Report scouts volunteers for stealing food?

[ThereIsACatOnMyLapAgain]

Volunteers in scouts do a hard job. I know the positive impact scouts has and Im very grateful to the volunteers.

We moved house 6 months ago and my son changed scout groups.

Last month I volunteered to help at a 2 night scout camp. "Scouts" means cubs and scouts. It was pretty physical with lots of walking, some climbing etc.

The leaders didnt give the scouts much to eat. For example, breakfast was a bowl of own brand cereal but the cereal only just covered the bottom of the (admittedly large) bowl with literally a splash of milk. Lunch was one slice of burger type cheese in 2 slices of cheap white bread and a packet of own brand crisps. Dinner was one hot dog from a jar in a bread bun or pasta with an own brand jar sauce. No snacks. Apparently they didn't cook enough pasta and some of the older scouts didn't even have any dinner at all one day. I didn't know about this until my son told me.

I'm not bothered by the quality/unhealthy food for 3 days and Im certainly not expecting any "proper cooking", however, the amount of food was just so little and the scouts were complaining they were hungry.all the time.

I wasn't in charge of the food and the kitchen was kept locked. When I asked, they said they needed to make the food last so I assumed they were on a tight budget and/or the volunteers had to buy the food themselves. Not great but understandable to ration. Then I overheard one of the leaders saying their funds were very healthy.

On the last day I was helping to clean up and went in the kitchen and saw bags of fresh food, tins of branded soup, tins of fruit, expensive pot noodles, packs of ham etc. They were all bought for camp.

I asked what happens to any left over food and was told that the leaders take it. I said should we give some of this food out as the scouts are hungry. They reluctantly agreed I could give out the tinned fruit which I did. When I went back into the kitchen afterwards all the food had disappeared.

One of the leaders later joked about how happy her rabbit would be with the fresh salad. I didn't click the comment straight away.

So the volunteers bought plenty of food using scout funds but then kept a significant amount aside to take home and fed the scouts crap. I can't see any other explanation? My son said afterwards that the scouts in his tent had snack bars with them because it's normal to not have enough food at scout camps.

His previous group was so, so different. They would invite other groups to eat with them and send the scouts home with any left over food.

My wife thinks I need to report it to the district as theft but I'm not sure that is wise.

I'm not in the position to go to all events/camps.

YANBU - of course you report it. The scouts are not being fed properly and the leaders may as well just be taking the subs money. If they steal food like this, what else are they dishonest about?

YABU - they will know you reported it which may impact on your son's treatment. Volunteers deserve to take home some cake every so often. Plus, good luck finding new volunteers if reporting causes some volunteers to get sacked/quit. 3 days of limited food isnt a big deal in the grand scheme of scouts and not enough to potentially force the group to close.

I would report it. I’m sure parents would be horrified.

That’s a terribly low amount of food for a day, especially given the physical demands of the camp. My 3 year old would be starving if that’s all he got in a day.

I'd think report the concern around what was served - that there wasn't enough food (and say what it was that they received) like a small amount of cereal, one cheese sandwich and a hot dog isn't enough food for a child while on a busy camping trip. Rather than the stealing accusations - as surely they would know what was purchased and could then query themselves where the rest of the food went?

You don't know for sure those items were brought with funds, leaders may have catered themselves from their own money to get better food.

It's not unusual for volunteers to take leftover items home but they should be genuine leftovers, not kept away from the kids

However, they haven't provided enough food for the Scouts and that's a problem. Active kids need proper feeding. It's bordering on a Safeguarding concern tbh

Scouts have committees and there will be someone who manages their funds etc. I would raise it with them. Tell them you think the leaders are possibly using funds for their own gain and that you have concerns about the lack of care for the kids at camp, them not being fed properly or at all.

I would firstly question the group leader what food had been provided for the young people (I assume camp fee included an element for food) and then maybe check what had actually been spent on food. If not willing to divulge or their answer doesn’t make sense I would be taking it further.

Normally at end of camps DS was on, if there was any perishable food left over it was shared between any adults left helping strike camp, including parents. Anything that could be stored eg tins would be saved for a future camp.

If there had been an excess spend then future spend on camp food would be looked at

Would add that it was very rare for anyone to go hungry at any of the camps

Thats awful.

I've volunteered at various scouting camps, usually for Cubs, including going on the food shop with one of the leaders and my experience has been very different.

It's been wonderful food for everyone. Decent breakfasts (with a variety of choice). Certainly decent helpings for all meals and plenty of hot choc and cookie times. Food is important on camp, it's a part of the experience - eating together, cleaning up etc.

The leader might buy some 'posher' biscuits or chocolate for the adults to have Oman evening as a treat but nothing costing much.

Did the scouts not do any cooking? Usually by the age of Scouts they do some cooking(inside or outdoors). Even cubs go ingroups to do their packed lunches in a morning.

I would raise it say scouts complained of hunger. Did they ensure all allergies/intolerances were covered?

I am more than happy for the volunteers to take left overs home.

But why would they buy food with their own money and then not serve it? Plus one of them said their funds were very healthy so I don't think for one moment they bought the food themselves (although I don't know this for certain).

i say this as an ex leader, you should certainly raise this. I would raise it as a concern over the amount of food given and then make the comment that there was a lot of food left over which the leaders took home. State the facts rather than make an allegation

Most Scout Groups have an AGM, so I would raise it there with the district leaders in a "what will the menu be for the camp? The kids were hungry as they ate X, Y and Z and some kids didn't eat a main meal as not enough food was available. The cost of the camp was £X. What % was for food? And why was so little provided?"

I would report. I've organised a number of similar trips and any leftover food is distributed among the kids to take home whatever they want and while there are "rationed" meals, snacks are divided between the days and offered out to everyone. By rationed I mean everyone gets a first serving and whatever is left is fair game for who wants seconds.

That's really poor especially for a camp where they'll be doing physical activities and burning energy. Plus just the ethics, I'm always so aware that I really have no idea when the kids I work with last got a good meal so can't imagine sending any of them away hungry.

Tbf, they were hot on dietary requirements.

DH is a scout leader who was away at camp this weekend too. They had loads of food, a calzone each one night and a massive pot of homemade bolognaise the next. Croisssants, rolls and sausage and cereal for breakfast. Plenty of homemade soup, sandwiches, fruit, crisps and yoghurt for lunch. A big fruit bowl available at all times. Hot chocolate and marshmallows in the evenings.
He says you should absolutely report this to the district. This looks like a deliberate act and failure of leadership and it goes against the whole ethos of the group.

Doesnt sound great

On a camp my son went on recently they made pizzas, had a full on roast and a cooked breakfast!

I voted yanbu BUT I wouldn't make theft the focus. The focus should be that despite there being a kitchen full of nice food, the kids were given so little and that some didn't get dinner.

You can then point out the leaders take home the food that isn't used, but why wasn't that food used when the kids were starving.

I was in the Girl Guiding sector and something like this would be horrific.

That is a really good idea.
Then it's not saying "you didn't feed the children enough".
I think there must have been a menu because I remember all the children thinking there was going to be hot chocolate and cookies before bed one night and being disappointed it didn't happen.

I'd say something like you feel there needs to be clarification/more direction on how to manage meals because the situation was xyz and the kids seemed to be hungry constantly as a result. Not blamey, just looking for input.

I thought you meant taking some extra food, but this is not the case. They starved the scouts so they could take the food home. Totally dreadful. It needs to be reported.

I would report to the GSL and/ or to district. Regardless of whether they take stuff home, it's not okay to feed kids that little.
For context, on my Scout camps (when I was a leader and before that as a child), food was always plentiful and everyone was encouraged to eat as much as they needed. The odd very very fussy kid who refused to eat anything more than what you're describing struggled massively with energy levels for a full day of activities. We would have something like:

• cereal and hot breakfast (usually 3 elements e.g. sausages/ hash browns/ beans or bacon/ smileys/ spaghetti hoops)
• Snack: cup of squash/ water, something like an own brand kitkat/ choc biscuit/ bit of fruit. Maybe a mars bar special treat if out cycling.
• Lunch: sandwiches (some combination of tuna/ chicken/ ham/ cheese/ jam/ peanut butter depending on if we were eating them fresh or taking them out), with crisps, cucumber etc, cubes of cheese
• Snack 2 as above
• Dinner: something like chicken fajitas, corned beef hash, spag bol, always plenty.

The kids usually cooked breakfast and dinner in patrol areas, with some help (e.g. a leader might do all the sausages for the troop if we were in a rush/ had a particularly young group we didn't trust not to poison themselves). Always bread and butter available and kept in the patrol areas, put out at breakfast and dinner. Lunch was on a rota to help with the sandwiches plus any kids at a loose end/ finished with their activity. And there was always a bucket of sweets offered round for encouragement on hikes, curing homesickness and so on. Healthy on a daily basis? Maybe not, but perfect camp fuel. You could show the GSL this menu if they claim it's normal!

No one apart from the 2 people in charge of cooking were allowed in the kitchen. I think it was easier just to keep everyone out rather than anything malicious.

The whole eating experience was just miserable tbh. Even ignoring the food, there was nothing nice about the way it was served etc. Food times seemed like something all the leaders hated and wanted over as quickly as possible. The scouts on the whole were reasonably behaved even if they needed telling things 3 times. Admittedly the cubs less well behaved.

Pudding after every dinner too, and always pot noodles added to lunch for the group on watersports

i had 3 DS go through Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers - they had amazing times, wonderful camps and experiences. All of my family had the same and numerous friends applaud the generally thankless task of being a scout leader. Many people on here have also said that this op is not citing their childrens’ experience of camps.

i find the allegation that individuals would spend the vast majority of their year volunteering for scout activities in order to bagsy a few leftovers from camp frankly unlikely.

Ok. So I need to do something. I will think through my options.

Im aware that scouting struggles with volunteers so I need to balance the lack of food with the risk of volunteers leaving and/or my son being blacklisted.

He loves scouts. He was upset about the food at the camp but still had a good time so I don't want to ruin that. Im sure most of the other kids will feel the same.

I feel so guilty for not investigating the food situation earlier and just taking the leaders word for it. Someone said about not knowing when the children will eat properly next and that has just increased my guilt even more that I wasn't looking after them.

My son had a friend who never had much in their lunch box so we'd always make sure my son had enough to "share". I feel like I had that responsibility last month and didn't.

I've only just realised how miserable the food experience was, on the whole even without the lack of food. That's a separate issue though.

My son's experiences at his previous group were very much more in line with what everyone on here has experienced too.

For this group, I would really love to have another explanation for such little food and then all the left over food afterwards.

I acknowledge that the volunteers may have bought it themselves but why would they do that and then not serve it? Plus they agreed I could serve the tinned fruit from the stash.

As far as Im concerned, if there is (genuine) left over food then of course the leaders should take it, they have definitely earned some left over cake or uneaten sausages!

Thus is very weird in itself when I went on guides/girls' brigade trips we had to help with all the chores including cooking and cleaning up afterwards. You were all were expected to muck in and contribute which is surely a big part of the ethos of these organisations and what they are, in part, trying to teach children?

Absolutely report it. I am a GLV and leaving children hungry is absolutely not acceptable, especially as they will be doing plenty of activities. I would expect for each day cereals and juice, followed by either a cooked breakfast (or a breakfast bap if in a rush situation) followed by elevenses (cereal bar and juice), followed by lunch of sandwiches, crisps, chocolate bar, fruit, followed by another snack mid afternoon (sausage rolls for example), before getting onto the proper dinner (in ours usually spag bol or mild curry) followed by a pudding (cake and custard) followed by smores (2 choc digestives with melted marshmallows) around the fire or supper, with a cup of hot chocolate. With fruit on free vend, and some treats on top. Constant water and diluty juice. In our group, we expect the leaders to eat the same as the young people (but they are very welcome to bring their own food also). The kitchen is a no go area for young people on our camps (just dangerous) , but all leaders have access, and would consult the camp chef if food needed to be accessed differently (to be fair all of ours are so full of food they would not usually do so, but you do get the odd outlier who refused dinner and then becomes hungry - we always have cans of stuff, plus sandwiches for those who do). At the end of camp, we try and push any remaining food on the young people, then most of it is either taken last minute by leaders or burnt or binned. I would probably add that comms is important iro of food, we expect our scouts to have had their normal tea before joining us at our site on the Friday night at 7pm (it is 35 mins away) but we still do hot dogs and cake for "supper", but we do get scouts turning up having had nothing since lunchtime, we just buy more hotdogs and they have double. It also sounds like you have helped with camp, so this is seeing it first hand, not just reporting it via your child. That makes a huge difference in the reporting of it too (we had a young person that, according to mum, would struggle as he would not eat anything other than McD chicken nuggets (not on the menu) but we could try him with plain white bread or plain pasta and not to worry too much.) In reality, he ate everything served, with no bother. Sorry, I have rambled on, but definitely report your observations. Camp without good food is not a good camp.