Troop 360 was the only Boy Scout troop left in Lancaster Township, and this week, it too will cease to exist.

An auction set Thursday at the Lancaster Community Center marks the troop’s end, and serves as a sad sign for what could continue to happen to many youth clubs if membership continually declines.

Of course, the Boy Scouts of America have been under fire as tens of thousands of people filed a lawsuit against the organization, saying they had been sexually abused as scouts. An $850 million settlement — the largest in a child sexual abuse case in United States history — was recently reached.

That won’t help the organization bring in new troops in the future, and understandably so.

Nationwide, the Boy Scouts of America saw enrollment plunge by at least 40% between 2019 and 2020, according to a number of national reports.

There’s no doubt that the lawsuit has soiled the organization’s reputation. Whether or not a troop was involved in the allegations, it will have to work to overcome the stigma now associated with the group.

But it’s not the only youth organization that has seen decreases in memberships over the past years.

Membership to Girl Scouts of the USA, for instance, fell by nearly 30% from 2019 to 2020, a staggering drop for a one-year period, a New York Times report said.

Membership in scouting was already on a decline. In 2003, the Girl Scouts reported membership of about 2.8 million, the Associated Press said in a June 2021 article. The Boy Scouts had upward of 4 million boys as members in the organization in the 1970s.

COVID-19 came along to only accelerate that decrease in membership. The pandemic contributed to the decline, as many critical activities, done in person, were curtailed by state and local COVID-19 mandates.

Virtual programming replaced in-person meetings and groups, and eventually, as these organizations reopened, many didn’t return.

For Troop 360 in Lancaster, membership was down to one boy just a few months ago. Leaders are blunt to point to a proliferation of electronic devices, or competition in sports for scholarships, that stole membership away.

Whatever the reason, in-person activities that teach today’s youth how to be tomorrow’s leaders need to return. Programs like the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the USA foster important social skills for children, provide valuable lessons and teach important life skills.

Yes, there’s more to being a Girl Scout than selling cookies. There’s the valuable lessons that come along with the experience and shape our youth.

Likewise, there’s valuable skills youth learn by participating in Boy Scouts, and it’d be a shame for the importance of the organization to be overlooked amid the recent turmoil.

It’s sad to see the equipment and resources gathered in support of local youth be auctioned away. This was equipment used to better the leaders of tomorrow.

As this week’s auction draws near, we hope that the equipment once used by Troop 360 could wind up helping our future leaders.

But moreso, we hope that today’s leaders will think hard about how our future leaders are being prepared.

— TAL