Cubmaster Tim Bednarzik received the Spirit of Scouting Award at the New Cumberland Hall of Fame Ceremony on Sunday. In 1997, the Jack Harris Spirit of Scouting Award was established in honor of Jack, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1996. Jack was very active in scout work throughout his life. This award was created by Boy Scout Troop 38 Scout T.J. Greenwood as part of his service project for his Eagle Award. The recipient of the Spirit of Scouting Award must have at some point in their life been active in scouting as a scout or a scout leader and must demonstrate the “spirit of scouting.”
The selection committee for the Jack Harris Spirit of Scouting Award consists of members and a chairperson who were at some time in life active in the scouting program either as a youth or an adult plus all Spirit of Scouting recipients.
The award is present to one living person each year who at some point in their life was active in scouting as a youth or adult leader/committee member and who demonstrates the Spirit of Scouting.
This person must reside in Hancock County.
Bednarzik became involved in scouting when his son, Joseph, decided to join Troop 137 in New Manchester. Tim started off being an involved parent who tried to learn as much about Troop scouting as quickly as possible. He wanted to help his son and the troop in any way he could. He eventually held the troop positions of treasurer, committee member and committee chair.
At about the same time, Logan joined Cub Scout Pack 39 in New Cumberland as a Wolf Scout. Tim was also an involved parent for the pack wanting to learn everything about cub scouts so he could help Logan and his pack succeed. After Logan’s first year in Cub Scouts, the Cubmaster position became available. After talking to several of the other parents, he realized that none of them wanted to become Cubmasters.
The Pack had about 15 kids at the time. They all got along and were really enjoying the Scouting program. Tim quickly told himself there was no way he was going to let these kids down and disappoint them He became Cubmaster in June 2019.
During his first year, mistakes were made, lessons were learned and he received official cubmaster training from our council in Wheeling. Soon after that, the COVID 19 Pandemic shut down the world and scouting was put on hold for a year.
Tim used that time as an opportunity to receive more online Cubmaster training. He also did tons of online research about the cub scout program and scouting as a whole. He wanted to be prepared once Scouting was allowed to start up again.
Once scouting was back on track in March 2021, Tim was very proud to help Logan earn his Arrow of Light rank from the pack. But recruiting new kids after the pandemic was very challenging. Since COVID, the pack never had more than nine kids enrolled….UNTIL NOW!
This year, Tim is blessed with 20 plus kids, in every single Den and slowly Tim has encouraged the parents to become involved with the Scouting program.
Tim is very involved in Troop 38 as well. In the troop, he is Committee member and Merit Badge Counselor. Through both the pack and the troop, Tim has supported the Annual Scouting for Food Drive, which helps the New Cumberland food Pantry, and the annual Wreathes Across America Program. Tim has also helped the troop with several Eagle Scout Projects, campouts and community service projects at Tomlinson Run State Park.
Even though Tim knows Logan will age-out from the troop one day (hopefully as an Eagle Scout) he has no plans to retire from scouting anytime soon.
Tim tells people he caught the “scouting bug” and its one of the best bugs you could ever have!
