Greetings fellow Sea Scouters,
The snow has started to fly, Deer hunting seasons begun and many of you have winterized your boats. Time for our indoor programs to begin.
First off, Happy Thanksgiving, and hope you all have a blessed holiday season during the rest of 2017. It’s a great time to have your officers plan advancement and educational activities as well as indoor service projects. Remember, we want our sea scouts to be present and visible in their communities year round. Remember to have the Scouts and leaders wear their uniforms so people can easily identify us. If you have special training needs, contact the local US Power Squadron or Coast Guard Auxiliary to see how they might help you out. Also, do not forget about the navy reserve.
I recently have attended many unit- and council-events in my Official blue uniform. Boy, does that get a lot of questions from youth and adults. I look at wearing it as a recruiting and marketing tool and hope you will also, especially to non-sea scout events like council dinners and gatherings, OA winter banquets, and even district roundtables
Since 2016, you know we have full stand-alone program status within the BSA. While this gives us newfound visibility, it also means we need to go out of our way to let the other programs, Cubs, Boy Scouts, Venturers, and Explorers, know we are here and interested in working with them. This is a great way to attract new ship members, something we all need to be doing year-round.
I recently asked our Area Commodores and regional staff to begin contacting each of our Central Region ships to see how things in your unit are going. We are interested in your recruiting, activities, and yes, even your concerns or problems. Please be open and respond to their emails or telephone calls. They only way we can get change rolling is if we understand your issues and can begin a conversation to effect change. If you are having difficulties, do not hesitate to call your area commodore. They may be able to help you.
As always, if you want to speak to me, feel free to call me at 715-581-4250. Leave a message and I will promptly try to return your call.
Survive the cold and dark days, the ice and snow will melt soon enough and we can again be out on the water
Below are the contact numbers for our area commodores:
Area Commodores
1 – George Battis – 651-706-3925
2 – Wayne Hastings – 734-718-1113
3 – Lev Reynolds – 507-254-7631
4 – Rob Belliveau – 330-322-5381
6 – Dave Campbell – 260-564-0705
7 – Andy Paprocki – 414-379-4800
(Area 8 has been merged with Area 7 by the BSA)
Fair winds,
John C. Paprocki
Central Region Commodore