Jon Yates is the Scout Executive and Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Jon highlighted the fact that Scouting and Rotary work together – very similar values, and each started around the same time. The Capital Area Council covers 15 counties in Central Texas. There are more than 10,000 kids in their programs. In 2019, started adding girls to their programs. Scouting relies on adult volunteers, including our own NxNE Austin Rotarian Michael Files. Scouting introduces kids to careers that they may not have thought of. Scouting also invests in children in the underprivileged community. They partner with AISD and Del Valle ISD to bring scouting as an after-school program. They could serve more kids if they had more staff to support more programs – need more funding for that. Scouting’s hands on activities allow scouts to have fun but also learn and work together as a team. Their outdoor activities help with the kids’ mental health. Jon described the seven camps they run and showed us some pictures of the various camps. He talked about how their Wilderness camp near Bastrop is helping save the Houston Toad in the Bastrop/Lost Pine area – part of the 5,000 acres is in a conservation easement to protect the toad. It is used as a backpacking camp. 350 Eagle Scouts are being recognized this year. The Capital Area Council is expanding its recruiting efforts to bring more children into their programs and has an aggressive goal to grow membership at 10% rate. For more information go to www.bsacac.org.