Janice Arlene Ray of Bauxite is most known in Saline County as the public health educator of the Saline County Hometown Health Coalition.
To the Boy Scouts of America, Ray, 50, is known as the recent recipient of one of the groups highest honors — the Silver Beaver Award.
“I truly understand that it is a distinguished honor to get this award,” Ray said. “Not just anyone gets this award, so I was crying when I got it ... I was just overwhelmed with emotions.”
Established in 1931, the Silver Beaver Award is presented for distinguished service to young people within a Boy ScoutS of America local council, according to www.scouting.org, and more than 50,000 recognitions have been conferred to date.
The award is given to people who implement the scouting program and perform community service through hard work, self sacrifice, dedication, and many years of service. It is also normally given to those who do not actively seek it.
Ray received the award from the National Court of Honor, the Ouachita Area Council and the Boy Scouts of America during a special ceremony at the Arlington Hotel. The ceremony also recognized numerous young men for becoming an Eagle Scout.
Ray, who said she is “not use to being told I do a good job” has been a lifelong scout since joining the Girl Scouts in 1964 at the age of six.
“I wanted friends and that was the main reason why I first joined,” she said. “But I also loved the outdoors. My parents were devout Southern Baptists and girls weren’t suppose to be doing outdoor things, so the Girl Scouts gave me an outlet to the outdoors.”
When she started junior high school, Ray said she had to move and was forced to quit the girl scouts because she had no way of getting to the meetings anymore. Then she had a son, James Moore, who at the age of six wanted to join the Boy Scouts, she said.
“I was a working mom and wasn’t ready to completely turn him over alone to the scouts,” Ray said. “So I started going to the meetings with him and got involved. I first became a Tiger Cub Assistant and eventually began training for different leadership levels. I just did whatever was needed and was there all the time.”
Two other sons, Michael and Nathaniel Hafferty, would also join the Boy Scouts. Moore is now twenty-four and is a Life Scout. Michael is eighteen and is working on becoming an Eagle Scout and Nathaniel, 15, is also hoping to become an Eagle Scout. Because of her son’s active life in the Boy Scouts, she said she is also active in the program.
Starla Beall with the Ouachita Area Council said that Ray, “continues to serve at the Pack and Troop level, is the Bauxite community contact for scouting coordinator and Nischa Sipo District, the Ouachita Area Council’s Training Staff, the Pow Wow Staff, Twilight Camp Staff, Tiger Tracks Coordinator, Nischa Sipo District Flag Education and Veterans Flag Retirement Ceremony Coordinator, Nischa Sipo District Comm-ittee and is the Cub Scout Roundtable Chairperson.”
“It becomes a family event and it definitely fills our days,” Ray said. “Growing up, I guess my boys felt like scouting is something they are suppose to do. But as a single parent, I decided long ago that I wanted their male role models to come from church and the Boy Scouts. So I guess I probably encouraged it a little too.”
Ray is also very active outside of the Boy Scouts, including serving as a deacon at First Presbyterian Church in Benton, on the Christian Education Comm-ittee for the congregation, is on the Arkansas Presbyter-ian Cursillo Council, volunteers at the Safe Haven for Battered Women Shelter and volunteers at the Churches Joint Council on Human Needs.
“We definitely do community service and I think all of it has helped bond us,” Ray said. “All of us also volunteer for the Angel Food Service. We volunteer in our school, whether it is to help clean up, start recycling programs or whatever is needed. We try to do volunteerism to improve our schools and the community and not just in our own community, but we stretch it out to as many throughout Saline County and beyond.”
Beall said it is easy to see why Ray was nominated for the award. Ray, however, said she is honored, but was hesitant about accepting it.
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