From left: Meredith Allen, Woods Eastland, and Mike Sturdivant, Jr.
The Chickasaw Council of the Boy Scouts of America honored Woods Eastland with the 2011 Distinguished Citizen Award on November 3, 2011. This award was established by the Boy Scouts of America to recognize noteworthy and extraordinary leadership of citizens in communities across the United States. In describing the purpose of the award, the Council wrote, “Honoring distinguished citizenship delivers a message to our youth that character counts. The lives of distinguished citizens put into place guideposts that serve to inspire our youth to lead, to accept responsibility, and to care about principles and causes beyond self-interest.”
The award was presented at a dinner given by the Scouts in Eastland’s honor at the Greenwood Country Club in Greenwood, Mississippi. This annual event is a significant fundraiser for the Council. Chairpersons of the event are selected, an organizing committee is formed, sponsorships are solicited, and tickets to the dinner are sold. With more than 275 friends and family in attendance, this year’s event raised nearly $60,000 to benefit the Scouting program. The area that the Chickasaw Council serves includes 17 counties of Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. There are more than 16,000 Scouts in the Chickasaw Council.
Meredith Allen, President and CEO of Staplcotn, and Mike Sturdivant, Jr, farmer and Staplcotn Director, were cochairmen of the event. Allen commented, “I was more than happy to co-chair this event for Woods. He has done so much for the Scouts over the years and is such a great role model for so many. I have worked with him for over 25 years and I can’t imagine anyone more deserving of this honor.”
Dr. Robert Khayat, former chancellor of the University of Mississippi, was the keynote speaker for the evening. In his remarks, Khayat said, “I jumped at the chance (to speak at the event) because it’s not often that you have the opportunity to speak publicly about truly extraordinary people. That’s what we do tonight. We support the Boy Scouts, and we honor a family which is truly, truly remarkable.” Khayat compared Woods Eastland’s character to that which describes a Scout in the Boy Scout Law, “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. That is a description of Woods Eastland.”
Eastland has been very involved in Scouting as an Executive Board member, Advisory Board Member and a District Board Member. He has served as a Friends of Scouting Chairman for many years. He has also participated in Eagle Scout ceremonies and has been awarded the District Award of Merit and is a Silver Beaver Recipient. Eastland also chaired a previous Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner which honored the family of Mike Sturdivant, Jr.
In addition to Eastland and Sturdivant, the family of Bowen Flowers, Staplcotn Director from Clarksdale, Mississippi, has been a previous recipient of this award.
Chickasaw Council Boy Scouts of America
