Joe was the person who persuaded me to get active in scouting again. He contacted me and suggested I help him with NESA. Over the last 7 or so years, I have worked with Joe on many projects, most relating to development, recruiting volunteers and NESA.
Joe always does what is best for scouting and our council. He is able to get people to work with him to contribute time, money and other resources to further the CT Yankee council objectives.
Joe and I organized several “Eagle Gatherings” where we invited Eagles in a town to meet to talk about their Eagle experiences. Joe then recruited several of the attendees to become board members in our organization. Many of these Eagles had not been contacted by scouting in years and were more than happy to talk about their experiences.
The council runs a ConnJam camping event every couple of years, and it is one of our premier events. Joe organized a NESA event during ConnJam and invited several adult Eagles who we were interested in becoming more active in scouting. The purpose was to remind the alumni what scouting is about and for them to see firsthand the experience that scouting provides. This resulted in several alumni who re-engaged in scouting and encouraged one of our alumni to commit to a six-figure contribution.
I was president of the CYC in 2021 and 2022. During that time, Joe’s primary responsibility was development. He was able to grow many of the fundraisers in our council to be successful and profitable events. He recruited members of the local business community to be honorees of these events including the CEOs of JetBlue and Travelocity. Joe was able to both grow the number of events we held each year but also the number of attendees and revenue of the events. Joe’s activities became a very important source of revenue for the council.
Joe has added membership to his responsibilities and has seen a 7% increase in 2022 and a 10% increase in 2023. These are great numbers and Joe’s tireless work in this area continues to be of great value to the council.
I have been involved directly with Joe on many projects over the years and he is a great asset to our council. He rolls up his sleeves and gets things done. He has been my “go to” guy when I need something done and he has not failed to deliver on whatever I have asked him to do.
I know Joe will be a great Scout Executive and I am pleased to recommend him I for this position. He will be an asset to any council.