Masonry Magazine October 1997 Page. 37
Wanted
Skilled Bricklayer, able to build leads, good communication skills, motivated, works well with others.
remod
630811-2471
115 Pck Ave
ELMHURST C
GROVE 28 1584 $110068
OW WDB CAC
Wanted...
Skilled Bricklayers
By: Vivian Urban
How would you like to hire an employee who is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent? Does that sound like someone who lives only in heaven? Not so! They are the Boy Scouts. Every Boy Scout knows these traits.
How would you like an employee who commits to keeping himself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight? This commitment is part of the Scout Oath.
What am I getting at? Until September 1996, Boy Scouts of America (BSA) had a masonry merit badge. Due to lack of interest by Scouts and the inability of Scout Troops to get skilled masons to teach the merit badge, the National BSA decided to drop the masonry merit badge.
Through the efforts of John Urban of Urban Masonry, Brian Urban of Lynden Washington Boy Scout Troop 28, the Bricklayers and Allied Crafts Union Local #1 of Seattle, and Mike Adelizzi, Executive Director of the Mason Contractors Association of America, we are striving to rewrite the merit badge book and to reintroduce the masonry merit badge.
Why should this interest you, the mason contractor? Here's why! 28% of all boys in Scouting enter a trade or profession that they learned about through the merit badge program. Lynden's Troop 28 is just finishing their masonry merit badge (see photos). Were they impressed with all the skills a mason needs? Was laying brick a lot harder then it looks'? You have to be good at math. You have to be able to read a tape measure. You bet! The Scouts were impressed.
After the Scouts completed a tour of Mutual Material Company's brick manufacturing facility in Newcastle, Washington, Mara Smith of Mara Smith Architectural Murals, Newcastle, provided the Scouts with an opportunity to do some sculpting in brick. The boys' sculptured bricks were fired in Mutual's kiln and installed by them on their cabin. Tom Henderson of Henderson Masonry, Inc. Kent, Washington found a similar interest by young people in masonry when he presented an MCAA Masonry Day demonstration to students at Chinook Middle School in Bellevue, Washington. Tom used the local resources of the Washington State Conference of Masonry Contractors and the Masonry Institute of Washington.
How can you make something happen to support the future of our trade?