Remarks on Receiving the Boy Scouts of America Report to the Nation

Let me just first welcome everybody here, those up here and everybody out in the audience. I am pleased to be here because the goals of the Boy Scouts and the concerns of the young of our Nation are very important to me, important to our administration, and most of all, fundamentally important to our whole country. I want to recognize Ronald Moranville, the deputy chief Scout executive, seated here, right here in the front; and those members of the administration who are with us, our Chief of Staff, Sam Skinner, the future Secretary of Transportation here, Andy Card, and others with us who are all very interested in this.

Since 1910 with President Taft, every President, I think Ben referred to this, but every President has received the Boy Scouts report to the Nation. And I am again proud to receive it this year. The Scout slogan is "Do a good turn daily." This report represents the great and heroic deeds done by our Nation's future, from feeding the hungry to helping kids stay drug-free. I listened to those five goals, and clearly we should all be working to achieve those goals.

Boy Scouts and Scout initiative have been recognized as what we call daily Points of Light for serving others and making positive differences, for example, the members of Boy Scout Troop 4 of Ann Arbor, Michigan. These Scouts made community service central to their mission, providing companionship to our elderly, beautifying the grounds of the elderly homes, as well as working with the hungry and those afflicted by drugs.

So I just mentioned one example; there are many, many more that I could point to. I want to thank all of you for the good turns done by the Scouts throughout the United States; thank each of you, those who have been singled out for personal heroism. It sets a wonderful example to young and old alike.

So for me, this is a very nice interlude, and I'm just delighted to see you all back here. I remember that marvelous encampment in Virginia. I hope someday I'll get to come back. It's good to see you guys. Thanks for coming.