Scouter awarded national honour
Posted By CECILIA NASMITH
Posted 4 months ago
Port Hope resident Kim Bisset has been honoured with a Scouts Canada award for Outstanding Service To Scouting.
Her friend and fellow Scouter Mary Anne Rowlands made the nomination, describing Bisset as a full and active participant in Scouting at the section, group, area and council levels.
Rowlands said Bisset is always willing to go the extra mile. For example, when she asked Bisset to take on the role of area registrar, she did so in spite of the extra work it would mean.
Bisset's Scouting involvement dates from childhood, when she was a Brownie, Guide and Ranger (and also helped her mother with the Port Hope Cub pack she was involved in). Most recently, she has been group commissioner at First Port Hope St. Mark's Church. Under her leadership, Rowlands reported, membership has grown and a new Venturer company was formed.
As well, she has the best attendance record of any group commissioner at area meetings.
Bisset's sister Tracy recalls times when she would step in to keep a struggling group going -- joining her nephews' group as treasurer when it was in danger of folding, for example. She has also been known to step in for a leader who couldn't make a meeting because he was stuck at the airport. If there was a camp short of leaders or a young person unable to attend Beaverees or Cuborees, she was there.
She also recalls Bisset's tireless work in every fundraiser that came down the pike, from hot-chocolate booths at Float Your Fanny races to apple days, bottle drives and raffle booths. There were weeks, she said, when Bisset was out every night of the week working for Scouting.
Rowlands added that Bisset also gave up her own holiday time in order to attend at least two Scouting jamborees, even acting as a service scouter at the 11th Canadian Scout Jamboree in Montreal in 2007 (which was attended by scouters from around the world).
And as active as she is in the upper levels of scouting, Rowlands said, back at St. Mark's she knows the names and backgrounds of each of the 52 young members.
The award was presented in a ceremony at Bisset's place of employment, Northumberland Hills Hospital.
"One of the most remarkable aspects of Kim's scouting is that she does not have (and never has had) any children of her own, and yet she gives so much of her time and energy to other people's children and to the community betterment through scouting," Rowlands said.
"She does more than her part in creating a better world."
