Good going Boy Scouts! I hope this idea catches on in other parts of the country, if it already hasn't.

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Scouts Chipping In To Help Military Families

Boys Doing Chores For Military Personnel

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma Boy Scouts and their adult leaders are doing what they can to help families of military personnel taking part in the war on terrorism.

The Scouts are offering to do such things as clean yards, rake leaves, put up outdoor holiday decorations and shovel snow during their "Helping Hands for Heroes" program.

The program, which will last indefinitely, is targeting military personnel and their dependents affiliated with Tinker Air Force Base, Fort Sill, Altus Air Force Base and National Guard and Reserve units called to active duty as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

"We're very conscious that a lot of two-parent households suddenly became one-parent families," said Paul Moore, executive director of the Boy Scouts of America Last Frontier Council.

Such family changes can necessitate "stressful adjustments," he said.

"The Scout slogan is 'Do a Good Turn Daily.' Our youth are expected to do a special act of kindness each day. Now, many military families will be helped as a result of that tradition," Moore said.

The Last Frontier Council serves much of central and western Oklahoma. It has 32,000 members and 8,000 leaders and adult volunteers.

Joining the Boy Scouts are agencies allied with the United Way of Metro Oklahoma City, including the American Red Cross, Goodwill Industries, Travelers Aid, Sunbeam Family Services, the Volunteer Center, the Urban League, Daily Living Centers and the Mid-Del Youth and Family Center.

Moore and United Way President Bob Spinks said available volunteers can help mothers or fathers with simple chores, or older Oklahomans who are without a son or daughter, during Operation Enduring Freedom.

"Now, by contacting the Last Frontier Council, families in need of help can make their needs known to us. The council then will work to match up volunteers with those needs," Moore said.

"America's military is answering freedom's call. Their families need to know America cares, and that the Boy Scouts of America stands with these families."

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001