Church Marks 75 Years as Scouting Sponsor

The Church, sponsor of the largest number of Scouting units in the United States, is scheduled to observe its seventy-fifth anniversary as an official Boy Scouts of America sponsor on Sunday, February 14.

A commemorative program at 6:00 P.M. (MST) will be televised via Church satellite to meetinghouses throughout the United States.

“It has been one of the choicest experiences of my life to serve in and participate in Scouting,” said President Ezra Taft Benson, who has been involved in Scouting for sixty-eight years. “Scouting is a great program for leadership training, teaching patriotism and love of country, and building strong character.”

President Benson holds a Silver Buffalo and other Scouting awards. He has served on BSA’s National Executive Board and the National Advisory Council.

“The Boy Scouts of America is one of the great bastions of character development and preparation for manhood,” said Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Elder Featherstone, Young Men General President, oversees the worldwide Scouting program of the Church.

“The seventy-five years of close association with the Boy Scouts of America have been a blessing to hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saint young men,” he added.