As our event chairs and professional staff are planning future activities, they’ll need to make sure we’re recruiting cook-team leaders who have the required certifications.
While still young at heart, many of our long-time cook-team volunteers are chronologically advanced in age. Over the last couple of years, Bay-Lakes Council has lost a several of our most dedicated volunteers who were ServSafe Manger Certified. Some have passed away, others have moved away, and some are dealing with significant health issues which prevent them from being able to provide their cheerful service in our kitchens. This has forced us to rely heavily on a small but dedicated group of volunteers who we know have the necessary ServSafe Manager Certification. Relying on this small but mighty group is not a viable long-term option, as they too are getting older and the risk of their ranks continuing to shrink grows every year we fail to recruit new generations of cook-team volunteers.
To better facilitate successful recruitment of new cook-team members and leaders, we would like to understand three important data points:
- Who among our membership is interested in learning more about serving on a cook-team.
- Who has served on an event cook-team in the past and is now interested in obtaining their ServSafe Manager Certification.
- Which Scouters currently have the required ServSafe Manager Certification.
Please reach out to Council Camping Director, Dan Skrypczak, if you’re interested in learning more about this fun and rewarding volunteering opportunity, have a current ServSafe Manager Certification, or are ready to explore becoming a cook-team leader at two or more events per year. If you have a current ServSafe Manager Certification, please provide the expiration date.
If there is enough interest, we will attempt to work with ServSafe to organize an in-person instructor-led course (and proctored exam) for both new ServSafe Managers and those looking to recertify before their current certifications expire. Typically, we would need a minimum of 30 individuals interested before they would consider organizing special discounted pricing or venue-specific training.
Next time you attend a Scouting event, please make sure to thank the volunteers on the cook-team. They cheerfully work hard to make sure our programming participants and staff are well fed!
