Community Connections

For my community connections project, I interviewed Mr. Jim Pound who volunteers as a Scouter in the 9th Poco scouts’ community
which I joined 4 years ago I chose to interview Mr. Jim Pound because I am passionate about the outdoors camping, and hiking which
he has been directly involved in creating yet there are still many things that I do not yet know about my community. In this interview,

Mr. Jim pound told me what it is like to be a scouter and help in the background of events here are some of the questions I asked him
during the interview.

Can you explain your roles and responsibilities with your current position?

“My role currently, my primary role is the quartermaster for the group, so I take care of all the tents and the equipment and those kinds
of things, making sure that it is in proper working condition. My secondary role in supporting the program Scouters, I support them

when they need so sort of outdoors experience when they need someone to help them with camping, hiking, and backpacking basically
taking care of the equipment so others can use them and support other Scouters and the group community in the background.”   

What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today? 

“I think an obstacle would be volunteerism most people are doing things because they want to help so sometimes, they might not live up to
expectations and sometimes you need to sit back and realize that these people are not being paid to do a job they are volunteering to do it
as much as you like somebody to do something more involving you cannot really make that expectation because we already have other
commitments s sometimes people have more expectations than I can give them another obstacle is money/funding you would like to have

new tents you would like to have the best equipment but it all costs money but where is that money coming from but this is where the
fundraisers and the donations come in.”

What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?

“Umm, advice well there is always this comical saying that we have in scouting when you are recruiting somebody to become a scouter you

say well it is only an hour and a half or two hours a week then we laugh about it because we know even though the scout meeting is two
hours a week it is not. There are all sorts of planning and preparation bunt unfortunately because of covid we have not been able to do ask
many outdoor activities that we like but normally there are one or two weekends every month that we go camping those sorts of things and
it’s not a paid job realistically you are going to meetings you are spending your money on gas, and you are not going to be reimbursed for it
and you are not expecting to be reimbursed so I think part of that advice is that it takes time you have to be upfront with people you have
to be honest it’s not just two hours a week its more than that and to have fun some other advice I would give is to reach out if they
feel they are overwhelmed they don’t ask for help so when you need help reach out basically my big advice is communication.”  

Why are you passionate about your job or role?

“I think in some ways it is giving back my son who is 44 years old almost 45 and he started bevers since he was 5 years old, so I have been
involved in scouting for 40 years as an adult I believe in the organization, and I had fun when I was a youth and an addition to my adult years
I was a cub I was a scout I was a venture many years ago and I fairly enjoy it and I think it helped me enjoy and appreciate mother nature the
outdoors camping hiking, backpacking, cannoning I grew up my parents enjoyed camping so as a kid we would always go camping and that
was our holidays every summer when my dad days off work he would take us on camping trips it would be family camping I never did any
ventures as far as backpacking that all came from scouting I just remembered that as an adult I kind of want give back because I enjoyed
that when I was a kid and I think there is just too much technology nowadays with climate change and everything that we kind of forget that
we need to take of the world we only have one planet it’s finite and I think people need more of an awareness of that I would like to give back.
I enjoyed it, I benefited from it, and I think other people will get a benefit from scouts as well.” 

How long have you been active in the scout’s community? 

“Achievements in the scouting community, you know there is not a reward system you know where you spend so much time and do things
and some people thank you for it and you get plaques and you get a certificate, I must admit they are nice I have them hanging on the wall
and they bring back memories the thing that I get the most satisfaction out of is I’ll give you an incident so we were at PJ in 2019 and I was
walking down one of the roads at PJ and there was a young man walking familiar and I remembered him from my days being a scout leader
and I called out I said Peter? Then he turned around and looked at me then said, Scouter Jim? And here is a young guy now not so young,
he is in his forties now, but he remembered me as a positive influence on his life and that is what gives me the biggest charge every now and
then ill bump into somebody be it on the street or even you guys when coming to your meeting just to know I have contributed make these
guys happy is a reward you cannot really put into words it gives you the warm fuzzy feeling that you accomplished something.” 

What are some achievements that you have made in the scout’s community?

“I have been volunteering as an adult for 40 years and I was in the scout moment I was a cub, and a scout then a venture guess about 7-8 years
around 49-50 years in scouting.”  

Picture of Jim Pound

Here is a link to Jim Pounds: https://www.facebook.com/hj.p.52/?show_switched_toast=0&show_invite_to_follow=0&show_switched_tooltip=0&show_podcast_settings=0&show_community_transition=0&show_community_review_changes=0