Your council recently received its electronic invitation to the BSA's 97th anniversary, Cub Scouting's 77th birthday, and the 100th Anniversary of World Scouting in 2007. It is a global party and all of you are invited. The invitation includes links to materials and resources to help your council plan for this celebration. If your council needs another invitation, please contact Eric Moore at emoore@netbsa.org.
With each passing year, we celebrate myriad birthdays, anniversaries, and momentous occasions. Next year is no different. I look at these times as an opportunity to reflect on the learning and experiences of a specific time and project my aspirations and goals on the uncharted realities of the future.
Great organizations also take time to reflect and project—and grow stronger with each passing year. Why? Because they understand that milestones, especially those involving a period of years, speak to their success through survival and achievement. As a result, they take a moment to crystallize these occasions through celebrations and acknowledgement. These occasions build and sustain an organization's sense of self and purpose, which serve as building blocks for future success.
A century ago, the Scouting movement was a vision. Since then, that vision has projected itself on the realities of hundreds of millions of youth in the United States and around the world. Each year the movement continues, and we honor its steadfastness and staying the course. We honor our achievements, rituals, and experiences and we strengthen our link in the timeless chain of service. We do this because this is who we are.
Your district's participation in the anniversary celebrations will make 2007 a great year and set the tone for the biggest party of them all in "2010: When Tradition Meets Tomorrow." Happy anniversary!
The Merits of Marketing (marketing.scouting.org) is a resource for local
councils, developed by the Marketing &
Communications Division of the National Council, Boy Scouts of
America.