100 Years of Scouting Banner Yankee Clipper Council - Boy Scouts of America
Northeastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire		 Waving American Flag
filler image

Service Through the Years

  • Boys Scouts Pet First Aid Poster1912 - Scouts began the first of a series of Good Turns that included the promotion of a safe and sane Fourth of July.
     
  • 1913 - During the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, Scouts provided service to the veterans.
     
  • 1914 - The BSA's first tree-planting project is held in New York.
     
  • 1917 - The day after war is declared on Germany, under the slogan "Every Scout to Feed a Soldier," BSA members are urged to plant vegetable gardens. In two plant-growing seasons, 12,000 Scout farms are established. At the same time, the BSA pledges to aid the American Red Cross and promises cooperation with the U.S. Navy by organizing Scout coastal patrols to watch for enemy ships.

    Scouting's full resources are placed at the service of the government as part of the war effort. From 1917 to 1918, Scouts sell 2,350,977 Liberty Loan bonds.
     
  • 1918 - After the signing of the armistice, the slogan "The War Is Over, But Our Work Is Not" is adopted. Scouts render nationwide service during the influenza epidemic.
     
  • 1921 - Outstanding civic Good Turns are rendered in forest conservation and in connection with the floods at Pueblo, Colorado, and San Antonio, Texas.
     
  • 1934 - In response to the request of President Roosevelt in a radio address delivered February 10, Boy Scouts perform a nationwide Good Turn, collecting 1,812,284 items of clothing, household furnishings, foodstuffs, and supplies for the distressed and needy.
     
  • 1941 - With the declaration of war, the government requests Boy Scout service for the distribution of defense bonds and stamp posters; collection of aluminum and wastepaper; defense housing surveys; victory gardens; distribution of air-raid posters; cooperation with the American Red Cross; and, by joint agreement with the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, services in three capacities--messengers, assisting emergency medical units, and firewatchers.
     
  • Boy Scout War Poster1942 - Scouts continue in war service. Twenty-eight projects are requested by the government, including the collection of 30 million pounds of rubber in a two-week drive; all-out salvage based on the government-issued pamphlet Scrap and How Scouts Collect It; distribution of pledge cards for war bonds and savings stamps; victory gardens; work on farms and in harvest camps; and government dispatch bearers.
     
  • 1943 - Scouts render war service at the request of the government in four general classifications: collections--aid in salvage drives; distribution, as official dispatch bearers for government pamphlets and posters; production; and conservation.
     
  • 1945 - The total Boy Scout war service includes 69 requests from the government during 1941 through 1945. Service includes collections in many communities, distribution of circulars on conservation projects, and the Green Thumb program. Twenty thousand Scouts earn the General Douglas MacArthur Medal for growing food.
     
  • 1951 - Scouts collect 2 million pounds of clothing for domestic and foreign relief.
     
  • 1952 - Scouts distribute more than a million posters and 30 million Liberty Bell doorknob hangers in a get-out-the-vote campaign.

    Scouts cooperate in a national campaign to secure blood donor pledges, collect clothing for worthy causes, distribute seeds for Asia, and aid in conservation projects and civil defense.
     

  • 1954 - The Boy Scouts of America conducts a National Conservation Good Turn, distributing 3.6 million conservation posters. In parks, rural areas, and wilderness areas, Scouts plant 6.2 million trees, build and place 55,000 bird-nesting boxes, and arrange 41,000 conservation displays.
     
  • 1956 - In a nationwide nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaign, Scouts distribute more than a million posters and 36 million Liberty Bell doorknob hangers.
     
  • During the height of the Cold War in 1958, the BSA delivered 40 million Civil Defense emergency handbooks and distributed 50,000 posters.
     
  • Please Prevent Forest Fires Poster1960 - Smokey Bear with members of the Boy Scouts of America and the Camp Fire Girls celebrating the 50th anniversary of their founding in 1910.

    The third national get-out-the-vote campaign is conducted.
     
  • 1970 - Project SOAR (Save Our American Resources) is initiated as an ongoing BSA service project. It is estimated that during the year, 60,000 BSA units take part in SOAR-related conservation projects.
     
  • 1971 - Scouting Keep America Beautiful Day is held on June 5, and Scouts collect more than a million tons of litter.
     
  • 1972 - Nearly 4 million Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts take part in Scouting Keep America Beautiful Day.
     
  • 1974 - Scouting Environment Day is held April 27
     
  • 1980 - Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Explorers pass out fliers across the country urging participation in the 1980 National Census.
     
  • 1986 saw the Donor Awareness Good Turn: 600,000 youth members distributed 14 million brochures to families, informing them of the needs for organ donations.
     
  • 1988 - The first annual Scouting for Food drive collects more than 65 million containers of food.
     
  • 1989 - The second annual Scouting for Food drive nets 72 million containers of food for the nation's needy.
     
  • 1992 - Scouts collect food and clothing, and offer a helping hand in the wake of Hurricane Andrew.
     
  • In 1997, the President of the United States called for an increase in volunteer service in the U.S. The BSA developed Service to America with a commitment to provide 200 million hours of service by youth members by the end of the year 2000. As part of Service to America, the BSA provided service projects in conjunction with the National Park Service (NPS).
     
  • 1998 - Scouts collect more than 41 million cans of food to help feed the hungry.
     
  • Good Turn Logo2000 - Scouts complete more than 214 million total hours of service for "America's Promise--The Alliance for Youth," surpassing the four-year goal of 200 million service hours by the end of 2000.
     
  • 2004 - The BSA developed Good Turn for America to address the problems of hunger, homelessness and inadequate housing and poor health in conjunction with the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, and Habitat for Humanity.