Dear Scouting Friends,

Whether you are a new Den Leader or a veteran of the Broad Creek CampmasterCorps you hear about or create Scout programs that becomes part of the fabricand magic of Scouting.The plain truth is we hear about the good news of Scouts and Scout volunteers in every day.- Glaci Hines in National Pike District led her Pack and families to earn the newPALA SCOUTStrong Award. Did you know that she was invited by a federalagency to share her story? I posted her actual presentation on slideshare.com/ethandraddy.- Dana Edwards, our Jamboree Commissioner and the Jambo Committee wantedto promote the Baltimore Area Council contingent to the 2013 Bechtel SummitNational Jamboree. I posted his meeting announcement on twitter.com/ethandraddy.- Jeff Griffin and Earl Adams had photos and testimonial video of adult Eagle Scoutsat the Gathering of Eagles. I posted the photos on flickr.com/ethandraddy andvideo on www.vimeo.com/ethandraddy.Please understand that “social media” is a phrase being tossed around some thesedays. For us in Scouting, social media offers an easy and great way to share theScouting good news of good people doing good things to help Scouts and thecommunity. It really doesn’t take much effort or time if you understand theresources. Just pick several that work for you following common sense and BSAguidelines.1. Twitter.com: Enables each of us to connect with like minded Scouters to sendand read text-based messages of up to 140 characters. I am at www.twitter.com/ethandraddy so are Scouters like Wendy Islett of Arrowhead Districttwitter.com/WendyIsett. In fact, I have several reporters ask me for contactson some positive Scout news.2. Facebook.com: Check out some useful examples of Scouters who promotetheir programs on Facebook, such as The Capitol District’s Cub Scout DayCamp Tomahawk at facebook.com/CampTomahawkBSA and the CarrollDistrict’s page at facebook.com/groups/Carroll.District.Scouting. Both do agreat job telling stories and inspiring others.3. Linkedin: Our Council Eagle Scout Network page has grown organically toadd hundreds of adult Eagle Scouts expressing an interest in staying informed.Visit linkedin.com/groups?gid=1846116&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr. We haveeven reconnected some back to local Scouting service as Merit BadgeCounselors and Commissioners. It’s easy. You’re off and running. That’s it.By implementing the right tools in your Scouting world, you can become...andimportantly helps others become...more efficient and effective with your Scoutingmessage.What do you think? Have you used any of these tools or will you try them?Please share your thoughts and comments with me at edraddy@baltimorebsa.org.

Yours in Scouting, Ethan DraddyScout Executive & CEO