Debbie Scherf and Ed Scheid are two leaders of local chapters of Navigators USA, a fast-growing alternative to traditional Scouting programs supported by your donations to the Heart & Soul Charitable Fund.  With no creed, no sworn oaths, and inclusive of all who care to participate, Navigators USA chapters have sprouted up in 16 states from New England to Southern California, Washington State to the Virginias.

Scheid, who self-identifies as an Atheist, thought it "difficult to put a kid in that position" when his 10 year old son was required to pledge allegiance to a particular deity in order to participate in a local scouting program in his community in southern Ohio.  He investigated the alternatives and came across The Navigators USA on the internet, and decided to form a chapter in his town of Mason.  Next on board was his dentist, a former Eagle Scout who was not allowed to be a troop leader in another scouting program due to his sexual orientation.  Currently their group includes about thirty kids, half boys and half girls.  "It's just a scouting group", says the low-key Scheid, but some of the other parents have different feelings.  "A lot of the families feel strongly that they want to be in a place where everyone is accepted no matter what their sexuality, and no matter what their beliefs are", says one mother in the group.  Navigators Chapter 18, from Mason, Ohio, has a Facebook page where you can follow their activities.

For Debbie Scherf, the issues are broader.  There are about 17 kids in the chapter she founded in October of 2011, and nearly every one of the 11 to 30 years olds in the crew is a person with special needs.  "I was appalled the way these people were being treated" in the regular scouting venues, she says, so she began working with local and state agencies, and a special needs school in her town in mid-Michigan, The Pied Piper in Alpena, to create Navigators chapter 1756.   

Boys and girls with mild to severe cognitive and physical disabilities make up the majority of the Navigators in this chapter and while they are supervised by eleven adults who serve on an Activity Committee, they basically run the outfit themselves.  "We're all made of the same cloth", Debbie says, and among their ranks are a President, Vice-President, Secretary, and a Quartermaster.  The choice of weekend activities is up to the crew, but they plan something every weekend year in and out.  Many of the traditional scouting activities such as hiking, camping, and canoeing have been enjoyed by the group, but their portfolio has also expanded to include tree planting, toy wrapping, CPR and First Aid classes, fund raising for local charities, and proudly marching in community parades on floats of their own creation.  

All of this may be seen on their Facebook page, Navigators Crew Alpena, where you can observe faces beaming with the kind of joy and satisfaction that is beyond words, and illustrative of the spirit which brings people into the scouting movement in the first place, but until now had been out of reach of many of these young people. Go Navigators!