PATERSON PRESS

Paterson’s Cub Scouts were fading away. But there’s a new troop in town

3-minute read

Darren Tobia | Paterson Press
Updated April 2, 2025, 2:06 p.m. ET

Prospect Park Cub Scouts enjoy camping and camaraderie
Isabella Rivera and Sophia Rodriguez talk about why they joined Prospect Park Cub Scout Pack 2
on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

Key Points

One of the reasons membership has declined over the years is the loss of community organizations, especially churches, that had traditionally chartered troops.

PATERSON — Kindergartner Tyler Young almost wasn’t allowed to join the city’s new Cub Scout troop because he was a grade shy of the requirement.

But knowing the troubles the Scouts have had in keeping local troops alive in Paterson, Farhanna Sayegh decided to give in.

“We didn’t have the heart to say no,” Sayegh said.

Earlier this year, Sayegh, Mayor Andre Sayegh’s wife, decided to revive the local Cub Scouts program after seeing how much fun her son, 6-year-old Ayden, was having at his sisters’ Girl Scouts meeting.

“Every town around us has a Cub Scout pack,” she said. “We need programs like this — in the age of technology we’re losing out on these old-fashioned values and schools.”

Story continues below photo gallery.

The thrill of victory: Cub Scouts hosts Pinewood Derby at Nutley middle school
Cub Scout Pack 141 hosted a Pinewood Derby at John H. Walker Middle School in Nutley on Friday night.

In 1935, the Boy Scouts of America had more than 1,500 members in Paterson alone, said a newspaper story from that time. In 1996, there were 32 troops chartered at various public schools around the city.

In 2015, the program had dwindled to zero when local activists Khemi Freeman and Ernest Obiorah tried to revive the Scouts. A few years later, a Cub Scouts program was created at the Young Men’s Leadership Academy. These were among the last troops in Paterson before Sayegh stepped up to the plate.

The grade requirement wasn’t the only concession Sayegh knew she had to make to launch the city’s first Cub Scouts program in several years. The usual membership fees, which begin at $125, she slashed to $25 for the year.

Scouting America, the parent organization, has also tweaked its own formula to attract more families. In 2019, it began to let girls participate in the Boy Scouts division, which is now called Scouts BSA.

Six-year-old Tyler Young launches his paper airplane during a recent meeting of a new Cub Scout troop in Paterson.
Darren Tobie/Paterson Press

At the troop’s second meeting, last Friday, Will Ebel, district executive for Scouting America, visited the local group and taught them how to make paper airplanes.

“It might sound childish, but it’s not,” Ebel said about making planes. “It’s aeronautical engineering.”

After building their airplanes, the children lined up and had a friendly competition to see whose plane went the farthest. Despite being lumped in with the third graders, kindergartner Tyler surprised them by winning.

Helping kids socialize, parents spend time with sons

What Sayegh is doing is not easy. Few people know the struggle of holding a Cub Scout troop together better than Nuno Neves, the father of 9-year-old Gael, one of the new Cub Scouts.

Now a Paterson resident, Neves, 47, used to be a troop leader in Newark’s Ironbound, but he saw his troop slowly dissolved, like so many others around the country.

Will Ebel teaches the new Paterson Cub Scouts pack how to make paper airplanes.
Darren Tobia/Paterson Press

“As children started growing up, families started moving out of the city — it trickled away to nothing,” Neves said. “When we tried to start my old troop in Newark, we were trying to call all the old Boy Scouts, but it’s hard when people move away to Massachusetts and Virginia.”

Neves, who was an Eagle Scout as a teenager, said he believes in the program because it helps Gael socialize with other children his age. It’s also an opportunity for parents, especially fathers, to spend quality time with their sons.

“My father would join us when we went camping,” said Neves, who went to such spots as Camp Yaw Paw in Mahwah.

Fewer churches to charter troops

To make the new Cub Scout troops happen, Sayegh brought on Scoutmaster Frank Miller and Charisse Taylor, who brought 20 years of experience working for the Girls Scouts of Northern New Jersey. They managed to launch the program in less than three months.

Frank Miller teaches volunteers Linda Mora and Abass Botaah how to tie a slip knot during a recent new Paterson Cub Scout meeting. Darren Tobia/Paterson Press

One of the reasons membership has dropped over the years, Ebel said, is not necessarily a lack of interested children, but rather the loss of community organizations, especially churches, that traditionally charter local troops.

Sayegh’s new troop is being chartered under Mayor Andre Sayegh’s civic association, which is sponsoring the children’s and volunteers’ membership fees. The mayor also sponsored Freeman’s troop that formed in 2015.

“It’s much lower numbers than we saw 30 years ago when I was a kid in the program, but the kids who attend still take a lot from it,” Ebel said.

A new Paterson Cub Scouts troop’s recent meeting begins with the Scout Oath.
Darren Tobia/Paterson Press

Last Friday, the children also learned their first outdoor skill: tying knots. One of the reasons Cub Scouts are beginning to learn these skills on the first day is because it’s inexpensive, Ebel said. It’s a reminder that children don’t need a $300 iPad to have fun.

“The program should be fun, but shouldn’t break the bank,” Ebel said.

If interested in signing up a child, volunteering, or making a donation to support these scouts, email PatersonScouts@gmail.com