Frequently Asked Questions

More than 40 years of innovative youth safety practices and continued improvements over that same time have made Scouting the safest activity for youth. Learn more about our training and practices on our Scout Safety Page.

There is a real shortage of opportunities for young people to safely experience what it’s like to learn from “failure,” while making new friends. Scouting delivers on this and more, but only because there are volunteer leaders and adults who volunteer their time each month. You can make a real difference in a child’s life by being the Scouting leader who is there to encourage, offer advice, or just remind them to have fun. You don’t have to be an expert in the outdoors – you just have to want to help.

The answer depends on the role you’re serving. Being a Cub Scout Den Leader means spending an hour or two planning a weekly den meeting, then actually leading the meeting with your assistant or other parents for another hour. Conservatively speaking, that’s about 12 hours a month. When you start your job as Den Leader, you’ll want to allow for about 8 hours to take Den Leader Specific Training in person or you can split it up over multiple times with the online version at My.Scouting.org.

The scout shop is actually open at different times from the Kasperson Center Offices. Here are the hours for the Pauly Scout Shop specifically:

Sunday – Closed

Monday – Closed

Tuesday – 10 am to 6 pm

Wednesday – 10 am to 6 pm

Thursday – 10 am to 6 pm

Friday – 10 am to 6 pm

Saturday – 9 am to 1 pm

About two weeks before an event, you should validate that all adults attending an overnight event are registered members of Scouting America and have current Safeguarding Youth Protection. This allows enough time for any unregistered person to complete registration and be background checked by the National Office before the event begins. There are three main ways to do this. Each will be listed below with instructions and any considerations you need to have for each.

Member Validation Report in Black Pug

1. If the registration is in Black Pug, event leadership can run a Member Validation report (Reporting>Event Administration>Member Validation). As long as individuals have linked correctly to their units, their information should be included in Black Pug. Click here to download a step-by-step guide to using Black Pug to verify registration and SYT status.
2. The staff Advisor can look up each person in my.scouting and check their status
   (This is the most accurate method but can be very time consuming.)
3. Event Leadership can ask each person to bring a copy of their membership and SYT cards.
   • Leadership will need to ask for copies from each attending adult.
   • Leadership will need to maintain some form of a record that this was checked prior to the person staying onsite
   • If a leader is mistaken and does not have an active membership, the event leadership and staff advisor have few recourses to help the person.

We're not accountants, and this is not professional tax advice, but... generally speaking, the IRS has recognized day camps like Cub Scout Day Camp as deductible child care expenses. Camps involving overnight stays have not been recognized as deductible. For more on Scouting expenses that may be tax deductible, visit this post from Scouting Magazine.

Yes (this applies to Sea Scouting, too). A Scout may be registered in both programs and work on advancement in either or both units simultaneously. However, once they have earned First Class rank, Scouts don't have to remain registered in Scouts BSA in order to continue earning Scouts BSA advancement (their Venturing Crew Advisor or Sea Scout Skipper can sign off on Scouts BSA advancement).

A Lion is a boy or girl Cub Scout in Kindergarten. During this year they earn the Lion rank.

All adults have to complete the Safeguarding Youth Protection Training before their adult application will be processed by Scouting America. If your Cub Scout Pack wants to go camping, you need at least one adult going on the campout having completed Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation (BALOO) training. Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters in Scouts BSA Troops must complete Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills (IOLS).

Safeguarding Youth Protection Training is done online on my.scouting.org, as are many courses specific for adults filling leadership positions in Cub Scout Packs, Scouts BSA Troops, Venturing Crews, Sea Scout Ships, and Explorer Posts. All of these courses, as well as youth leader training and Wood Badge training for adults, also are offered as "in-person" courses at various camps, community locations near you, or at the Kasperson Center. Registration for these courses are typically available online. To learn more, visit our Training section.

The worldwide founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, said, “a week of camp life is worth six months of theoretical teaching in the meeting room.” While Scouting is not a school in the traditional sense, the outdoors is very much our “classroom.” Camping provides a new environment different from a child’s daily reality of homework, social media, YouTube, etc. Outdoors, Scouts work and talk with one another about how to set up their campsite, cook dinner, clean up, and more in an environment built around accountability and respect. It’s here where Scouts practice leadership and interpersonal skills necessary to deal with someone’s honest mistake that leads to a tent leaking during a rainstorm or a meal that’s an hour (or more) late because someone couldn’t get a fire started. This kind of team-building and personal leadership growth is one of Scouting’s greatest gifts – and it happens best outside.  

The Northeast Illinois Council wants to make sure every Scout gets to experience summer camp. Camperships make that possible. To learn more, visit our scholarship page.

A memorial or honorarium gift is a way to celebrate the life of a Scoutmaster or other volunteer leader, Eagle Scout, BSA Alumnus, Charter Organization Representative, parent, or Scout supporter. For every contribution, we send a card to you and the recipient you designate acknowledging with this memorial gift.

The James E. West fellowship is a national recognition to those who contribute $1,000 or more to our Council’s permanent endowment trust fund. The interest on the fund is reinvested into council camp properties and other local programs; the original fund’s corpus is never spent and instead continues growing to provide future support for local Scouting. To learn more, visit the James E. West page at Scouting America.

The Friends of Scouting campaign provides roughly a quarter of the funds our council needs to support the Scouting program in Lake County and Northern Cook County. This money does a lot – including keeping our camping properties safe, well-maintained, and open year-round for summer and winter camps and other activities. That’s overhead your Scout doesn’t have to pay as a part of the fee to attend summer camp. Training courses, Scout Shop operation, financial assistance to less fortunate Scouts, and more are also made available through these funds.