animal Shelter was chosen because the family had rescued thier dog Daisy from this shelter. It was an "act of good will" since their beloved dog Daisy passed on this year.
PADs Homeless Shelter was chosen to “help other people” that are less fortunate. Timmy and Tommy researched the internet to find what each of the charities immediate needs were. They created a needs list and took to Wal-Mart to purchase the supplies for the charities as a “Good Turn For America.”
Donated Products to Charities:
Anderson Animal Shelter received two eight packs of paper towels, two packages of cat toys, two fifty pound bags of cat litter, two cat scratching posts, two stainless steel food bowls, one scratching post toy, two fabuloso floor cleaners, and two bottles of bleach (182 oz).
PADS of Elgin Homeless Shelter received four boxes of cereal, two pairs of men’s shoes, 200 cereal bowls, four women’s deodorant, four men’s deodorant, and thirty-six disposable razors.
Ronald McDonald Charity House received six containers of disinfecting wipes, two boxes of garbage bags, and three containers of Tide laundry soap (120 load).
Left to right are: Jordan S., Mitchell A., Nathaniel S., Zachary A., and A.J. R.
Troop 33 - from DeKalb had two adults and five Scouts spend nine days helping with Hurricane Ike efforts. They were based at a church in Galveston and spent the first part of their time helping prepare meals for hurricane victims and relief workers. The latter part of their visit was spent in the community working to rehab some homes damaged by flooding. It presented the boys with a lesson in citizenship that they will remember for the rest of their lives.
Hurricane Ike was the 3rd most costliest storm in U.S. history. More than 70% of all homes in Galveston were rendered uninhabitable by storm surge flooding. Though Hurricane Ike was only a category II storm, the category is only a measure of wind velocity. In size Hurricane Ike was nearly 500 miles across, making it one of the largest storms in history.
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