Arrowmen in Action

Arrowmen In Action: Living Life To The Fullest

For many Arrowmen, giving back to the community means picking and completing one project or working closely with a few groups. But for Russell Harrison—an Eagle Scout and Arrowman from Colonneh Lodge in Houston, Texas—giving back means helping many groups with a variety of tasks both big and small. “Being a community volunteer is part of Russell’s life whether it is through scouting or on his own,” says his mother, Susan Harrison.

When Russell is not taking part in troop activities or working with his chapter’s drum and singing team, he is helping elsewhere around the community. A few things he does includes volunteering with Kindergarteners at a local school, working the sound board for his church and taking part in conservation projects to encourage recycling. “These activities he has participated in have grown into an impressive array of support he has shown for thousands,” his mother said. Some of Russell’s favorite volunteer activities include working on the George Ranch, a living history museum, where he can work in the blacksmith shop, the Stock farm or the sharecropper farm. His interest in history has also led him to work with the local railroad museum. He spends so much time that some of their promotional material even features his picture.

His mother says that his motivation comes from his faith. “Russell’s faith is a very big part of his life.” He is active in the youth group at St. John’s United Methodist Church where he helps take food to elderly church members, makes care packages for the homeless and helps host the vacation Bible school, among other things.

Despite his involvement in scouts and his commitment to many other organizations, Russell still uses the power of one to give back to his community…how can you use it to help others?

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Quote of the Week- Effort

The one thing that matters is the effort. It continues, whereas the end to be attained is but an illusion of the climber, as he fares on and on from crest to crest; and once the goal is reached it has no meaning. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French by Stuart Gilbert


I've got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end. ~Larry Bird


The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. ~Attributed to both Vidal Sassoon and Donald Kendall

Some people dream of success... while others wake up and work hard at it. ~Author Unknown


If a man is called a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, Here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.


People know you for what you've done, not for what you plan to do. ~Author Unknown

Success is a ladder you cannot climb with your hands in your pockets. ~American Proverb

Many people think they want things, but they don't really have the strength, the discipline. They are weak. I believe that you get what you want if you want it badly enough. ~Sophia Loren

Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still. ~Chinese Proverb

If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind. ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08

Just a Little Effort

One of the things that i keep getting complaints about in my Troop is how the adult leaders are always nagging the youth leaders to get something done. I guess in part it is the adults fault because we should be reminding youth leaders of the jobs in more polite ways but after a while the politeness needs to end and we need to get down to the serious side of things that is all we are trying to acomplish. The other part to this problem is that we have youth leaders who think that the adults are there to do everything for them and I mean everything this is not okay and is not suppose to happen in a Boy Scout Troop. So if you have a troop like this sit down with the other adults and try to come up with a solution. If your own Troop's resources can't come up with a solution then get others involved.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that if the scouts would be willing to put fourth a little effort then the adults would be more willing to get off their backs and let them breathe a little easier.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616
Great Alaska COuncil
Eagle Scout OA Brotherhood Member
NSJ '05 WSJ '07 '11 Philmont AA '08