Females in Scouting - Emily Pilarczyk

Emily Pilarczyck grew up loving the outdoors! Her family has always spent weekend hiking, camping, and exploring new places. Emily’s dad is an Eagle Scout and her brother has also been involved in Scouting. Every time her brother would receive a new ScoutLife or Scouting magazine, Emily would spend hours reading the articles cover to cover. .Emily would attend Cub Scout camp outs and play freeze tag and games with the other siblings while her brother was taking part in all that the Scouting program had to offer to young boys. She even joined Girl Scouts to learn valuable life skills, but realized all Scout programs are not the same and she continued yearning to further develop her outdoor survival skills. However, in 2018 that all changed.

Emily’s dad received an email that females were going to be allowed to join Scouts, BSA! Emily was so excited and was one of the first females to register as a Scout in the York District of the Palmetto Council. Since joining Scouts as a member of Troop 250 Girls, Emily has accomplishments numerous achievements.

She participated in SEALS (Scouts Excited About Leadership Skills) and in 2022, she achieved the Rank of Eagle Scout. This year she served as the Chair for NYLT (National Youth Leadership Training), and this evening, she will be one of the Council’s Masters of Ceremony as the 2023 York Distinguished Citizens Dinner.

Currently a high school senior, Emily plans to attend North Greenville University and Major in Business, although she is unsure what concentration of business she will pursue. Throughout her Scouting journey, Emily says she has made some of the best friends and so many of the leaders have been mentors to her.

“Through the people that have invested in me, I have the ability to be a great leader. Scouting allowed me to make new friends and helped me become the young woman I am today. There’s a song by Tim McGraw, Always Be Humble and Kind, this songs applies to Scouting. No matter where I am or who I am with, it is important to remain humble and kind.”

Emily says the structure of BSA sets Scouts up to learn so many valuable life skills and have amazing opportunities. It helps young people get out of their comfort zone and try new things. She said there are no words to truly describer how much BSA has impacted her life.

Out of all the Merit Badges Emily earned, Family life was the course that made her grow the most, while Life saving was her favorite Merit Badge course. To Emily, her biggest accomplishment to date has been serving as this year’s NYLT Chair, as it required a lot of prep work and dedication. The best memory she has of her time in Scouts BSA is the night of the Order of the Arrow (OA) Conclave. It was the night before her Eagle Scout Ceremony and they stayed up all night having fun and participating in the traditions of OA.

Emily said “It might sound cliché, but I am honored ot be in this position and had the opportunity to experience everything Scouting has to offer, I can only hope I have been a good role model for the other females throughout the Palmetto Council.”

Emily is currently a member of Troop 250G and Venturing Crew 4213 where she recently completed her year as President.

Females of Scouting - Mrs. Cara Thompson

The current Advancement Chair for Troop 11 in Spartanburg SC, Cara Thompson has made a big impact since becoming involved in Scouting. Cara has two sons with her husband Wade, both who have been a part of Scouting from an early age, one has already achieved his Eagle Scout, and the other is well on his way to earning the rank of Eagle in the very near future. If you ask Cara, she will credit Ron Kirby with Troop 28 as being the force behind her decision to become an active volunteer and leader with the Palmetto Council. As the Senior Director of Performance Systems at Milliken and Chemical Engineer by trade, Cara understands how to navigate a male dominated space. The role of Advancement Chair is to lead and mentor Scouts in the requirements of how to increase his or her rank to ultimately become an Eagle.

“Being a female leader in Scouting has allowed me to help the boys in Troop 11 see the world from a different perspective, it is important for them to become familiar with communicating with women and other individuals who are not the same as them. It adds a layer of diversity.” - Cara Thompson

Since females were allowed to become a part of BSA, Cara says she feels she has been able to make an even greater impact in the lives of young people. One of the of the first females to sit on the Palmetto Council board, Cara is a voice for female Scouts throughout the organization and continually looks for ways to encourage girls and young women to reach their fullest potential. As the Course Director for NYLT this year, Cara has had the opportunity of working with one of the Council’s first female Eagle Scouts, Emily Pilarczyk. Cara says it is the women like Emily who have been able to set precedent for females in the Palmetto Council and show that they have just as much of a right to be a part as the males.

Cara has become a role model to many of females in Scouting. With a successful career, a family, and a highly respected Scout leader, Cara serves as an inspiration to what so many of our young Scouts want for their own lives. For anyone who may be interested in registering their child to be a part of Scouts, Cara says “Scouting provides good, clean, fun, something not readily available for children in today’s society. It also is a way for families to spend time together and build stronger bonds, while learning new skills and making new friends.”

Females in Scouting - Mrs. Ruth H. Davis

If you have been a Scout or a part of Scouting in the Palmetto Council within the last 20 years, then you know Mrs. Ruth Davis. Originally from Long Island, New York, Mrs. Ruth became involved in Scouts when her two twin sons were young. There were no packs in her local area, so she started a unit in her home and quickly took on the role as Cubmaster. Mrs. Ruth says it was an easy decision to place her boys in Scouts as she wanted them to build character and learn survival skills. While her sons never achieved the rank of Eagle, Mrs. Ruth continued to be involved in Scouting, moving her way up through leadership within her local council, eventually becoming a Commissioner. 

Before moving to Spartanburg, SC to be closer to family 20 years ago, Mrs. Ruth had been a volunteer medic with the Gordon Heights Fire Department in New York since 1968. Her work in the healthcare field followed her to Spartanburg as well, where she retired from St. Frances Medical Center. As an active member of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church (located directly across the street from the Palmetto Council Service Center and staff offices), Mrs. Ruth was excited when the church wanted to renew their charter with the Council and start a new Pack and Troop. Known as Pack 106 and Troop 106, Mrs. Ruth has dedicated countless hours to teaching these Scouts to become better young men and women while also instilling in them core concepts of Scouting such as survival skills.

Mrs. Ruth has served as the District Commissioner for the Council’s Daniel Morgan District for several years and continues to play a pivotal role in the lives of Scouts. While females were a part of Scouting previously as Explorers and Venturers, when BSA decided to officially allow young women to become a part of the Nationally recognized program, Mrs. Ruth said “It’s about time!” She believes everyone deserves the right to learn survival skills. Scouts teach today’s young people how to handle a stressful situation by preparing them mentally, physically, and emotionally. For parents who may be hesitant about your child joining a Cub Scout Pack or Scouts BSA Troop, Mrs. Ruth says “What if there was another Hurricane Katrina, or other type of disaster? You would want your child to be prepared. Having the skills to survive in a situation like that can prepare young people for life.” 

As a mom to two sons, Mrs. Ruth’s motto has always been “Raising Boys to a Higher Standard.” Through her dedication and work as a Scout leader, Mrs. Ruth has had the privilege of awarding 11 Eagle Scouts through her units. For her, it is all about building a stronger bond between families and encouraging them to become a part of something greater than themselves. In 2022, Mrs. Ruth was awarded the Mary L. Thomas Award for Civic Leadership and Community Change by the Spartanburg County Foundation. While her accomplishments are worthy of acknowledging, Mrs. Ruth says she likes to stay behind the scenes. After all, it is not about her, but about the Scouts’ accomplishments and their success toward becoming better young men and women. 

During the interview with Mrs. Ruth she mentioned her favorite Bible Verse, Psalms 23:1. For her, this verse applies to her faith, but also to her role as a Scout leader. 

President Helena Miller Passes the Gavel to Dan Atkinson

The Council held their Annual Meeting and first Executive Board Meeting of the Year on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at the Glendale Outdoor Leadership School (GOLS). 2020 - 2023 President Helena Miller was the first female as well as immigrant President for the Council. Her three year term saw unprecedented times with the COVID-19 Pandemic and other unforeseen circumstances. However, Helena’s leadership never waivered, and her dedication to serving the Scouts and programs across our six county region only helped the council continue to grow and expand as others were struggling to stay afloat. Palmetto Council is grateful for Helena’s guidance and support during her time as President. Before passing the gavel off to incoming President Dan Atkinson, Helena thanked the members of the board, volunteers, and staff for their never ending support during her three year term as Council President.

C. Daniel Atkinson has been a part of the Palmetto Council for over seven years. As an attorney with Wilkes Atkinson & Joyner, Dan has served on the board most recently as legal counsel. Before moving to Spartanburg, SC and becoming a Cubmaster with Pack 22, he grew up as a Boy Scout in our neighboring Blue Ridge Council. Both of his older children (son & daughter) are a part of Scouts and his youngest son will be joining in the Fall as a Lion. His daughter was one of the very first females to become a registered Scout in the Palmetto Council when BSA allowed females to join. During his acceptance speech, Dan discussed what scouts means to him and how as we move forward this year, we all must move forward together. Being a scout is not something that we do only on the days pack or troop meetings, it is a lifestyle we live out daily.

Palmetto Council Program Coordinator Donates a Kidney to Someone She Did Not Know Before the Transplant

Spartanburg, SC – Palmetto Council, BSA, Program Coordinator Marie Cole recently donated a kidney to someone she did not know before the transplant. It started before Marie was even born; her grandfather received a heart transplant allowing him to live ten more years before passing away of renal failure. Because of the generous spirit of a stranger choosing to be an organ donor, Marie was able to know her grandpa and see the benefits of organ donation.

Fast forward to five years ago and Marie’s mom chose to donate a kidney to someone in her Sunday School class at her church. While she always knew she would eventually become an organ donor, this allowed Marie to see the transplant process firsthand and she decided it was something she wanted to do for someone else.

Last Summer, as Marie was sitting with her family reminiscing about her grandpa when she decided it was the right time to look at her calendar and reach out to the National Kidney Registry (NKR).

After blood draws, MRIs, CT scans, EKGs and various other routine tests, the registry alerted Marie that she would be a perfect candidate to be a kidney donor and since her blood type is O negative her kidney could be transplanted to someone who has been on the recipient list for a while.

Within two weeks of being placed on the NKR website, Marie’s donor coordinator reached out to let he know they had found a match!

With surgery scheduled for December 27th, Marie had to take extra precautions to ensure she did not contract COVID-19 or another illness before the transplant.  

As surgery day approached Marie stated, “I was excited and determined, I was only nervous about coming down with COVID, which would delay the surgery several weeks or even months.”

After a three day stay in the Atlanta hospital where she underwent the transplant, Marie was sent home to begin her six-week recovery. Her only complaint is that is she was bored while having to stay home and rest. Marie likes to stay active by hiking, leading canoe trips, and other outdoor activities.

Marie did not know the recipient of her kidney prior to the transplant, but after reaching out to her donor coordinator, Marie as granted permission to reach out via email. After a week, the recipient responded that she is doing well and thanks to Marie’s gift she has more energy than she has ever had in years and her kidney function has increased by 46% in less than a month. Her favorite thing since receiving her new kidney is that she no longer must divide her energy and can stay active with her eight-year-old daughter.

 As for Marie, her recovery is still ongoing, but overall, she has had no complications. Marie said the most meaningful impact of being an organ donor is “not only did I give someone another chance at life, but I was able to give a daughter her mom back.”

Marie says that this journey would have never been possible if it was not for the support her family, partner Zack, and Palmetto Council staff. She wants to encourage anyone who may be considering organ donation to take the time and seek more information.  Giving someone an organ, they have been needing, sometimes for a long period of time, is the best feeling she has ever experienced.

To find out more information about Organ Donation visit www.kidneyregistry.org

Marie has been with the council for almost two years and primarily works at the Glendale Outdoor Leadership School (GOLS) providing educational Scouting opportunities and STEM learning experiences to local school groups. 

Scouting Anniversary Week/Scout Sunday Recommendations

As we are quickly approaching Scouting Anniversary Week & Scout Sunday, we are requesting for your unit to consider ways to engage and recognize your charter partner.  Scouting would not happen without our Charter Partners and over the last year we have come to appreciate their loyal support even more.  Let’s be sure to use the upcoming opportunities to recognize their support and strengthen our ties.  Listed below are eight suggestions.  Consider choosing four: 

1. Post a Charter Partner shout out and thank you on all the unit’s social media profiles

2. Drop a thank you flyer with stats on the unit’s Scouting success in the bulletin

3. Do a volunteer project to benefit the Charter Partner (counts towards Journey to Excellence)

4. Write a thank you letter that all Scouts can sign sharing the success of the unit to the Charter Partner’s leadership committee

5. Piece together a collage of pictures from the scouting year the Charter Partner helps enable, frame it, and present as a gift to your Charter Partner’s committee 

6. Be as involved in the Scout Sunday service as you possibly can (serve as ushers, provide a bulletin message, picture/video presentations, scripture reading, flag ceremony, recite the oath & law, lead a prayer, ask members of the congregation who were Scouts to stand, formerly present the annual charter, award religious emblems, connect Scouting for Food to the service, etc.).  A full list of ideas can be found HERE

7. Invite the charter partner executive committee to a meeting

8. Have at least 50% of the unit participate in Scout Sunday

2023 Silver Beaver Class Announced

Join us in congratulating our 2023 Silver Beaver Class: Cathleen Palecek & Michael Wiggins. The Silver Beaver Awards will be presented at their respective district banquets. The Silver Beaver is the highest honor a council can bestow on a volunteer for service at a council level.

• York District Banquet (Cathleen): January 12, 2023 - Rock Hill, SC

• Daniel Morgan District Banquet (Michael): March 9, 2023 - Spartanburg, SC

About Cathleen: Cathleen has been a Scouting volunteer since 2010. While in the Cub Scout program she served as an Asst. Cubmaster, Den Leader & Pack Committee Member. In the Scouts BSA program, she has served as an Assistant Scoutmaster for both Troop 250 Boys & Girls. At the District level, she has been very instrumental in the success of Webelos Woods for many years along with supporting numerous other events. At the council level, she is an active member of the Order of the Arrow, where she has received the Vigil Honor (Busy Mama Owl), for many years led an outreach Cub Scout program for the Boys and Girls Club of York County, completed and staffed Wood Badge training. Cathleen is also the recipient of the District Award of Merit & Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award. She is the mother of three boys (Elliot, Aaron & Isaac), two of which have earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

About Michael: Michael has been a Scouting volunteer since 2009. While in the Cub Scout program, he served as Den Leader & Cubmaster. In the Scouts BSA program, he has served as an Asst. Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster. He is also a current Crew Advisor. At the District level, he has served on the District Committee for a number years and led Day Camp. In the Order of the Arrow, Michael has served as a Chapter Advisor, helped support the Shoot-O-Ree and received his Vigil Honor (Committed Fox). At the council level, he has served as a Jamboree Scoutmaster, Shooting Sports Committee Chair, Merit Badge Counselor, and Council Day Camp Coordinator. He has also received the District Award of Merit. He is the father of two Eagle Scout sons, Eric & Anthony.

Council Service Center Work Day (12/10/22)

Join us for a morning of service as we improve the safety and appearance of the Council Service Center. We are looking for youth and adult volunteers. Our projects include:

• Project 1: Clean the brush around the back parking lot to improve visibility and security.

• Project 2: Cut back the large hedges that are growing on the side of the service center building and impacting the roof.

Please spread the word in your unit and use the below link to sign-up.

Silver Beaver Nominations Due 12/1

The Silver Beaver Award was introduced in 1931 and is a council-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Recipients of this award are registered Scouters who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council.

The nomination form is available HERE and must be submitted to the council service center no later than December 1, 2022. Completed nomination forms can be mailed to the Palmetto Council Service Center OR emailed to palmettocouncil@scouting.org.

Click HERE for a list of Palmetto Council Silver Beaver recipients over the years.

Recharter Instructions

Dear leaders:

If you need any help during the recharter process, please feel free to email trina.stapleton@scouting.org or call 864-585-4391.

Things to know:

• Youth Protection Training is mandatory before an adult can be registered.

• We prefer that you pay the council directly with a check. This makes it easier to correct some common errors that can occur. Otherwise, you may pay online.

• All Adult and Youth applications must have the required signatures.

Steps to follow when processing your recharter are:

Ensure that the currently registered unit Key 3 leaders are correct in My.Scouting so they can e-approve member and charter renewals. This is essential and must be done as soon as possible since changes at this step can delay the subsequent steps. (If the person handling the recharter is not a key 3, they need to be put in as a key 3 delegate.)

1. Check that all youth and adults are currently registered with the unit and appear on your roster in my.scouting.org.

2. Complete and approve the on-line Unit Recharter process. This can be found by logging into Internet Advancement 2.0 and clicking on Recharter. https://advancements.scouting.org/ Internet Advancement can be accessed through your Scoutbook or my.scouting account.

3. Pay the 2023 BSA Registration fees and the Council Fees.

   • Youth - $75

   • Adults - $45

   • Council fee (all members) - $12

   • Charter fee - $100

   • Scouts’ Life magazine - $15

4. Applications for any new adults must be uploaded into the charter renewal as well as their Youth Protection Training Certificate and Criminal Background Check Authorization. This includes any adult who is moving from a Tiger Parent or Lion Parent into a leadership position and youth who have turned 18 and are moving from a youth position to an Assistant Scoutmaster position or a UP, VP or EP (Unit Participant, Venturing Participant or Exploring Participant). You will need to enter any adult who is on the charter as an AP or LP and moving into a leadership position or a youth moving into a new leader position or into a UP/VP or EP as New Adult and upload all required documents.

5. Applications for any new youth must be uploaded into the charter renewal.

6. Confirm that all required information has been completed on the adult and youth applications before uploading the documents.

7. Note: A unit’s rechartering application cannot be approved by the National Service Center until all steps are complete.

The Key 3 leaders will receive an email for a final digital approval signature. This must be completed in order to finalize the Charter Renewal.

If you have chosen to pay by E-Check, please be aware that an email will be sent to you with instructions for verifying two micro deposits. These micro deposits must be validated by you in order to complete the payment process. Your charter renewal will not complete the submittal process until the micro deposits are confirmed.

To ensure a timely process of your Charter Renewal, be sure your CURRENT key leadership (including the COR and IH) have established their My.Scouting accounts and are ready to make approvals of new members and the charter renewal application. This message is only being sent to the unit Key 3 listed in My.Scouting If your Scouting role has changed, please forward this message to the person who now has your former role.

Your Unit Commissioner, District Commissioner, and District Executive are great resources to help you through this process.