Scouts Honor

“Boy scouts teach you not just how to survive in the wilderness,” said Dave Swartz, the Brooklyn Council Field Director for Boyscouts of America, as he looked out to the crowd assembled at the Brooklyn Brewery on Thursday evening, lulled into a respectful silence. “Boy scouts teach you how to survive in life.”
Though they may not be able to build campfires with two sticks and a slab of flint or pitch a tent in the middle of the forest, Greenpoint Gazette Publisher Jeff Mann, Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union Chairman Krzysztof Matyszczyk and St. Joseph’s College Athletic Director Frank P. Carbone—the honorees of this year’s annual Greenpoint-Williamsburg Toast to Scouting event—are certainly surviving—and thriving—in life, and in the community.
The ceremony doubled as a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts of America so they may send underserved and disadvantaged scouts to summer camp and other leadership building programs during the year, such as Camporee, the Klondike Derby and National Youth Leader Training, to name a few.
“In these tough times, when the economy gets rough, people want to go back to basics, and they look for activities to build the character of their children,” Swartz continued. “Service is hugely important. Yes, they can build a fire, but overall, this program builds leaders.”
The evening began with an opening ceremony buy Troop 469 of Williamsburg, complete with a recital of the Boy Scout words to live by—brave, cheerful, clean, courteous, friendly, helpful, kind, loyal, obedient, reverent, thrifty and trustworthy—to set the tone.
In addition to the three official honorees, each chosen for his contribution and dedication to the Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood, CB1 District Manager Gerry Esposito, a former Boy Scout himself who grew up in a tradition of scouting, received the prestigious President’s Award for his continued service in the community and beyond.