Scouting, Volume 60, Number 1, January-February 1972 Page: 48
68, [20] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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ADVERTISEMENT
TOM WATSON
OI\l
FUND-RAISING
Tom Watson is President of Tom-
Wat, Inc. — one of the nation's
largest merchandise fund - raising
organizations.
Each month, his column answers
your questions on fund-raising.
Dear Tom: Like many 4-H Clubs, ours is
in a rural area where people live a fair
distance apart. Also, some of our club
members are quite young. So what we
need is a fund-raising plan that doesn't
involve heavy things to carry. Help!
— MRS. MARGE TAYLOR
Olmsted County, Minnesota
That's not too hard to solve, Mrs. Tay-
lor. I'd recommend a "kit plan" for your
group — what this boils down to is that
instead of carrying heavy items which
they actually sell, your kids carry light
"kits" containing samples, which they
show to take orders. (A point worth re-
membering is that most kits will com-
fortably fit on a bike's carrier.) There
are several reputable fund-raising com-
panies who have good kit plans on the
market. From their advertising, try to
select one that works primarily with
youngsters like yours. Chances are you'll
find their plan easier to run than others.
Dear Tom: What is the "prime time" of
year that clubs should raise funds?
— DONALD LEEMAN
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
You don't say what type of club you're
associated with . . . and that's really the
key to this question. Many 4-H Clubs,
athletic associations, some scouts —
groups with lots of outdoor summer acti-
vities — find that spring is the best time
to raise funds for their upcoming proj-
ects. On the other hand, schools, church
groups, and many scouts find that fall is
best, because the money they raise can
be spread out to cover the whole year's
activities. One thing to bear in mind,
though, is that most groups can make
more money in fall than in spring, be-
cause people buy heavily for Christmas.
If you have questions on fund rais-
ing you'd like answered, write to:
TOM WATSON ON FUND-RAISING
Lafayette Plaza Tower
Bridgeport, Conn. 06601
REACHING
FOR VALUES
By WALTER MacPEEK
I'M glad my Scoutmaster didn't
preach to us. I'm afraid he would
have lessened his influence if he
had. He used other methods pretty
effectively and I recall him with
great affection.
Don't think for a moment that he
wasn't pretty thoughtful in his ap-
proach to his job. He was direct
and dramatic, and he pounded away
at helping us catch some real
values. But he made us reach for
the things we wanted.
I remember one night at a camp-
fire where he quoted these four
lines, from James Russell Lowell.
"When I was a beggar boy, and
lived in a celler damp,
I had not a friend or a toy, but
I had Aladdin's lamp.
When I could not sleep for cold,
I had fire enough in my brain,
And built, with roofs of gold, my
beautiful castles in Spain!"
The setting was just right. We
didn't think poetry out of place
there. We didn't ask him what the
point was, and he didn't insult us
by explaining. But he got pretty im-
portant values across to us.
I remember another time when a
half dozen of us were in camp. We
got to talking about how we'd like
to have a big house or a big car, or
a lot of money, things that we might
have some day.
"That might be O.K., but do you
know what John Burroughs said?"
he asked us. Then he quoted:
"For my part as I grow older, I
am more and more inclined to re-
duce my baggage, to lop off super-
fluities. I become more and more
in love with the simple things
and simple folk—a small house,
a hut in the woods, a tent on the
shore."
We didn't argue with this point.
A day or two later I borrowed the
book of the writings of John Bur-
roughs and told myself that I would
become a nature philosopher.
Somehow, we were flattered that
our Scoutmaster considered us
grownup enough to share some of
his adult thoughts and viewpoints
with us. I don't believe he ever gave
us much direct advice on life values,
but he surely influenced us. We
thought it "big stuff" to know some
of the good things that important
men had said, and that our Scout-
master enjoyed thinking about.
Many a time one of our teachers
would be informed, "Oh, our Scout-
master knows all about Kipling."
Campfires and storytelling were
his great joy. And nothing delighted
him more than to lend us books
from his well stocked library.
Whenever I happen on a line of
verse from Gerald Gould, even now,
I can see my Scoutmaster beside a
Michigan lake quoting:
"Yonder the long horizon lies,
and there by night and day
The old ships draw to home again,
the young ships sail away
And come I may, but go I must,
and if men ask you why,
You put the blame on the stars
and the sun and the
White road and the sky!"
I'm glad that no two Scout-
masters are alike; but I count my-
self fortunate to have tramped the
trail with one who helped introduce
a gang of roughneck boys to mind-
stretching bits of verse. X!
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 60, Number 1, January-February 1972, periodical, January 1972; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353658/m1/78/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.