Celebrate the new school year at the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos’ very first Flapjacks for Backpacks event on Saturday, Aug. 14 from 7-11 a.m.! A twist on the annual pancake breakfast, the event will feature a Back-to-School Resource Fair topped off with an all-you-can-eat breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, orange juice and coffee, opportunity drawings, and more!
Free health screenings will be available in partnership with TrueCare, and vision screenings will be available in partnership with the San Marcos Lions Club!
All proceeds will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos – ensuring that program costs remain affordable to families and establishing an after school program scholarship fund for the 2021-22 school year.
Sponsorship opportunities are available! Contact Justin Buhagiar at justin@boysgirlsclubsm.org or (760) 471-2490 ext. 302 to learn more.
Father Joe Carroll, the San Diego Catholic priest noted for his tireless advocacy for our homeless brothers and sisters, passed away yesterday, July 11.
While his efforts to transform how homelessness is addressed were international in their impact, he also had time to serve our community beyond his full-time calling: For some three decades, he was the Catholic chaplain for the San Diego-Imperial Council of the Boy Scouts of America – and was a hands-on Scouting volunteer. Having been a Scout himself growing up in New York, he believed passionately in the need for adults to volunteer for the betterment of our youth.
In spite of the seriousness of his work at San Diego’s St. Vincent de Paul shelter (later renamed for Fr. Joe), and the desperate plight of many of those whom he served, everything Fr. Joe did was leavened with humor.
During a 2013 Boy Scout fund-raising dinner honoring former Congressman Ron Packard at the Carlsbad Sheraton, Fr. Joe was the keynote speaker. In his remarks, he shared a memory of how a Catholic priest and a Mormon elected official became friends through Scouting – and provided an example of how humor can illuminate the ways we have more in common than we might imagine.
Ahead of a National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia in 1981, enough San Diego-area Scouts signed up that three large buses were chartered for the trip: One was filled with Scouts from troops sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, with Packard (then the mayor of Carlsbad) in charge. The second was full of Scouts from Catholic-chartered troops, and Fr. Joe was in charge. The third was for all the other Scouts.
As Fr. Joe told the story that night, Packard’s LDS bus followed the Mormon Battalion Trail from San Diego to Council Bluffs, Iowa, then traced back the route the Mormon pioneers had followed from New York to Ohio to Missouri. They stopped at every historic point of interest of importance to their church.
For its part, the Catholic bus followed a route drawn up by Fr. Joe to hit as many Catholic shrines as possible between San Diego and Virginia – with Mass starting off every morning.
But the third bus – well, they apparently managed to find most of the amusement and theme parks across the country.
When the three buses all met up at Jamboree after their very different journeys, Fr. Joe said he and Mr. Packard faced an unforeseen dilemma: “A whole bunch of Catholic and Mormon kids were asking how one went about becoming Presbyterian.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth, opened up the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Awards to young people around the world a few years ago.
While youths 14-24 in the United States have been able to earn the award for the last few years, this year saw the first local winner – Stevin Latimer of Vista. A junior at Mission Vista High School, Stevin earned the Bronze and Silver DofE awards, and is working on his Gold.
Similar to The Congressional Award, participants in the DofE program set their own goals. In the DofE program, they work with a volunteer adult coordinatorin creating a game plan to meet those goals. The goals are set in the areas of volunteer service, skill improvement, physical recreation, adventure, and a residential project.
To learn more about this award and how youth in your organization can take part, visit the DofE site for the United States at USAward.org.
Four Eagle Scouts were installed into the highest rank of the Boy Scouts of America at a noon ceremony on Oct. 11 at the Escondido Moose Lodge (#1874). Troop 651, sponsored by the Lions Club of San Marcos, welcomed the Troop’s four latest Eagles.
The ceremony at the Moose was the result of a January breakfast between the Moose, the Lions and the Lake San Marcos Kiwanis Club on ways to coordinate their service to youth through their Scouting units. As the Lions Club and Kiwanis do not have their own lodges, the Moose has made its campus available for those clubs’ Scouting units alongside its own unit.
The Moose Lodge charters Cub Scout Pack 640, while the Kiwanis charters Pack 662. All three units – plus others – pitched in at two recent volunteer workdays at the Moose, helping clear brush along the creekbed to lessen this year’s fire danger.
Sunday’s ceremony was held under the County’s health order; only immediate family were present in person – while the ceremony was livestreamed via Zoom to the rest of the troop, the Lions Club, and extended friends and family. Those who attended wore masks, and practiced social distancing.
Following a nationwide search, the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos has selected a communications and fundraising veteran with over 35 years’ experience, Cathy Baur, as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Baur began her new role at the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos on September 1.
Baur joins the Club from California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) where she worked for nearly 12 years; serving four years as Vice President for University Advancement and prior to that as Associate Vice President for Communications. She also served as Executive Director of the CSUSM Foundation Board, a group of community leaders and philanthropists who cultivate and encourage charitable investment in the university. Under her leadership, the University completed its first comprehensive fundraising campaign exceeding its fundraising goal of $50 million with more than $55 million raised when it concluded in 2019.
“We are pleased to have Cathy join the Boys & Girls Club,” said Paul Malone, Boys & Girls Club Board Chair. “Her experience in fundraising and communication will be an excellent complement to our current staff and their expertise in delivering high quality programing to our members.”
In the new role, Baur will have oversight of a staff of 80 and be responsible for all aspects of the Club including strategic vision and growth as well as undertaking a $1 million capital campaign to build out a new site that will serve as the Club’s community resource center.
“The Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos plays such a critical role in our community during the best of times and even more so today as our families struggle in dealing with COVID-19,” said Baur, “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join this amazing team and lead the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos as we start this next chapter.”
In addition to her tenure at CSUSM, Baur served as Vice President of Marketing & Sales Support for JPMorgan Chase and also held executive positions at the San Diego Workforce Partnership and Poway Unified School District.
Baur replaces Tish Murry who retired earlier this year after serving more than six years as Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos President & CEO and whose career with the Boys & Girls Club movement was over 30 years.
Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos (BGCSM) is a non-profit youth development organization whose mission is to inspire and enable all young people to become productive, responsible and caring citizens. The organization, which first opened its doors in 1979 at Woodland Park, now serves over 4,000 members ages 6 to 18 at its standalone branch and 12 extension sites at school campuses and affordable housing communities throughout San Marcos and neighboring communities. As part of a nationwide movement of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, BGCSM offers youth programs, developed and run by trained youth development professionals, that emphasize three priority outcome areas: academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. To learn more or support the Club, please visit www.boysgirlsclubsm.org.
More than two dozen Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and parent volunteers gathered at 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 to work in den and patrol groups to help the Escondido Moose Lodge (#1874) clean up brush and complete tree removal. The volunteer clean-up day was in response to the Deer Springs Fire Prevention District’s ongoing abatement program to try to lower the fire danger in the region.
Cub Scout Pack 662 (Lake San Marcos Kiwanis Club) joined the Moose Lodge’s own Pack 640. Also participating were Boy Scout Troop 651 (San Marcos Lion’s Club), Escondido Troop 659, and Troop 760 from the Vista Boys & Girls Club.
More than a ton of greens debris was loaded into two large stake bed trailers and taken to the Escondido recycling yard to be converted into mulch.
Boy Scout Troop 651 (San Marcos Lions Club) showed up Saturday, September 5, at the Escondido Moose Lodge to assist with fire abatement efforts. Working with Moose members, the Scouts helped clear away brush, gathered palm fronds being cut down, and stacked firewood.
Are you familiar with The Congressional Award? “The Congressional Award is the United States Congress’ award for young Americans.”
Scouts, Key Club, 4-H, Leos Club, JROTC, police and fire Explorers, library and civic programs, sports leagues, and any organization that includes youth volunteers or serves youth might want to consider steering those young people toward this prestigious yet reachable national recognition program.
Again, from the web site: “Each level involves setting goals in four program areas; Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness, and Expedition/Exploration. Earning the Award is a fun and interesting way to get more involved in something you already enjoy or something you’d like to try for the first time. You move at your own pace, on your own or with your friends. This is not an award for past accomplishments. Instead, you are honored for achieving your own challenging goals.”
