[Insert name] from [insert town/city] selected for an international adventure to West Virginia, USA with The Scout Association

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XX 2017: [Name] from [village/town/city] has been selected from Scouting’s 150,000 adult volunteers to represent the UK at the 24th World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, USA in 2019. [Name] will be taking responsibility along with three other volunteers to lead a unit of 36 Scouts from [County Name] to the Jamboree.

(Name) is one of the volunteer leadership team who make the Jamboree a reality for the 36 young people aged 14 to 18 from [County Name]. [Name] decided to apply because [please select as appropriate: he/she OR he/she went to a Jamboree as a young person (insert relevant detail) and now wants to do it as an adult OR he/she has never done anything internationally before]. He/she is one of 400 successful adult candidates chosen for the trip like no other after impressing at a special selection event in [XXXXXX]. [Name] had to complete a variety of team activities and creativity tests to demonstrate why he/she should be part of a team to lead 36 young people from [Name of county] to attend Jamboree.

Attending the Jamboree is an opportunity like no other for [name] and the other UK adult volunteers selected. Not only will they get to meet 45,000 people from nearly every country in the world - and share their knowledge and experiences whilst working towards greater international understanding - the Jamboree offers them the chance to learn new skills that they can use in other aspects of their life.

Between now and the summer of 2019 (Name) will support 36 young people [County Name] learning how to live and work together for this amazing adventure. Activities will include:

·  Helping each young person raising the participation fee,

·  Building a sense of team work and togetherness,

·  Prepare the participants for a period of three weeks away from home,

·  Helping participants understand and value different cultural norms and practices,

·  Preparing the young people to be part of a global village with residents from every county in the world,

·  Providing opportunities for the young people to get to know each other, to develop the skills needed and prepare them for the life changing experience,

[Name] from [place] said: [Insert quote from successful candidate, this quote should talk about their motivation for going and how only Scouting can provide such opportunities. This should also include some information about their current Scouting role that they are currently volunteering through.]

Chief Scout, Bear Grylls said: “Congratulations to [insert name] and all the other UK volunteers who have been selected to lead Scouts from (INSERT COUNTY) to the world Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, USA. While lots of people know that Scouting helps young people learn the skills they need for life they often don’t realize that adult volunteers learn just as much as our young members. The Jamboree is a great example of this. Over the course of the Jamboree our volunteers will be able to meet people from around the world, take part in amazing adventures and experiences, learn new skills and be challenged to think about global issues in a new light. I wish [insert name] all the best and I know they are going to have an amazing time over the next few years.”

ENDS

For more information please contact [insert details]

Notes to Editors

·  The 24th World Scout Jamboree 2019 will take place from 22nd July to 2nd August 2019 at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia.

·  The Jamboree is being run as a team effort by the Scout organisations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

·  The Summit Bechtel Reserve is located in Glen Jean, West Virginia which is 309 mile/497 km from Washington, DC, 540 miles/869 km from Toronto, Canada, and 2,186 miles/ 3,521 km from Mexico City, Mexico.

·  The theme of the Jamboree is “Unlock a new world”.

·  The World Scout Jamboree is an educational event that brings together the world’s young people. For 10 days, young people work together to find out about each other’s’ cultures and faiths, learn new skills, take part in adventurous activities and grow as global citizens to tackle some of the biggest issues facing the world today.

·  The Jamboree is organised and run by over 10,000 thousand adult volunteers from around the world, who give up their time to enable the young people to have an amazing experience and ensure the safe running of the event.

·  The first World Scout Jamboree took place in London in 1920. In 2007 the UK hosted the World Scout Jamboree as part of Scouting’s Centenary Celebrations. World Scout Jamborees take place every four years.

·  When the UK hosted the World Scout Jamboree in 2007 more young people from more countries than attended the 2012 Olympic Games were part of the experience.

About Scouting

·  The Scout Association was founded on 1st August 1907.

·  Adventure is at the core of Scouting, and the Association passionately believes in helping their members fulfill their full physical, intellectual social and spiritual potentials by working in teams, learning by doing and thinking for themselves.

·  Over 200 activities are offered by Scouting around the UK, made possible by the efforts of 150,000 voluntary adult leaders. This has helped make Scouting the largest co-educational youth Movement in the country with over 464,000 youth members.

·  One of the challenges that the Scout Movement faces is finding more volunteers to plug the current gap. At present there are more than 51,000 young people on waiting lists as more and more young people want to experience the adventure of Scouting.

·  Adults working in Scouting contribute in excess of 364 million hours of voluntary work each year to their local communities.

·  The number of volunteers working for Scouting (150,000) is bigger than the combined workforces of the BBC (24,000) and McDonalds (67,000) put together.

·  Worldwide Scouting has 40 million members both male and female and operates in nearly every country in the world.