Complete 2 hours of service

Building on the single service hour you completed for Tenderfoot Requirement 7b, Second Class Requirement 8e expands your civic contribution to two hours of approved service and asks you to reflect on how your work directly embodies the Scout Oath.

Planning and Scoutmaster Pre-Approval

Just like all rank-advancement service in Scouting, your two hours must be approved in advance by your Scoutmaster.

Rules for Service Hours

• New Service Hours: These two hours must be separate from the hour completed for Tenderfoot (service hours cannot be “double counted” across ranks).
• Flexible Scheduling: You can complete the two hours in a single continuous project or divide them across multiple shorter projects.
• Approved Beneficiaries: Projects must serve your community, place of worship, school, chartered organization, or public parks. Service cannot benefit private for-profit businesses or individuals in exchange for pay.

Excellent Project Opportunities

• Conservation and Parks: Clearing invasive species, planting native trees, mulching public flowerbeds, or cleaning local waterways.
• Hunger Relief & Community Drives: Sorting food at a food bank, organizing clothing collections, or packing holiday meal kits for families in need.
• Facility Maintenance: Repairing benches, painting fences, or landscaping at your chartered organization or community center.
• Eagle Scout Service Projects: Lending your labor and teamwork to an older Scout’s Eagle project.

Connecting Your Service to the Scout Oath

During your Scoutmaster Conference, you will discuss how your service experience connects to the three core promises of the Scout Oath:

“To help other people at all times”

This is the heart of the Scouting movement. Service projects transform this promise from an abstract ideal into tangible action—sacrificing your free time and energy so that someone else’s environment, community, or daily life is improved.

“Duty to God and my country”

True citizenship is active, not passive. By volunteering in your local neighborhood, you strengthen American civil society, care for public lands, and demonstrate devotion to the welfare of your fellow citizens.

“To keep myself physically strong”

Service projects often require hard physical work—shoveling mulch, hauling brush, lifting heavy boxes, and walking miles of trail. Putting your physical strength and conditioning to work for the benefit of others is the ultimate purpose of staying fit.