Pack 270 Cub Master Gets A Charge Out Of Scouting

By Nancy K. Crevier

It was a complete surprise to Pack 270 Cub Master John Boccuzzi when at that regular monthly meeting of the Connecticut Yankee Council, June 8, he received the Spark Plug Award, for bringing new energy to the Pack. “I had no idea that someone had nominated me,” said Mr Boccuzzi.

It was not surprising to parents of boys in Pack 270, though, such as Victoria Tod, who said, “John has been an incredibly charismatic and wonderful addition to our Pack this year, and has really taken the job to a new level. His enthusiasm spills over to all of the scouts.”

“The Spark Plug Award was developed several years ago to recognize Scout leaders in [the Scatacook District],” said Eric Larson, the district chairman for Scatacook District, BSA. “The criteria for the award is outstanding service, above and beyond the normal duties of a leader, to either a unit or the district. Nominations come from other Scout leaders in the unit or district,” said Mr Larson. This year, 16 leaders were recognized in the district with the Spark Plug Award. “This year,” Mr Larson said, “we recognized 16 Scout leaders in the district with the Spark Plug Award.”

The Scatacook District consists of Boy Scout packs and troops from Sherman, New Fairfield, Danbury, Ridgefield, Redding, Bethel, Brookfield, and Newtown.

The father of two children, John III and Sabrina, Mr Boccuzzi has been involved in Boy Scouts since he was a child. He attained the highest level of honor scouting, the Eagle Scout, in 1986, as a member of Troop 48 in Springdale.

“This was [my son] John’s second year in scouting,” said Mr Boccuzzi, the managing partner of Boccuzzi LLC, Strategic Sales Solutions. When his son started in Cub Scouts, Mr Boccuzzi served as a den leader for nine boys. When Jeff Timmons, the former Cub Master of the Newtown Lions-chartered Pack at Middle Gate School stepped down in 2010, Mr Boccuzzi decided to take on the role of leading the 60-plus first through sixth grade boys.

“Jeff did an awesome job, and I am lucky that my son wanted to join Scouts, which allowed me to take on a leadership role,” Mr Boccuzzi said.

As Cub Master, Mr Boccuzzi set several goals that he felt would contribute to the increased well-being of the Pack. “I wanted to bring back more involvement of parents, so I created a committee of 15 people,” he said. Each of those 15 volunteers, however, had just one responsibility. “My thought was that if people had just one goal to accomplish, it would be done to the fullest extent,” Mr Boccuzzi explained. It also prevented people from being spread too thin, and the singular focus of each volunteer gave the Pack very positive results, Mr Boccuzzi said.

“The campouts, all organized by one parent, Glen Reinhart, were amazing. We had one person in charge of PR, Victoria Tod, and that was great. I’m most proud of the recruitment this year, with Ruby Fitzpatrick in charge. We had the second largest recruitment in the Yankee Council [made up of troops from 37 cities] of 29 boys,” he said.

Mr Boccuzzi also recruited the talents of Jay and Pam Trickey to remake the Pack’s website, so that it would be an active location for the boys and their parents. “The result is so wonderful that we have actually had someone from the Boy Scouts in Wyoming call us to find out how we did it,” said Mr Boccuzzi.

The scarecrow scavenger hunt in the fall was Pack 270’s way of giving more exposure to the community. Each of the nine dens in the Pack created a scarecrow. The scarecrows were set up at nine Newtown businesses, and then a card was given out at Middle Gate School that for each time a business with a scarecrow was visited, a star would be awarded. When all nine of the businesses (and scarecrows) had been visited, and nine stars attached to the card, Andrea’s Bakery on Queen Street provided six pastry items to that person. “This was a really nice piece for us and drew in our local businesses. It is something we plan to repeat again this year, probably expanding to include all of Newtown’s schools,” said Mr Boccuzzi.

Trail cleanup with the Lions Club and involvement in other community events helped the Pack reach its goal of more community outreach, and enabled nearly all of the boys in Pack 270 to receive the optional Leave No Trace badge.

Mr Boccuzzi is truly excited, he said, to share his appreciation of scouting with the boys. “Boy Scouts started over one hundred years ago. When you look at the core values of family, interaction, and the 12 laws of scouting — trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent, whatever reverence means to a boy — those are values that don’t ever go out of date. They might evolve, but they are always in fashion,” he said.

Increased recruiting means that more boys have the chance to be exposed to the values and experiences of scouting. A recent experience of his own brought home to Mr Boccuzzi the fact that many of the Boy Scout skills are lifetime skills.

“I was in the Staples store recently, to get some Cub Scout letters copied, when a woman approached me and said she was about to have a seizure, and could I help her,” Mr Boccuzzi recalled. The woman lay down on the ground and went into a violent seizure. Recalling his first aid courses from Boy Scouts, Mr Boccuzzi immediately directed the staff at Staples to call 911, got a scarf from the clerk to place under the woman’s head, and grabbed some backpacks off the store walls to place around her. “I knew I had to keep her from banging into the walls and hurting herself. I rubbed her back to keep her calm. When she stopped breathing, I tried to pull back all I could to remember CPR [cardio pulmonary resuscitation] should I need to apply it,” he said. “I remembered to turn her head. She was choking, and a great deal of liquid came out, allowing her to breathe again. Mostly, I tried to keep her calm till the medics arrived.” By the time the ambulance arrived, said Mr Boccuzzi, the woman was becoming coherent.

“I was lucky that I had taken first aid and could remember some of the things to do,” he said. It was also a reminder that it was time to go back for a refresher course in CPR, he said. “You never know when you’ll need it.”

The incident at Staples was just one example of the many things he learned as a scout that he has drawn on his whole life, said Mr Boccuzzi. “In Boy Scouts, there are opportunities for leadership, initiative, and public speaking,” he said. Even in business, he sees that listing himself on the online LinkedIn network as an Eagle Scout creates an instant bond with other Eagle Scouts there.

He is honored, he said, to have earned the Spark Plug Award. “I love having this role in scouting,” he said. “It’s amazing what you accomplish in an hour a week — or more. It’s rewarding,” stressed Mr Boccuzzi, “and I feel fortunate that my son wants to participate.”