MOSES LAKE — The Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts of America have found themselves in contention in some areas, as lawyers for the Girl Scouts said the Boy Scouts have unfairly recruited girls recently.

The lawyers filed papers in a Manhattan federal court last week to repel an effort from the Boy Scouts to toss out before trial a trademark infringement lawsuit the Girl Scouts filed in 2018.

Legal representatives for the Boy Scouts asked that a judge reject demands that it not use the terms “scouts” or “scouting” in recruitment of girls. The Boy Scouts in a statement said it expanded program offerings for girls “after years of requests from families” who wanted their boys and girls participating in its organization.

Barry McDonald, Scout Executive for the Grand Columbia Council for the Boy Scouts of America, said he can only speak for the area he oversees. From his perspective, he said there hasn’t been any conflict or issues with volunteers in most cases, who are doing their best to offer opportunities for kids to join the organization, both boys and girls.

“I think it’s great that there’s multiple options for young ladies for character building and leadership skills, and I’d really like to see, if families can fit it in their schedule, their daughters joining both organizations,” McDonald said.

He said he sees no reason why both programs can’t thrive, reaching 100% of their eligible youth. He said he is not opposed to a joint recruitment effort from both organizations, relieving parents of the choice between coming on this or that night for scout meetings.

McDonald said both organizations provide a unique set of skills and lessons.

“I think it’s just the direction a young lady wants to go and the activities they want to participate in,” McDonald said. “From my perspective, there’s no controversy. I just want to serve kids, and my volunteers just want to serve kids.”

What some organizations can forget sometimes is the bottom line is giving a good, positive experience for the youth involved, he said. If it’s through one of the two scouting groups, that’s great, he said. Or, maybe it’s 4-H or another youth-serving organization, and that’s great too, McDonald said.

Right now, he said he believes too many kids are not getting the opportunity, or taking advantage of the opportunity, to be involved in these character-building and leadership programs, like the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts.

“We’ve got to have organizations working together right now,” McDonald said. “We don’t have enough of that.”

But the main concern for McDonald is getting more families and parents involved as volunteers to continue to expand the opportunities for boys and girls to become involved in these types of programs from a young age. Both programs depend on those volunteers to make that all possible.

Whether it is the Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts, 4-H, FFA, or any other program, McDonald said he just wants to see more parents be involved with their kids.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world right now, I know, but I’d just like to see more families involved in activities like this just because I think it not only enhances the character skills, self-confidence, but I think it also helps a lot of the parents with the challenges they’re having,” McDonald said.

Casey McCarthy can be reached via email at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.