De Soto Area Council, Boy Scouts of America

Welcome to the De Soto Area Council!

Service Center Hours

8-6 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

8-5 Wednesday

Phone: 870-863-5166

2011-12 Council Calendar


	Silver Beaver Recipient—Beth Weldon In 2002, she was named Volunteer of the Year for Arkansas Children’s Hospital "Circle Of Friends" in Union County. In 2002, she began working as Resource Development Director at the SHARE Foundation, where she was director of the SHARE Golf Tournament for Interfaith Clinic and raised $200,000 during her tenure for the clinic. She also started a major fundraiser for Life Touch Hospice in 2004 – The Follies, and in three productions – it generated over $100,000 for that organization. She also earned her fundraising certification thru the Arkansas Association of Fundraising Professionals. In 2006, she became Executive Director of the United Way of Union County and Columbia County. Under her leadership, the campaign raised over $850,000 for Union County, helping fund many nonprofit agencies that provide vital programs/services for our community. She has served on the Executive Committee of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors, and has been a board member of Hope Landing and the South Arkansas Historical Foundation. She currently serves as a board member for the Boy Scouts of America, Life Touch Hospice, El Dorado Rotary Club, the Wesley Foundation at Southern Arkansas University and is President of the Women’s Golf Association at El Dorado Country Club From 2009-2011, Beth was the Vice President of fund raising for De Soto Area Council. She was instrumental in developing and organizing the luncheons in El Dorado, Magnolia, and Camden. Under her leadership the Council now raises $75,000 annually from these three luncheons and has started a forth in Monticello. In addition to volunteering with the Boy Scouts, she has volunteered for the El Dorado Chamber’s Christmas Parade, Girls of Promise at SouthArk, United Way campaign, kickoff, and Celebration of Caring, SHARE Foundation Golf Tournament, and countless other community events and fundraisers. Beth is currently employed as marketing director at First Financial Bank in El Dorado. She obtained her BBA from Southern Arkansas University with a double major in Marketing and Economics. She is married to Chuck Weldon and has two children, Russ and Sarah, and a border collie named Molly. The Main Thing What is the Main Thing? It is to serve more youth with a quality Scouting program. That is quite a simple thing to say but what does a quality Scouting program look like in the eyes of a youth member or in the eyes of a youth that has not been in the program yet? Is it going camping, fishing, hiking rappelling, or swimming? How about a pinewood derby, space derby or rain gutter regatta? I would venture a guess it is a little of all of those things and much more. An active program where the youth meet an actually do activities at their den or troop meetings is what they really crave. The best way to keep a boy active is to give him immediate recognition. Make sure that at every meeting he is working towards an achievement. Present those immediate recognition beads for Cub Scouts at each den meeting. Provide each boy with a sense of accomplishment. What do you think a quality Scouting program looks like? What is the biggest obstacles we face in achieving the Main Thing? There is a variety of answers to this question and each parent and leader will have their own personal obstacle. Some of the biggest obstacles are a lack of money to provide a quality Scouting program, training opportunities, and Scouting knowledge. How can we overcome these obstacles? Communication is the key to overcoming any obstacle in our way. If you have an obstacle or if you know of someone that is having difficulty in Scouting, please help them out or direct them to someone that can help them. The Main Thing is for us to serve more youth with a quality Scouting program and that opportunity begins with each of you. Please keep this in mind as we help each of you kick off this Scouting year. There are a lot of exciting things waiting for you just around the corner. Check out some of the articles like the Fall Camporee, the Cub Scout Fishing Derby or the National Jamboree. Let’s all do our part in delivering a quality Scouting program to the Main Thing….our youth Important Changes to the Boy Scouts of America’s Youth Protection Training Policies Recently, the Boy Scouts of America announced important changes to its Youth Protection policies. The purpose of these changes is to increase awareness of this societal problem and to create even greater barriers to abuse than already exist today in Scouting. EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2010: Youth Protection Training is required for all registered volunteers regardless of their position in Scouting. New leaders are required to take Youth Protection Training before they submit their application for registration. The printed certificate of completion for this training must be submitted at the time as an application is submitted and must be done before volunteer service with youth begins. Youth Protection Training must be taken every two years. If a volunteer's Youth Protection Training record is not current at charter renewal time, the volunteer will not be re-registered. Go to http://www.scouting.org/Training/YouthProtection/QA.aspx to view answers to some of the questions we have received about these important changes. To find out more about the Youth Protection policies of the Boy Scouts of America and how to help Scouting keep your family safe, see the Parent’s Guide in any of the Cub Scouting or Boy Scouting handbooks, or go to http://www.scouting.org/Training/YouthProtection.aspx.		Thank you Patti!!!!!! For over nine years, Patti Dumas insured that the finances of the Council were perfect. And yes, they are perfect! We appreciate everything that she did and continues to do for the De Soto Area Council. She was more than a book keeper for us too. Every great organization needs to have someone behind the scenes making sure that every-thing goes well. She was that and much more. We will miss her dearly. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for the De Soto Area Council. Journey to Excellence We want to inform you of the new performance recognition program called ―Scouting’s Journey to Excellence‖ that replaces the Centennial Quality recognition program. As with any new initiative, the importance of timely communication and training is crucial to proper implementation. Copies of the ―Scouting’s Journey to Excellence‖ recognition forms have been emailed to each registered unit leader. If you would like a copy, please let Sylvia Wray know. Welcome Anne John Anne is our new book keeper. She is learning all of the ropes and trying hard to fill the big shoes left behind for her. We have all of the confidence in the world that Anne will do a fantastic job for us. April Leaders’ Meeting/Order of the Arrow Meeting Every quarter we gather to conduct a meeting on all of the upcoming events and discuss important topics that pertain to delivering a quality Scouting program to our youth. All parents, leaders and interested people are invited to attend these meetings. The Order of the Arrow meets at the same time and location. Our next leaders and Order of the Arrow meeting is: Date: April 24 Time: 6:30 p.m. Location: Boy Scout office. The main topic of discussion will be the program calendar for August 2012-August 2013.

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