Inductions of new members and a presentation by Coastal Georgia Council of Boy Scouts of America highlighted Tuesday’s Hinesville Rotary Club luncheon at the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Flemington.
New members included Col. Kirk Eggleston, commander of Winn Army Community Hospital and Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield Medical Activity Command; Danny Creasy, vice president of The Coastal Bank; Marc Kluge, vice president of Florapharm Tea-USA; and Jimmy Shanken, real-estate broker with Caldwell Banker, Holtzman Realtors.
Club Vice President Brigitte Shanken presented a lapel pin to each new inductee, including her husband, Jimmy. Moments later, she was recognized by club President Marcus Sack as a Paul Harris Fellow for her contributions to the club. Her new-member husband then presented her with a lapel pin after Sack gave her a certificate.
Micah Donaldson, district director for the Atlantic District, Coastal Georgia Council, BSA, and council CEO Tom Cardiff talked about what Scouting has done for boys for over a century as well as changes to the local council, which now consists of 21 counties.
“Raise your hand if you were a Boy Scout,” said Cardiff, who then counted the hands that went up around the banquet room. “That’s what I thought. It’s been my experience that about 75 percent of men who are part of civic organizations like the Rotary Club are former Scouts.”
Cardiff said he’s often asked why Scouting is important today. He then referred to a flier about the BSA and the Coastal Georgia Council that said for every 100 boys who join scouting, 12 will have their first contact with a church, eight will enter a vocation that was learned through the merit-badge system, four will attain the rank of Eagle Scout and 99 who stay in Scouting for five years or more will never end up in front of a juvenile judge.
Cardiff recited quoted the Boy Scout oath and law.
“On my honor, I’ll do my best to do my duty to God and my country and obey the Boy Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight,” he said. “A Boy Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent ... Imagine if every young man applied the Scout Law to his life.”
Cardiff, who earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 1977, has four brothers who are Eagle Scouts, and three of his four sons are Eagle Scouts. He said his youngest son, 12 years old, just qualified to join the Boy Scouts.
He told Rotarians about the merging of various councils together to form the Coastal Georgia Council.
He was asked by a Rotary member how someone whose children are grown can support Scouting. Cardiff said adult volunteers are welcome, but most of all, financial support is much appreciated. He suggested individuals and civic organizations join Friends of Scouting or make their donations directly to the Coastal Georgia Council.