Judy and David Hunt at the Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner

I was recently presented with the Distinguished Citizen Award by the Boy Scouts of America, Suffolk County Council. The dinner-dance took place held at Flowerfield in St. James, New York and I was one of three honorees receiving the award that evening. Over 200 family members, friends and Scouting supporters attended this beautiful black-tie event. Judy and I had a wonderful time and are grateful for all the incredible support from our families and friends.

Troop 113 Scouts Present the Colors at the Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner

Many of you know how passionate I am that Scouting can be major influence in a boy’s life, and why I spend countless hours working with youngsters. In my address, I talked about how Scouting profoundly changed my life as a boy, and how I watch amazing transformations with the Scouts with whom I help. Here are the most important benefits that I witness:

• Leadership – After the first year or so, a Scout must have a leadership position. What other organization gives every boy this opportunity?
• Mentorship – A boy who sticks with Scouting will basically have caring adult mentors for his entire adolescence.
• Confidence and Self-Esteem – Mastering life skills, and the ultimate confidence booster of an Eagle Scout project, give a young man the confidence to tackle an adult life.
• Rite of Passage – Unless you are Jewish, there are very few rites of passage today for young men. As a minister, I believe there is a serious need to recognize this as one of the most important transitions in a male human life. (If you attend just one Eagle Scout Court of Honor, you will understand how important this is!)

The award dinner is an important fund raiser for Suffolk County Council, and I was grateful to be a part of it. Suffolk County Council is an impressive organization. We graduate Eagle Scouts at twice the national average. We are the only Council to have a Special Needs Division. Suffolk County Council leads the nation in Scout advancement. We rank number 10 out of 281 Councils in Cub Scout advancement. We have one of the highest retention rates of all the Councils in our region.

My thanks to the more than 70 people and organizations in my life that made a contribution to this worthwhile organization on my behalf! If you were meaning to make a contribution, but didn’t get to it, it’s not too late. You can send a check to me directly made out to “SCCBSA.” Our address is 17 Dupont Street, Plainview, NY. 11803. I’ll make sure it gets to the right place!

And finally, a little plug for my website for aspiring Eagle Scouts. I founded EagleCoach.org several years ago as a resource for Scouts trying to reach Eagle Scout rank. We now have over 700 subscribers and growing daily. If there is a young man in your life who is trying to become an Eagle Scout, this is good place for him to land!