New President Looks For Balance In Leading Cullens Youth Association Into The Future

By Nancy K. Crevier

Known about town to some as Cullens Memorial and to others as Cullens Youth Association, as it was renamed by the board of directors in 1987, the 2,400 square-foot lodge and 20-acre piece of property off Taunton Lake Road on which it sits is a tribute to the late Newtown Congregational Church minister Reverend Paul Cullens. Rev Cullens served the Congregational Church from 1928 to 1964, but it is his devotion to helping the local youth realize their potential for which he is greatly remembered.

Rev Cullens founded Boy Scout Troop 70 in 1928, but his positive influence on youth was not limited to just those young people involved in scouting, or in his church youth fellowship. He extended his good example and desire to keep youth connected to nature and others to all young people of the community, in any way he could.

It is this aspect of his personality that he shares with the late minister, said Jim Loring, and one of the reasons that he believes that he is a good fit for the position as current president of the Cullens Youth Association.

“I think our future is tied in with kids, and I’d like to help kids develop skills to be productive in society,” said Mr Loring. “As a board, we would like Cullens to be a place where kids can explore those skills,” he said.

A semiretired director of employee benefits, Mr Loring volunteered as a coach and referee for his boys’ soccer teams when they were small, and has been actively involved with Boy Scouts of America over the years. He has been a den leader for the Webelos at Hawley School, and then became cub master of Pack 70. When his oldest son joined Boy Scout Troop 70, sponsored by Cullens Youth Association, Mr Loring became an adult volunteer. “I recently joined the Newtown Prevention Council, again, trying to help improve the outcomes for our youth,” said Mr Loring.

His volunteer efforts include community involvement, as well. “I am on the Medical Benefits Board for the Town of Newtown, and an active extraordinary minister at St Rose Church,” said Mr Loring. Twice a month, he delivers for Meals On Wheels.

But the key “and most enjoyable activity” that keeps Mr Loring up to date with youth, “is in keeping up with three fast-growing grandchildren, two boys and a girl, all under 4 years of age.”

It was his involvement with the Cullens facility, through scouting, that inspired him to become a board member, he said.

“I liked the message of what Cullens was trying to do for Boy and Girl Scouts,” Mr Loring said. The association’s mission of encouraging youth development and creating leadership views by providing a meeting space and environment for organized youth groups appealed to him.

The combined field and wooded area, as well as a seven-acre pond, provide ample space for outdoor activities and camping at Cullens, and the heated lodge offers a space for meetings. “There is a kitchen in the lodge, and storage area, and a meeting room upstairs, as well,” he said.

He sees Cullens’ role as being that of making available “the green environment that is missing these days.”

Mr Loring had been a board member of Cullens Youth Association for 20 years when longtime Cullens’ president Eugene Cox, planning to step down, approached him last year and suggested he run for president. “I think he saw me as someone who would recognize the traditions of Cullens going back, someone who would be supportive of Reverend Paul Cullens’ original mission. I feel I can be true to that, and I guess I thought it was my time to step up and pay my dues,” said Mr Loring, who was elected to the position by the 12-member board in December 2011.

He sees the role of president primarily that of overseeing the board and driving the messages of the board. “I see it as being a ‘traffic cop’ for ideas and for getting consensus among the board members for those ideas,” he said.

The president is the face of the organization, Mr Loring said, and needs to be out there publicly to show what the facility is, and as president he feels it is his duty to be involved in fundraising for the privately funded youth association.

The president is also the person who gets the emergency calls, Mr Loring noted, and Friday night, March 16, only a 911 call to the fire department preceded a call to him.

“The fire started in the upstairs meeting room of the lodge that was being rehabbed,” he said. [See separate story.] The preliminary report does not believe that the fire was due to any activity related to that refurbishing, but rather to a short in the electrical system. Fire and smoke damage was confined to the upstairs area. Sadly, the roof just replaced by volunteer’s efforts last year was badly damaged and will need to be replaced, said Mr Loring. The fire damage adds to the growing list of maintenance projects that need to be addressed at Cullens, he said.

Maintaining The Property

As president, he is greatly concerned with the maintenance of the property.

“We have a fairly good, continuous base of donations for our annual operating budget,” Mr Loring said, “but our biggest bugaboo is upkeep.” Often, painting and similar tasks become Eagle Scout projects.

“I have no problem with making Cullens available for Eagle projects,” he said, but it may be to the property’s benefit if additional expert guidance is provided for those scout projects.

“I think the president is always thinking about the future direction of the place and listening to board members as to the appropriate direction in which to go,” he said. Coming from a corporate environment is useful in this new position.

“In a corporate environment, you have a specific plan [for everything you do]. That’s the sort of expertise we can use at Cullens, to help us stay on task and deliver on promises,” he said. He is very aware that Cullens’s volunteers are generous in their time and ideas, but volunteers have other commitments in their lives that without proper leadership can mean that good intentions are not always followed through on. He is hopeful that his leadership will keep projects on track.

Balance is crucial to the future of Cullens, said Mr Loring.

“Our mission going forward is to decide, do we stay a rustic, low-impact facility, or do we make those improvements that attract a broader audience?” he said. A blend of being remote but convenient may be the goal for Cullens.

Cullens is in the process of improving the electrical service to the lodge, which is equipped with plumbed. A wood stove in the lodge is only a supplement to heating, but the board wrestles with the question of whether it should stay or go. Does it add to the rustic atmosphere or detract from those with modern sensibilities it, he wondered? It is only one example of instances in which the board must make decisions as to how low-impact Cullens does or does not wish to remain, he said.

Mr Loring is particularly concerned about maintenance of the pond. Allowed to progress naturally, the pond may one day be a field, he pointed out. Original depth charts list the center of the pond as being 25 feet deep. However, Mr Loring said, more recent studies show that the pond is now only about eight feet deep in the center, due to natural sedimentary build-up.

“Do we dredge, which is not low-impact, to maintain the pond, or just let whatever nature wants take place?” he asked.

What the facility is, and what not enough people seem to know, is that it is open to any organized youth group for activities inside and outside, Mr Loring said, and he would like to lead the board in promoting that awareness to the community. Primarily Boy Scout, Girl Scout, and Venture Crew groups use the space, but other youth organizations are welcome to utilize the setting, he said.

Cullens hosts an open house every year or two, said Mr Loring, and he would like to see one take place this autumn, if exterior maintenance, some painting, and repairs to the roof can be accomplished by then.

Five years out, he is hopeful that the rugged road leading to Cullens will be more accessible and that the building will be a more functional and safe facility. “I’d like to see Cullens widely utilized,” he said.