>RIDGEWOOD, NJ—Despite celebrating their 100th anniversary this month, the Boys Scouts of America have come on hard times here in Ridgewood. With six cub scouts packs and only two Boy Scout troops, many young scouts are falling by the wayside. However, recently, a group of Eagle Scouts have come together to help revive the traditions and values that formed the foundations of their lives and are in the midst of reorganizing and rebuilding Troop 4.
On Wednesday February 10th from 7:00p.m. to 8:00p.m., at the West Side Presbyterian Church on 6 South Monroe Street, Troop 4 will hold an open house for cub scouts looking to continue in scouting.
Under new leadership from experienced Eagle Scouts, Troop 4 hopes to set a new standard of excellence within the scouting community.
“With the other Troops in Ridgewood meeting Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, there are many kids that are looking to join scouting but can’t make those meeting nights,” said Anthony Chirdo, District Executive for Northern New Jersey Council of the Boys Scouts of America. “It’s good to see Troop 4 reorganizing with new, young leaders, all in their mid-twenties, who are willing to meet on Wednesday nights to take in some those kids.”
Between 2001 and 2002, six scouts from Troop 56 in Elmwood Park achieved the monumental Eagle Scout rank. After several ceremonies attended by local congressmen and women, mayors, chiefs of police, and numerous community members, these scouts went off into the world where they received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in such fields as Engineering, Political Science, Accounting, History, Writing and Information Systems.
Now these eagles have flown home.
“We all started as Tiger Scouts with Pack 8 in Elmwood Park and just kept going,” said Anthony Scotelaro, one of the new leaders of Troop 4. “Through scouting we created this great bond and friendship that helped us push through those tough times when we wanted to quit because of sports or one of us got a car or whatever.”
“If it wasn’t for that bond maybe half of us or none of us would have become Eagles and maybe none of us would have even graduated college.”
For scouts who sign up with Troop 4 at Wednesday’s open house they will receive a free copy of the Boy Scout handbook. They will also get to meet and talk with several members of the troop’s new leadership, view an Eagle Scout memorabilia display, and learn more about the goals of the new troop.
“We definitely encourage parents to get involved with the troop,” said Scotellaro. “We want parents and family to realize that everyone is invited to get involved to help these young scouts advance toward Eagle and become self sufficient young men.”
“I know for sure that identifying animal prints and tying knots have not been helpful in the rest of my life,” he continued. “But the discipline, the values, the teamwork skills and all those things you gain by doing these activities I know for a fact has been a part or my life and certainly the other guys as well.”
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation’s foremost youth programs of character development and values-based leadership training. To learn more about Troop 4’s open house on February 10, please contact: Dan Cappello at 201-458-2955 or drcappello@yahoo.com
