Organizational Background

                 The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

 The purpose of the Boy Scouts of America, founded in 1910 and chartered by Congress in 1916, is to provide an outdoor-based leadership and educational program for youth ages 6-21 years to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participation citizenship and to develop personal fitness. Elements of the Scouting program include camping and adventure, youth leadership training, caring and nurturing relationships with adults and peers, and positive, educational and creative uses of time in a fun-filled and adventurous setting.  Boy Scouts of America is the only youth organization chartered by Congress as an educational program.

 The Greater Cleveland Council was founded in 1912. On January 1, 2017, the Council merged with portions of the Greater Western Reserve and Heart of Ohio Council and was renamed Lake Erie Council.  Our merged Council stretches from the Pennsylvania border to just west of Sandusky and includes three properties where year round camping, summer camps, training and special weekends are offered. 

Lake Erie Council is governed by a local Executive Board, 55 members strong, which raises its own operating funds and oversees the Scouting program in Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga, Lorain, Huron and Erie Counties. The council serves over 15,000 youth annually with the help of 279 charter organization partners and 7,000 registered adult volunteers. The Lake Erie Council leverages our small staff of 28 professionals to recruit, train and support the efforts of 4,999 volunteers who directly impact the 15,000 Scouts.  The volunteers lend their support to weekly meetings, monthly campouts, community service, camporees, unit celebrations, attend summer Cub Scout day camp, Boy Scout summer camp and high adventure camps. The LEC receives and annual benefit of $27,582,482* from the services our volunteers provide. The support staff is six members strong; 150 seasonal employees round out the Lake Erie Council staff.

*This figure is based on the IRS’s Ohio value of a volunteer hour of $22.99 and an average number of hours contributed by a volunteer of 240 hours annually.

All programs contain leadership, character development and community service elements. They include:  

• Cub Scouts serving boys in grades 1-5 (8,616 members)
• Boy Scouts serving boys between the ages of 11-18 years (4,311 members)
• Exploring and Venturing are our co-educational programs for young people 14-20 years.  Exploring is a career based program (402 members) and Venturing is a high adventure program. (342 members)
• Learning for Life is an in-school curriculum enhancement program based on values education and personal development for K-8 grade. (2,086 participants)