Boy Scouts who may be unnerved over news that the national organization has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy can rest easy.
The issues the national organization has do not affect groups on the local level, said Chuck Eaton, chief executive of the Spirit of Adventure Council — the umbrella group that encompasses Eastern Massachusetts. Among the districts in the Spirit of Adventure Council is the Great Eastern, which includes Lynn, Nahant, Swampscott, Marblehead, Peabody, Lynnfield, Saugus and Revere.
Eaton said the council is not affected by the bankruptcy filing.
“The Spirit of Adventure Council has not filed for bankruptcy,” Eaton said. “Meetings and activities, district and council events, other scouting adventures and countless service projects are taking place as usual.”
Also unaffected are merit badges and Eagle Scout projects.
The scouts, like many other organizations that cater to youth, has seen its upstanding reputation for moral rectitude damaged by scandal. They have resorted to Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday in hopes of pulling through the crisis by setting up a victims’ compensation fund for thousands of men who were molested as boys by Scout leaders over the decades.
The fund could top $1 billion, but to raise the money, the national organization could be forced to sell some of its real estate holdings, which include its headquarters in Irving, Texas, and a huge campground in New Mexico.
The local council is not facing any such crisis, Eaton said.
The national organization of the Boy Scouts of America is the only entity involved in the Chapter 11 filing,” Eaton said. “The Spirit of Adventure Council — which provides programming, financial, facility and administrative support to local units and individual Scouts in our area — is separate and distinct from the national organization. Our camps, properties, and all local contributions are controlled by our council.”
Eaton also said that the local council and districts pay a great deal of attention to youth safety.
“Youth protection and safety is our top priority,” he said. “In addition to the BSA’s national multi-layered youth protection protocols, which include mandatory youth protection training and background checks for all volunteers and staff, scout volunteers in Massachusetts must also pass an additional CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) background check. So, in our state, all volunteers and staff are subjected to two background checks in addition to all the training.”
The bankruptcy case began Wednesday with a court hearing in Wilmington, Del., where attorneys for victims made clear they will also go after campsites and other properties owned by the Boy Scouts’ 261 local councils, and will also demand access to internal files containing abusers’ names.
