Sunday was a beautiful day, and for Saint Paul the Apostle's Boy Scout Troop 728, of Richardson, it had special meaning; three (3) of our Troop’s Scouts, had achieved Scouting's highest honor, the rank of Eagle Scout, and were being honored at Scouting's traditional "Court of Honor".

Afterwards the typical reception, followed by our weekly Troop meeting.

At our Troop meeting the routine of rank advancement, community services, upcoming outings were the main topics with the new topic of our annual fund raiser in June. Afterall, merit badges, rank insignias, troop gear, and even community service cost money, and funds are at their lowest numbers of the year.

No one in our Troop could have foreseen, that in just a few hours our Troop's expenses would grow because we were victimized by thieves in the night. Sunday night after high activity in our Troop, at our church, thieved cut the locks off our two (2) Boy Scout Troop trailers stealing almost $2000.00 of Troop-owned camping gear including but not limited to:

a Tool Tote containing hand tools, hand saws, and hatchets, a Kitchen Tote containing kitchenware and canned vegetables, an aluminum Trail Chef Cook Kit, an EZ-Up Pop Up 10X10 shelter, 6- Coleman 9X7 Sun-Dome & Eureka backpacking tents, 4- Coleman Northstar Propane Lanterns w/ cases, 3 First Aid Kits(1 camp kit, 1 backpacking kit, and 1 wilderness first aid kit), and the spare tire to one of the trailers. Equipment and gear that could possibly cause cancellation of our Troop's following months campouts. The Scouts find it unbelievable that people steal from Boy Scouts. The adult volunteers find it hard to believe that it was done in a lighted church parking lot, but know that a church is not a sanctuary from thieves.

The Scouts know that their gear will end up in pawn shops, and possibly on Ebay without chance of return. The deductible on insurance makes it ineffective to file a claim. So, Scouting takes another hit. Time, effort and money that would have gone back into the community service projects that is a Scouting legacy, will now have to be diverted into replacing the most basic needs of the "Scouting Experience". And because of that, our community takes a hit, and the entire metroplex area takes the hit.

Actions of a few thieves will be felt community-wide and although it may be a small ripple to the community, it is a major splash to the Boy Scouts of Saint Paul the Apostle’s Troop 728 whose actions and whose deeds are known city wide.

It is no longer enough for our area’s Boy Scouts to "Be Prepared", they now have to "Be Prepared to Be Secure"