Vision 2025 – On Membership
By Steven Davis, Council President
As part of our semi-annual off-site retreat, the Council Executive Board met the first weekend in January to review our accomplishments of 2019 and to compare our progress and strategic planning against our Vision 2025 – the councils’ 5-year plan.
Vision 2025 focuses on our three key areas for growth and long-term measures of success as a council, namely: Membership, Money, and Manpower.
Regarding Money and Manpower, over the past several years and sustaining through various leadership changes in the board and professional staff, the Mount Baker Council has upheld significant financial and training standards that are models for the rest of the country. As a result, we remain fiscally strong with an ongoing commitment to take on zero long-term debt. We keep a balanced budget and continue to fund our endowment to ensure our council is financially positioned to deliver our program for generations to come. Meanwhile, our training standards – annual youth protection training and maintaining 100% of leaders trained in their positions – are adopted standards that provide guidance to the council and ensures we’re delivering the best possible program for the young people in our care.
As a board, we’ve not adopted such rigorous standards when it comes to membership – recruiting new youth and retaining those youth in our packs, troops, ships, and crews. It’s no surprise that the board decided to center the discussion at our off-site retreat around Membership. We’ve set the bar in Money and Manpower standards and now’s the time to set the bar for Membership standards.
We have much to accomplish here: Increasing the level of proactive communication about all the good things we’re doing in our communities (marketing & PR); recruiting a board member to focus on Activities and Service (things like Scouting for Food and council-wide community service events); building stronger relationships with schools and districts (better school access = better recruiting opportunities), ensuring our packs are adequately resourced to fill full dens, and more.
The Council Key 3 and Executive Board will continue to iterate on the ideas and discussion from our off-site and we’ll drive to a set of standards and goals that set the bar for Membership growth and retention. Opportunity is everywhere – there’s no community within our service area where we’re serving more than 10% of available youth. Opportunity is everywhere – there’s not a child that can’t benefit from our program. Opportunity is everywhere – we’re a strong council with the resources and standards to serve these youth exceptionally well. Opportunity is everywhere – we have tremendous leaders and volunteers who are dedicated to serving these youth.
As I said, we have a lot of work to do, but I am confident that with the leadership from the Council Executive Board, we will lay the foundation in 2020 for the council to reach our Vision 2025 goals.
– Steven Davis
Join us at Fire Mountain Scout Camp for dinner and a presentation about
outdoor programs and opportunities available to your unit in 2020.
When: Sunday, Feb. 23; 4:00-6:00pm
Where: Dining Hall at Camp!
We will be sampling some of the new menu items for summer camp 2020, come prepared to be amazed!
This event is intended for Senior Patrol Leaders and Scoutmasters, Crew Presidents and Advisers, and Ship Botswains and Skippers.
Meet representatives from:
This event is sponsored Fire Mountain Scout Camp and is offered at no cost to attendees.
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North Cascades |
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Berthersun Park (Lynden) |
Twilight |
June 29-July 3 |
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Fire Mtn (Mount Vernon) |
Day |
August 10-13 |
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Oak Harbor |
Twilight |
July 13-17 |
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Pilchuck |
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Harvey Field (Snohomish) |
Day |
August 3-6 |
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McKinley (Arlington) |
Day |
June 22-25 |
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Salish Sea |
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Silver Lake (Everett) |
Day |
August 17-20 |
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Williams Farm (Bothell) |
Twilight |
July 20-24 |
Early-Bird Registration | March 1 – March 31 | $105
Look for Details Coming in February
Talk to your Cubmaster or Pack Day Camp
Coordinator to Register
Fire Mountain Scout Camp
Gaches’ Farm House: GOING OUT IN A BLAZE OF GLORY
The Gaches’ Farm House built in 1903 has served camp staff, volunteers, and all Scouters well for all of the 48 years it has been owned by the Council. Health and Safety issues and the need to regrade the upper parade field finally made the old farm house a greater liability than an asset. On Saturday November 23rd several local Fire Departments burned the house down for training. They started fires and then put them out all morning. At noon they started a fire they did not intend to put out. Here is a progression of pictures to give you a feel for what the 170 people in attendance experienced.
After the regrading of the parade field is complete this winter we will start the construction of the new M & E Turner and Family General Store. The new General Store will sit in roughly in the Old Farm House driveway near the current James E. West Administration building. It will be opened in time for the 2020 summer camping season
A little less exciting, but very important to the camp is the replacement of the entire water system going on right now. Since you will never see the water system when you visit camp here is a couple of pictures before it gets buried.
Every project we complete gets us one step closer to our goal… making Fire Mountain Scout Camp one of the top Scout Camps in the entire nation.
Scott Suchan
SVP Properties Committee
Octi-Bites
Order of the Arrow | News Worth Knowing
…Sikhs Mox Lamonti Lodge visits Scouts BSA Troops and Venture Crews every year to perform unit elections, promote camping and outdoor activities, and offer cheerful service in many forms. The visitation season runs from January 1 to May 31 each year. Reach out to your Chapter Chief today to schedule your 2020 visit!
…the youth membership of Sikhs Mox Lamonti met on Sunday, October 13 for the Lodge Annual Business Meeting. There, they elected the officers that will lead our lodge in 2020. These phenomenal young leaders are:
Lodge Chief Joshua Platte
Service Vice Chief Matthew Wiles
Administrative Vice Chief Andrew Dee
Program Vice Chief Ethan Hazard
Inductions Vice Chief Alexandria Visocky
Communications Vice Chief Jacob Jackson
…in 2020, Sikhs Mox Lamonti Lodge will be celebrating its 25th Anniversary! That’s 25 years of brotherhood, cheerfulness, and service. To join the celebration, consider some of these upcoming opportunities:
***Pay your dues in 2020, be a part of the magic all year long!
***Attend the Winter Fellowship, January 17-18
***Attend the Lodge Annual Banquet, January 18 @ 6pm
***Attend the Section W-1N Conclave, September 18-20 @ Fire Mountain!
Give the gift of Scouting!
The holidays are just around the corner – think Scouting! What a great gift idea for parents, grandparents and all families to give their youth. Just think about it. A yearlong gift of friendships, adventures, outdoor skills and camping – just to name a few. Scouting is a gift that keeps on giving as our first year Lions ultimately become Eagle Scouts.
This is a great way to present our programs as you continue recruiting new members. Look at your Journey to Excellence (JTE) Scorecard and see where you are on new scouts. If you are a Cub Scout unit – how close are you to our Membership Committee’s 2019 Hero Challenges?
7 Up Club: all packs are challenged to have 1 Lion Den AND 1 Tiger Den of 7 or more Scouts by December 31. This 7 Up Club will be invited to Fire Mountain for a FREE day of fun with a fishing frenzy, archery and more!
Drive for 5!: all Family Scouting Packs are challenged to add 5 or more girls (from last year’s total) to their unit by December 31. All young girls in the Pack will be invited to spend a FREE afternoon and evening campout with some of our local Scout BSA Troops for girls, at Fire Mountain!
Your unit may be just a Scout or two away from these challenges. Free hero capes and handbooks are still available for new Cub Scouts joining through the end of the year. Do not let them miss out! There is so much energy and excitement as they wear their red capes.
I would like to send out a special thanks to all of our leaders, parents, volunteers and everyone else who helps share the amazing program of Scouting. We have over 6,000 youth currently registered in our Council and that is as of October 31. I cannot wait to see what the rest of the year will bring.
As the membership committee works on goals for 2020, your unit should be thinking about them as well. It is never too early to start. How many youth do you want to add to your unit and how are you going to do that. How does your New Member Coordinator fit into the equation? Create your action plan and set your sights on 2020!
By Denise Lesniak
SR VP Membership
Mount Baker Council
Who says anniversaries have to come in 5’s and 10’s?
Next summer, Fire Mountain will be hosting Scouts for its 48th year in a 
row! Camp is taking reservations now and is already more than half full for this exciting summer season. Don’t miss out on the adventure of a lifetime!
A week spent at Fire Mountain is a legendary scout camping experience that will create a lasting impact in the lives of your Scouts. Our facilities, programs, and leadership constantly exceed the expectations of our guests.
Here’s what a few scout leaders said about their experience in 2019:
“We had an awesome experience, thanks for helping our Scouts!”
“This was one of the best camps I have attended as an adult, if not the best!”
“Campers had fun, learned, made friends, and were kept safe. Brilliant!”
Camp at Fire Mountain THIS SUMMER!
Visit the Mount Baker Council webpage at
to learn more, or to register today!
It is time again for all Scouts, adult volunteers, and charter organizations to renew their membership with the Boy Scouts of America and pay their annual registration fees. All units in our council must complete and turn in their Charter renewal no later than December 31, 2019.
All though all our districts have already held their first Charter Turn In nights there is still time if you didn’t get yours in. There are several things to remember to make this process easier to handle and here are a few:
Your Districts Commissioner staff and all the volunteers in the District appreciate your assistance and they stand ready to help. Getting all Charter Renewals completed and turned in as soon as possible lets us begin the new year with Program rather than Paper Work.
Thank you for your attention to this matter, and for the very important work that you do to deliver the values of the Scout Oath and Law to our young people.
Who We Are:
For nearly 50 years, Fire Mountain Scout Camp has served the Scouts of Mount Baker Council and beyond. Our premier facilities, dynamic programs, and world-class camp staff allow us to deliver a legendary scout camping experience.
Serving as a staff member is more than just an incredibly fun summer in the outdoors. Working in the camp environment cultivates Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Interpersonal and Leadership Skills, and Creativity; all 21-st century skills that you will carry with you far beyond the camp setting.
Who You Are:
If any of these people are you, you might belong on the Fire Mountain Scout Camp Staff. Apply now to serve on our staff in Summer 2020!
To apply, scan this QR code, or visit:
https://247scouting.com/forms/form.php?OrgKey=BSA606
