Boy Scouts of America has filed Chapter 11

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Just got this email. I'm still on their email lists from our days leading a Cub Scout Pack.

Reading between the lines, they lay this at the feet of lawsuits from abused former scouts. What they don't mention is the policy changes they have made in the last 8 or 10 years that resulted in their largest donors and supporting organizations cutting ties with them. Off the top of my head, BSA lost 50% or more of their national funding from that. But, they can't admit those decisions were mistakes.

Email text below if you care to read it.




Dear Scouting Alumni,

Today, the national organization of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to achieve two key objectives: equitably compensate victims who were harmed during their time in Scouting and continue to carry out Scouting’s mission for years to come.

We are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to abuse innocent children and sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. We believe victims, we support them, we provide counseling by a provider of their choice, and we encourage them to come forward. We believe that all victims should receive our support and compensation – and we have taken decisive action to make that possible. Our plan is to use this Chapter 11 process to create a Trust that would provide equitable compensation to these individuals.

Please know we have worked consistently over many years to implement multi-layered policies to keep kids safe. From mandatory youth protection training and background checks for all volunteers and staff, to policies that prohibit one-on-one interactions between youth and adults and require that any suspected abuse is reported to law enforcement, our volunteers and employees take youth protection extremely seriously and do their part to keep kids safe.

While the word “bankruptcy” can be intimidating, it is important to know that Scouting programs will continue. This means that regular unit meetings and activities, district and council events, other Scouting adventures and countless service projects will take place as usual.

As we go through this process, we want our Scouting alumni to know the following:

  • Scouting is safer now than ever before. Approximately 90% of the pending and asserted abuse claims against the BSA relate to abuse that occurred more than 30 years ago. As someone close to Scouting, you know the safety of children in our programs is the BSA’s absolute top priority.
  • Scouting continues. Scouting programs will continue to serve youth, families and local communities throughout this process and for many years to come. Just last year, communities across the country benefited from more than 13 million Scouting service hours, and young men and women earned more than 1.7 million merit badges that represent skills that will help them succeed throughout their lives. Studies prove and parents agree that Scouting helps young people become more kind, helpful and prepared for life, and as long as those values remain important to our society, Scouting will continue to be invaluable to our nation’s youth.
  • Local councils have not filed for bankruptcy. Local councils are legally separate, distinct and financially independent from the national organization.
We know you may have questions about these issues and things you will see in the news. We have posted information about the national organization's restructuring at www.BSArestructuring.org.

This site includes a helpful Resources page, where you will find a short video explaining what Chapter 11 means for Scouting and a FAQ to address as many of your questions as possible. This site also includes a Milestones page, which will be your best source for the latest updates throughout this process.

If these resources don’t answer your questions, please feel free to reach out to us through Member Care at 972-580-2489 or [email protected]. Thank you for your continued support of the mission.

Yours in Scouting,

Jim Turley
National Chair

Ellie Morrison
National Commissioner

Roger Mosby
President & CEO
 
No Sympathy for the “modern” BSA.
I loved the Scouts growing up. I was in it from cub scouts all the way through Boy Scouts and into the explorer program. Even pushed and got scouts at my former church.
And then the BSA went full retard. I think it’s pretty disgusting that they’re blaming the lawsuits. I personally don’t feel BSA did enough to take responsibility for the things that happened under their organization. They’re kind of like the Catholic Church that way.
 
Mr Slippyfist. good episode

south-park-s05e03c07-mr-grazier-16x9.jpg
 
As much as I’d love to throw the BSA’s problems solely at the feet of stupid decisions, I can’t deny the knowledge that it’s own people have killed it. From the idiotic decisions and policies at the top down to the lazy parents at the bottom who couldn’t be bothered to get involved.

I did Cub Scouts with my boys for a few years. We made the decision to bail last year. I got tired of being the only one to support our Den. I got tired of being the only one to bring ideas to the table for solving minor issues—only to have worry wart parents pile in with their input and derail it. I got tired of the elitist attitudes of the adults that were involved—the ones with more awards and recognition than the kids.

When I suggested we sell something other than overpriced stale crappy popcorn, I caught hell from the Council.

The killer was when I wanted to host off-site den meetings to get out of the stuffy classroom setting and had to have special trainings and plans in place...to meet at a park or playground, or my own backyard.

We ended up “teaching” straight out of a manual and not able to use our own real world experience and ideas. Bureaucratic rules and schedules mixed in to make it unbearable. There was no margin left for dealing with difficult kids...no patience left to put up with the crap.

When it became more of a harm to my family than a good thing, I pulled the ripcord.

This news does not surprise me.
 
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The BSA isn't anything like the BSA of when I was in back in the 80's/90s....and that BSA is nothing like it was when my father was in back in the 50's. The organization was started to teach young boys the skills to become young men. Not to teach whoever whatever so long as we don't offend anyone, oh, and buy our overpriced popcorn.
 
Geezer said:
It was once a well respected organization for young men. It's sad they had their problems, both internal and external.
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When we were kids the Scouts were a respected group. I have only known 2 "Eagle" scouts personally. All I ever knew were successful in older life.
B00ger said:
The BSA isn't anything like the BSA of when I was in back in the 80's/90s....and that BSA is nothing like it was when my father was in back in the 50's. The organization was started to teach young boys the skills to become young men.
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I can only speak to the 50s and 60s. It was special to be a Scout...….what a shame, today...
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
When we were kids the Scouts were a respected group. I have only known 2 "Eagle" scouts personally. All I ever knew were successful in older life.

I can only speak to the 50s and 60s. It was special to be a Scout...….what a shame, today...
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And honestly, when I joined up, that is what I expected. I had heard the stories growing up of my dad doing Philmont, of living off the land, of learning manly stuff. It was a good thing. My experience was fair...but it also had a mix of camping trips where the adults ate steak and the kids made burned foil packs. Of kids waking up with booger encrusted faces being told to cook breakfast without washing their hands. And my first troop used tents that pre-dated my fathers days. Old canvas tents with a wooden pole holding them up. Ended up using the canvas as a blanket more than we did a tent.

So again, I am sure some troops are absolutely amazing and do wonderful things and provide life changing guidance for the young men who took part in them. But my limited experience wasn't quite as bright.

Now, my daughters joined a group called "The American Heritage Girls" which was stellar. But as a group, far far smaller than the GSA.
 
I was a boyscout for one year when I was in 5th grade. I loved it! Up until recently, I would tell everyone that the year I spent in boyscouts was the best time of my life.

I still remember the meetings and campouts as being fantastic, but now that I'm happily married, working on my career, and raising two kids, I now think this is the best time of my life.

Anyway... I do have one funny WTF story...

One time, we went camping for a weekend long camporee. It was fantastic. Loved the whole trip!

But when I got home on Sunday evening, my mom pulled me aside and started asking me questions:

Did Mister So and So do anything weird?

Did he invite you into his tent?

Did he touch you?

I answered NO to all of her questions, and then I asked her why she was asking me these things!

My fricking mom said, "Well, there have been rumors for a long time that MR So and So might be molesting boys in his troop. " She was totally straight faced, no emotion...

To this day, I remember that conversation and think, "WTF mom? You knew about these allegations and you still sent me on the trip? "

Im shaking my head right now, just thinking about it...
 
Was once a scout sixty years ago.
I understand how different it is now.
But the behavior of some of the leadership is inexcusable.
It is time for today's BSA to go.
 
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Every Scout master I had was a Marine reservist. Camping trips to Lejeune, Ft. Bragg, Seymour Johnson. Great times. Preparing us for Vietnam Nam. Great times. I earned 23 merit badges. I learned a lot which I've used throughout my life. Made me a better person.
 
No surprise given the expense of law suits and settlements. I didn’t think about the loss of large donations but again it makes complete sense. BSA swept this stuff under the rug like they were the Catholic Church and then refused to take a strong stance on anything and soon became a target of the left.

Since I have my 1mo old son sleeping on me right now, and BSA is now only “scouts of America”, maybe by the time he is old enough to join such a group, someone with some cojones will create a new group that focuses on the core of what BSA used to. Otherwise, I’ll just do it myself, no big deal.
 
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Jerzsubbie said:
No surprise given the expense of law suits and settlements. I didn’t think about the loss of large donations but again it makes complete sense. BSA swept this stuff under the rug like they were the Catholic Church and then refused to take a strong stance on anything and soon became a target of the left.

Since I have my 1mo old son sleeping on me right now, and BSA is now only “scouts of America”, maybe by the time he is old enough to join such a group, someone with some cojones will create a new group that focuses on the core of what BSA used to. Otherwise, I’ll just do it myself, no big deal.
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You should check out Trail Life. Might be what you are looking for.
 
I was in Scouts for 5 years or so, but when I got my license, my focus changed....I really wish I'd have stayed in, as I learned a lot and growing up in the suburbs didn't allow for much learning of outdoor life. My first real overnighter was a backpacking trip through the long trail of Linville Gorge at probably 11 years old.
Got to camp and tried hopping the rocks in the river, fell in knee deep, put my boots by the fire to dry and burnt a good hole in the upper before I knew it.
Learned a lot that first trip and every other trip.
It's a shame kids in the suburbs these days won't have the same opportunity.
 
I am not defending anyone against the sexual assault cases but looking at lawsuits and running organizations into bankruptcy in a broader sense ...

Any old guard non-progressive organization that “triggers” liberals is a possible target for some form of lawsuit ... discrimination mainly ... for no other purpose than to destroy it. The BSA was hit with sexual discrimination so they opened it up for anyone because of bad press and lawsuits. I again am not saying it didn’t happen but when one firm is responsible for a couple hundred lawsuits across the whole country you gotta wonder.

I truly believe at some point churches will have a wave of some type of lawsuits filed at them somehow for some crazy reason ... just hope the First Amendment can and will stand up to wacko lefto liberals who try it.
 
NCFubar said:
I am not defending anyone against the sexual assault cases but looking at lawsuits and running organizations into bankruptcy in a broader sense ...

Any old guard non-progressive organization that “triggers” liberals is a possible target for some form of lawsuit ... discrimination mainly ... for no other purpose than to destroy it. The BSA was hit with sexual discrimination so they opened it up for anyone because of bad press and lawsuits. I again am not saying it didn’t happen but when one firm is responsible for a couple hundred lawsuits across the whole country you gotta wonder.

I truly believe at some point churches will have a wave of some type of lawsuits filed at them somehow for some crazy reason ... just hope the First Amendment can and will stand up to wacko lefto liberals who try it.
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Really -You think only the people from the left are Pedophiles? And of courses there are no christian pedophiles, especially not in the church. Sexual abusers and pedophiles do not have a political preference they come in all political affiliations.

There are a lot of things you can blame on the left. But thats a huge stretch blaming them for the Boy scout leadership turning their heads with concerns of abuse and then trying to sweep it all under the rug. Sexual abuse was found to be endemic across the nation. It was not just a couple of isolated incidents in a blue state.
 
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My dad & 3 uncles were all Eagle Scouts & my grandpa had been a Scoutmaster. We had a great troop in the '80's, with a Scoutmaster who'd been a Scout in my grandpa's troop. We went to Philmont (which was absolutely amazing, BTW), canoeing trips, rock climbing, you name it. Having a clear bead on your belt was a point of pride, signifying a on overnighter in below zero conditions. I got sidetracked at 16 y/o by girls, motorcycles & weed, but was a great organization & a huge positive influence in this troubled youngster's life.

So sad to see what they've become. Used to be a great way to help boys to learn how to become men.
 
Lafayette Gregory said:
Really -You think only the people from the left are Pedophiles? And of courses there are no christian pedophiles, especially not in the church. Sexual abusers and pedophiles do not have a political preference they come in all political affiliations.

There are a lot of things you can blame on the left. But thats a huge stretch blaming them for the Boy scout leadership turning their heads with concerns of abuse and then trying to sweep it all under the rug. Sexual abuse was found to be endemic across the nation. It was not just a couple of isolated incidents in a blue state.
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He's not talking about sexual assault. He's talking about the people who said "boy" is not inclusive enough, and therefore are offended and need to sue to force the BSA to be more inclusive...
 
Lafayette Gregory said:
Really -You think only the people from the left are Pedophiles? And of courses there are no christian pedophiles, especially not in the church. Sexual abusers and pedophiles do not have a political preference they come in all political affiliations.

There are a lot of things you can blame on the left. But thats a huge stretch blaming them for the Boy scout leadership turning their heads with concerns of abuse and then trying to sweep it all under the rug. Sexual abuse was found to be endemic across the nation. It was not just a couple of isolated incidents in a blue state.
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You need to reread my post. I did not say anything close to the left we’re pedophiles ... I was speaking of lawsuits by the left on organizations that they don’t like as a whole causing economic problems for them and how the BSA was hit with discrimination lawsuits that put them in a hole and these sexual assaults cases are burying them.
 
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I was a boyscout for many years, turns out that my scoutmaster is a convicted pedophile, think he’s still in prison, guess I wasn’t his type.

about the popcorn, that’s some monumentally stupid fundraising. Seriously if a kid can sell a bag of popcorn for $20 that you can buy in the grocery store he’s standing in front of for $3.99 he should get a “sells snow to Eskimos” merit badge.
 
Jerzsubbie said:
No surprise given the expense of law suits and settlements. I didn’t think about the loss of large donations but again it makes complete sense. BSA swept this stuff under the rug like they were the Catholic Church and then refused to take a strong stance on anything and soon became a target of the left.

Since I have my 1mo old son sleeping on me right now, and BSA is now only “scouts of America”, maybe by the time he is old enough to join such a group, someone with some cojones will create a new group that focuses on the core of what BSA used to. Otherwise, I’ll just do it myself, no big deal.
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Trail life
 
They'll emerge from Chap 11 minus a few pristine campgrounds and rebrand themselves The Soy Scouts Of America
 
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Crazy Carl said:
I got sidetracked at 16 y/o by girls, motorcycles & weed,
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We called that “the fumes”.
Gas fumes,
perfume...

I made it to Life Scout as a patrol leader with an entire patrol of Tenderfeet, and that was more than I could bear. My good friend was assistant patrol leader but he never came on camping trips so I had all those Tenderfeet in the woods. They could barely pitch tents. Couldn’t dig latrines. Ugh
 
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Both my sons made Eagle. I was an Asst Scoutmaster. What you see in troops varies by locale. We were a rural troop so we did lots of camping, hiking and outdoors activities. Urban troops don't have as much opportunity for that stuff. The real issue aside from the pedo stuff is that many parents use Scouting as a babysitting service. They'll drop the kids off at meetings or send them on the trips and not get involved to help. We saw it to some degree even in our troop.

Fast forward to now, I'm actively involved in Scouting as a NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor. With all the legal stuff that's gone on, BSA has grown very risk averse and as such, if you want to volunteer to work with kids in the shooting sports, you'll have to have the NRA Instructor credential in whatever shooting sport you are involved in. You'll also be background checked and have to go through Youth Protection Training, all before you ever get to a range. Given all this stuff, it was hard before to get adults to help, it's worse now.
 
fieldgrade said:
We called that “the fumes”.
Gas fumes,
perfume...

I made it to Life Scout as a patrol leader with an entire patrol of Tenderfeet, and that was more than I could bear. My good friend was assistant patrol leader but he never came on camping trips so I had all those Tenderfeet in the woods. They could barely pitch tents. Couldn’t dig latrines. Ugh
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I was more into having fun in the woods & topped out at 1st Class. I was also the PL of the "bad kids" patrol. My dad taught me to cook in the woods, so we ate like kings on camp outs. We also typically had smokes, herb & likker. Nothing like a flask of schnapps while backpacking in an ice storm, or blazing a J while paddling lazily down some beautiful Ozarks river.
 
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Crazy Carl said:
I was more into having fun in the woods & topped out at 1st Class. I was also the PL of the "bad kids" patrol. My dad taught me to cook in the woods, so we ate like kings on camp outs. We also typically had smokes, herb & likker. Nothing like a flask of schnapps while backpacking in an ice storm, or blazing a J while paddling lazily down some beautiful Ozarks river.
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Y’all clearly had more fun. Our troop was like the military.
 
I loved being a Boy Scout, but now I have two daughters and no sons.

My wife became the local Girl Scout Troop Leader. I got background checked, and have done several certification trainings with the girl scouts.

Since I enjoyed being a Medic in the military I have taken the Girl Scout classes to be the troop medic. I go on campouts with my wife, my daughters, and about 30 other girls.

I make it a point to teach the girls to do "guy stuff" like building campfires, pitching tents, chopping firewood, etc. My wife likes teaching the girls to cook, clean up, etc.

We had a girl scout meeting tonight. This was the 4th meeting in a row where I brought my own wood working tools and have been teaching the girls to use a miter box, screw driver, hammer, etc. and tonight the 4 oldest girls built bird houses to earn their wood working badge.

Girl scouts is no where near as cool as boy scouts was, but I know that I'm making a difference and helping these girls learn life skills.

Im seriously thinking about showing them how to change a tire next month...
 
Wonder what type of troop Bloomberg was in? He claims he made Eagle Scout ...
 
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fieldgrade said:
Y’all clearly had more fun. Our troop was like the military.
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Most definitely. We weren't bad kids at all, but we were wild & troubled 'n really, really enjoyed camping, hiking, canoeing, backpacking, swimming, rock climbing & just enjoying life in the woods.
 
JimB said:
I was a boyscout for many years, turns out that my scoutmaster is a convicted pedophile, think he’s still in prison, guess I wasn’t his type.

about the popcorn, that’s some monumentally stupid fundraising. Seriously if a kid can sell a bag of popcorn for $20 that you can buy in the grocery store he’s standing in front of for $3.99 he should get a “sells snow to Eskimos” merit badge.
Click to expand...
 
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