One hundred Boy Scouts from across North Carolina will travel to the state’s capital today to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

The Scouts, one from each county, will not only carry their county flags, they will carry the banner for Scouting: helping others. In honor of a centennial of Scouting, Boy Scouts statewide are pledging to contribute 100,000 hours to community service projects.

Jonathan Sherman, 16, plans to do his part by erecting a flag pole at the Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic in Greenville. Jonathan’s Eagle Scout project was selected from Pitt County to present his service project at today’s “Report to the Governor for Boy Scouting.”

“The whole theme of the Report to the Governor is 100,000 hours from 100 counties,” Ray Franks, Scout executive of the East Carolina Council, said. “We’re actually doing it as a gift to the state of North Carolina.”

Franks, a Boy Scout in his youth, said service is one of the fundamental principles the organization, which traces its origins to England near the turn of the 20th century. British Army officer Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell found that a handbook on first aid and survival that he had written for his men had attracted the attention of a number of younger boys. In August 1907, he had a wilderness excursion with a group of 20. Within a few years, there were more than 30,000 Boy Scouts in England.

Two similar boys’ movements were beginning in the United States. But there was no connection to Scouting until Chicago businessman and publisher William D. Boyce got lost in the fog in England and was led to his destination by a boy professing to be a Scout. Boyce questioned the boy, who refused payment for his good deed and led the American to Baden-Powell. Boyce returned to the United States with a suitcase full of Scouting information and incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on Feb. 8, 1910.

Beginning in 1911, boys joining Scouts have taken a vow to help others and to serve their country. Since selling bonds and collecting scrap metal during World War I and World War II, Scouts have kept the promise, Franks said. Early in the organization’s history, Scouts planted vegetable gardens to feed the hungry and collected food for the needy during the Great Depression.

Jonathan’s father, Bill Sherman, a unit commissioner for Boy Scouts, said the effort continues today through programs such as last weekend’s Scouting for Food, a drive that benefits area food pantries.

“It’s still the same today that it was in the early 1900s,” he said. “Citizenship, devotion to country, devotion to your spiritual leader, all these were things that Baden-Powell took into consideration way back when, they’re still just as valid today, 100 years later.”

Bill Sherman has been involved in Scouting, much like his son and his father, William Sherman, who continues to serve on the executive board for Boy Scouts.

Today, third-generation and even fourth-generation Scouts are becoming more common as fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers bring their boys into the fold.

Jonathan remembers initially being drawn to Scouting because of camping. But what kept him involved was more than first aid or tying knots.

“It taught me how to be a better man,” he said, “and how to prepare myself for the future.”

“Be prepared,” the motto of Boy Scouts, refers to more than just survival skills, Franks said. It also involves preparing for the future by beginning a network of contacts with fellow Scouts.

“While we’re most known for our camping program, that’s just our laboratory,” Franks said. “That’s not what we’re really teaching. We’re teaching leadership and character and values.”

Those values include a belief in God. Scouts gathering for the statewide celebration began Sunday with a Scout Vesper Service at Greystone Baptist Church.

“We’re the last national youth development organization based on a belief in God,” Franks said. “We’ve never let go of the Judeo-Christian values that built the country. I really think that’s a major part of our success.”

In Scouts, belief in God is a requirement for membership and advancement, an aspect of the program that has been the subject of controversy in recent years. The Scout Oath obliges each member “to do my duty to God and my country.”

Some critics say the religious reference is to blame for a declining enrollment in Scouts, which today has about 4 million members, down from about 6 million in the 1970s.

Franks said the East Carolina Council, which includes 20 counties in eastern North Carolina, has defied that trend. The council, which includes almost 10,000 Scouts and 3,000 volunteers, last fall saw the biggest enrollment in a decade. The local council added more than any other council in North Carolina or Virginia.

“I think the value that we add in an individual’s life and the lessons we teach them endears them to return to the program and give back what they received,” Franks said. “... We’re laying down the leadership base that’s going to lead the organization in the next 100 years.”

Bill Sherman, who has seen Boy Scouting merit badges grow from woodwork and first aid to computers and fingerprinting expects the organization will be around 100 years from now.

“I think as long as the country is here, as long as young men who have grown up in the Scouting program have children or grandchildren of their own,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a place for Scouting.”

Contact Kim Grizzard at kgrizzard@reflector.com or (252) 329-9578.