Preserving the Spirit of Camp with Stronger Tents for the Next Generation

This will be a continuing series of articles on various aspects of the properties we own, lease, care for, and look to make better.  As we all know, the program of Scouting is valuable to the growth of youth in this country and around the world.  Where we deliver that program needs to convey that value and the coming articles are intended to assist us all in making that conveyance to our current users, as well as all our future users and their families. 

In the last edition of Let’s Do Better, we discussed forests and the trees that make up those wonderful places folks in this organization like to spend quality time in!  And while we talked about replanting and harvesting the various species that grow within those forests we didn’t talk very much about protecting them.  Sure, we could talk about cutting break lines in case of fire.  Installing roads through the forests so there’s access should fire occur (these can be minimal and combined with a break line is ideal).  Maintaining a forest stand is a whole lot more than just cutting out the dead wood!  But, how else can we protect this precious asset?  Property Insurance. 

Little thought was given to how complex and involved the topic of insurance was going to be.  Like many, we know it’s a good idea to ‘carry’ insurance.  Yes, we do pay for it.  Why?  No, not why do we pay for it.  Why do we ‘carry’ it?  Why do we pursue having insurance in the first place? 

                   “Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss.” 

That’s a line from the Wikipedia article on insurance much of this month’s article is based upon.  A means of protection from financial loss. 

The idea of insurance if you will, is quite old.  In fact, similar “transferring or distributing risk” was practiced in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC.  Traders in that day spread their goods across several transport vehicles with the expectation that one or more of the transports would not make the journey.  The vehicles at the time were vessels on the rivers and streams by which traders moved their goods to a market.  A few factors could possibly overturn a vessel and the cargo was lost.  In this way, the trader insured at least some of his goods made it to market, if not all. 

“The law of general average constitutes the fundamental principle that underlies all insurance.” 

Tablets from the dynasty of Nerva-Antonine in the ruins of the Temple of Antinous in Aegyptus (Egypt) in approximately 133 AD during the reign of Hadrian of the Roman Empire prescribed rules and membership dues of a burial society.  In essence, early burial insurance.  Other concepts of insurance have been found in 3rd century BC Hindu scriptures.  In ancient Greece they developed marine loans in order to ensure their cargo was delivered in order to receive payment in full.  The idea of a separate contract to insure something was invented in the 14th century in Genoa.  Life insurance to cover a person was not created until 1583, in London.  Property insurance can be traced to the Great Fire of London in 1666 which consumed more than 13,000 homes.  In fact, in the 1680s the first fire insurance company was established at the back of the Royal Exchange, the very place the first life insurance policy was written.  As London grew as a center for trade the demand for marine insurance increased.  Edward Lloyd saw the opportunity, opened a “coffee house” whereby shippers would meet with folks who were willing to underwrite a shipment thus creating Lloyd’s of London as an insurance market. 

So, even though insurance has been around for centuries, most of the varying types of insurance we know today have really been developed since the late 18th century.  Even today new types of policies are created in response to world events. 

But the question remains, why?  Insurance is basically a pooling of funds from many, to pay for losses incurred by a few.  Most of us have car insurance.  We pay monthly premiums, the pool, and file a claim when we encounter an accident.  If the claim meets the terms of the policy, we’re paying premiums on, the insurance company pulls from that pool of funds we’ve been contributing to along with many other drivers and pays us, or the company repairing the damage, what’s required to fix, or “make whole again” what we possess.  Then we can drive our newly repaired vehicle down the road again.  Easy enough, right?  The line, “If the claim meets…” is loaded with a lot of subjects to be dissected a bit to better understand the purpose of this month’s article for Let’s Do Better when looking at our property insurance!

You all know that numerous insurance companies exist.  We do have a choice when it comes to the purchase of insurance in whatever form we’re looking to acquire.  And to say there’s a choice is a big understatement!  Insurance companies exist because they make money.  In 2020, insurance companies in the US of A had $2.5 trillion in direct premiums written.  Yes, that’s trillion with a ’T’!  That’s a bunch of billions, and a whole lot more millions.  You all also know that when you file a claim the expectation is one of apprehension as to the effort it’s going to take to get something out of the insurance company to help you pay for your loss.  But yet, they have trillions! 

Also remember you entered into this contract, the policy, with the insurance company.  You pay premiums for the coverage which should be stipulated in that contract.  The insurance company when you file a claim has to examine the terms of your contract with them, see that it meets the terms of paying you for your loss, and then distributing funds.  This all takes time as you are not the only person insured.  As all of the contracts, policies, are not the same clarifying the loss and how it meets the terms of it may be more involved than a simple “I was in an accident.  I need to repair my car.  Please pay me so I can repair my car and get on with my life” scenario.  Why is that? 

Again, you are one of many paying into a pool of funds by which claims are drawn from.

Given some of the catastrophic events that have occurred, the insurance companies cannot just pay every claim as each needs to be vetted and shown to be accurate and true.  Some insurance companies have gone out of business as they exceeded the funds to pay claims on.  Not a good scenario for you in that one!  So, again, why mention this? 

You need to pay attention to several items when purchasing property insurance.  Plain and simple.

Are you purchasing the correct type of insurance contract (policy) for what it is your

 insuring?  What’s the value of the item your insuring?  The value today and if it’s an item that appreciates, the value in the coming years.  This is what you are protecting!  This is the potential loss item.  What are the parameters that you and the insurance company agree to for your potential loss?  This would be the terms under which the insurance company will reimburse you for the loss of the item insured. 

And that is where a lot of folks get confused and where the unhappy circumstances of trying to get that reimbursement come from.  You simply don’t understand the terms you agreed to!  And you wouldn’t be alone in that!  More than likely, you wanted a low premium.  But, from the insurance company side you’re contributing to the pool a little, but when you make a claim, the expectation is the company will pay you fully for your loss.  From their side you haven’t contributed enough to the pool to be compensated that way and if you looked at your contract that’s probably what it says.  That’s where all the data the companies collect nowadays is crunched over and over again so they know practically to the penny what an accident like you’ve experienced should cost them.  That’s how they figured your contract to protect the item you’re insuring and the terms of that protection. 

So, next time you’re in the market for insurance, what are you going to look at?  What questions will you ask and how closely are you going to examine the contract/policy?  Yes, you want protection, but you want it fairly and to where it will adequately cover your loss. 

Several councils in the organization have experienced devastating fires on their properties in recent years.  They’ve lost buildings.  They’ve lost the forests which grew on the property.  They’ve lost the business side of the operation which has affected their financial position.  Hopefully, we’ve all learned that some were better insured than others and have made appropriate adjustments to what our property insurance contracts cover.  Pay attention to the terms of those contracts and what can be expected in the “to make whole again” process.  Are you paying for simple coverage, or are you paying for replacement cost coverage?  With the cost of materials and labor rising the way they are today, pay that extra so you can get your property back up and running more completely!  Be sure to obtain the contract that best protects you and what your insuring.  Insurance is not necessarily all that complex, but in many ways it helps all of us manage our property assets so we are minimally exposed to a substantial loss.  And that protects us all!  

See you next issue! 

Dave Cornell

Architect

dave.cornell@scouting.org

Mar ’22

The Outdoor Programs / Properties Team is ready to assist and guide in any respect to making the program of Scouting the best youth program!  Reach out to any member of the team and we’ll endeavor to provide quality answers to any issue you may have and/or facing.  We look forward to working together to make the program the best ever!

If there is one thing with which every Scout I talk to these days can agree, it is this—just how much we are all looking forward to getting back to camp this summer.  After two years of spending too much time indoors and away from friends, the 2022 camping season calls to us with promises of adventure, fun, personal growth, and friends—both old and new. 

With so many Scouts counting down the days to their summer camp adventure, I want to encourage each of us to ask, “Is your favorite camp ready to provide a mountaintop experience to the girls and women who will attend?”   

Consider this:  We go to the places we are invited, but we return to the places where we feel welcome. In too many instances, we have invited the girls and women in our community to join us in Scouting programs, but we haven’t done all the necessary work to make them feel welcome — to ensure that they will want to keep coming back.  

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, said, “Deal with the world as it is, not how you’d like it to be.”  How does this relate to summer camp?  It begins with getting truthful about what the readiness level of your camp REALLY is.  We don’t solve anything by simply saying, “let’s just build single-gender bathrooms.”  We must take a hard and honest look at where we are, or aren’t, regarding our camp structure, and consider where we need to be.  Yes, I do understand cost is a factor but there are still ways to make improvements.

Start by pausing and asking what is working well and what is not?  How can your camp work to make things better, to be more inclusive and welcoming to all who come and spend time on your properties and in your campsites?

So, let’s get practical and tactical! Here are my 12 tips to make 2022 the best camp experience that our Scouts have ever had.  

Awesome Camp Tip #1:  Words Matter.  Let’s not differentiate between boys and girls; instead let’s just call them Scouts.  

Awesome Camp Tip #2:  Sell feminine hygiene products in your trading post. 

Awesome Camp Tip #3:  Put trash cans with liners in every bathroom stall.  This is both welcoming and sanitary. 

Awesome Camp Tip #4:  Mark the gender of every bathroom, including gender-neutral facilities. 

Although we could call these first four tips the “small things matter” section; in fact, they matter a lot.  Why? Because attending to the small things makes the girls and the women in your camp feel welcome.  If a female can’t properly dispose of a feminine product, or purchase one if she is in need, I can tell you from personal experience, she is not going to feel welcome.  

Awesome Camp Tip # 5:  Avoid terms such as “Smother mother” and “helicopter mom. At your camp, are adult females encouraged to attend along with their youth, or “to cut the umbilical cord?”  When you hear these terms being used by staff, by Scouts, or by adult leaders, take a moment and explain why speaking about women in camp this way perpetuates a stereotype that says women complicate the camp environment, rather than contribute to it.

Awesome Camp Tip # 5:  Re-evaluate your application process for staff.  

Are leadership experiences that youth gain outside of Scouting valued, or do you base your assessment purely on Scout experience? There is a long list of experiences that prepare a young person to be a great camp staffer.  Quality camp programs have a lot to do with a focus on customer service, and youth get that experience in various ways.   

Awesome Camp Tip # 6:  Take the feedback forms you get each week seriously.  

We’ve all read a feedback form that is overly harsh and unfair.  Those are easy to disregard, but does your camp have a practice of looking honestly at the feedback you receive, or are you rationalizing why you can disregard what you’re reading?  Are you willing to pivot and adjust throughout your camp season to ensure that one person’s challenging experience this week does not become someone else’s challenging experience next week?  

Awesome Camp Tip #7:  Set behavior expectations prior to arrival for all units.  

Share behavior expectations with unit leaders as part of pre-camp orientation information. Emphasize the expectations in staff training and review with campers during orientation each week. Provide a reporting example and make it clear that reporting of unacceptable behavior is mandatory. Everyone in camp is responsible for ensuring a healthy and welcoming environment for all campers!  It is NOT our job to decide whether a situation merits being reported; it is our job to report issues and allow camp leadership to assess the situation and decide what action to take.  

Awesome Camp Tip #8:  Make sure all units know what to expect each day of camp, prior to arriving.  Don’t assume legacy knowledge from any unit or leader.  Offer a pre-camp Q&A session. 

Awesome Camp Tip #9:  Swimwear — stop using the word MODEST.  

From the National Scouting America Aquatics Subcommittee; “We recommend that swimwear should be comfortable, functional, and appropriate for the specific aquatic activity. As always, we remind everyone that Scouting’s Barriers to Abuse state, ‘Appropriate attire is required for all activities’. Policies should reflect Scouting America’s statement and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Awesome Camp Tip #10:  Establish an Upstander culture in your camp.  

Create a see-something, say-something expectation among staff, campers, and adult leaders. Make public statements to of  expectations. Ensure it’s clear to everyone in camp that certain behaviors are not appropriate and will be addressed quickly if they occur.  

I ran a camp for youth and adults with disabilities for 10 years. Trust me when I tell you that everyone knows when something has “happened” in camp. Often the details are not appropriate to share with everyone, but your transparency in sharing that there’s been an incident and it is being handled, and then using this as a teachable moment to remind everyone about rules and expectations, is an example of your leadership!  

Awesome Camp Tip #11:  Stop making exceptions or excuses for bad behavior by anyone in camp, especially when it is displayed by adults.  

The notion that we don’t want to make Scouter X upset because he or she has given 25 years or even 50 to Scouting is not acceptable. . We need to treat everyone equitably.

Awesome Camp Tip #12:  It takes all of us working together to impact change. Find and focus on your allies and let them help influence others

Find the people at your camp, and in your council, who want to make Scouting an equal and fair space for all youth to thrive.  Align yourselves with them. Ask for their help. Get to know the other women in your council. Introduce yourself to other women in camp. Work together. Find the leaders already in place in your Scouting community who want to help you and let them!  Often those leaders already in place are men.  They may be men who are equally passionate about our camps being a safe and welcoming place for girls and women to enjoy Scouting.  Look for them.  They can teach you a lot, and you can teach them too! 

I’ll leave you with this vision for the future of Scouting: 

Let’s make sure every Scout camp in our country embraces the opportunity to provide a welcoming place for all girls and women, so that they can contribute to a thriving Scouting movement. All of us can help improve Scouting for each young person. Please share with us via outdoorprograms@scouting.org ways that you helped provide an even more welcoming environment for your campers.

Now let’s go camping, see you on the Scouting Trail!