Scouting ties values to outreach
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It”™s a Boy Scout”™s oath: “to be physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight,” and one that Marc Andreo, an Eagle Scout himself, appears to have carried with him through life.
“I grew up in Staten Island, where I was an Eagle Scout,” said Andreo, Scout executive at the Westchester-Putnam Council Inc., a Hawthorne-based Boy Scouts of America council. “I”™ve been working with the Boy Scouts for more than 16 years, which sort of began as an accident right out of college.”
Andreo said that while a business major at St. John”™s University, a friend introduced him to the business side of Scouting. “I thought I”™d try it out for a few months and then get a real job,” Andreo said, laughing. “I didn”™t realize all of the career opportunities the program afforded me.”
The council just celebrated its 2008 construction industry Good Scout Award dinner in Rye Brook; honoring Nicholas Signorelli, a business manager at the International Union of Operating Engineers and H. Lewis Rapaport, chairman and CEO of Component Assembly Systems Inc., a full-service, commercial drywall and carpentry contractor with an office in Pelham.
“Both were Boy Scouts when they were young,” said Andreo. “It”™s great to have the opportunity to reach out to community leaders and in presenting the Good Scout Awards. It gives back to Scouting in general in Westchester and Putnam.”
The council is now planning a dinner slated for Dec. 10, honoring W. Thomas Clark, chairman of The Westchester Bank, and Mayor Phil Amicone of Yonkers.
“Both were Cub Scouts when they were young and Mayor Amicone is an executive board member,” Andreo said. “Whether it”™s hosting a Scout pack at City Hall or helping us with community outreach, he”™s really done a great job.”
Proceeds from the Dec. 10 dinner will support the Scoutreach program, which provides opportunities for paid leadership, financial assistance, membership fees and summer camp scholarships for youth and scouts; primarily in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains.
“We have more than 500 boys participating in Scoutreach, so the program has really taken off,” said Andreo. “Scouting can be a great deal financially; so many people need and want the program.”
As part of its strategic plan for 2006 to 2010, the Westchester-Putnam Council is placing total financial development and marketing at the forefront.
“The awards dinners and events are great ways to raise money, get out in the community and tell the Boy Scouts story to a business group which may not know about scouting,” Andreo said. The next Eagle Gathering, designed to unite alumni, is scheduled for February.
The Westchester-Putnam council is currently undergoing recruitment of more than 1,500 new Scouts and their families into its programs. For information, visit www.wpcbsa.org.