I was talking with a friend and he said that the ward was split and there aren't enough people to fill the positions. The guy said he was teaching in primary, teaching 11 year old scouts and was the scout committee chairman (not sure if that is the correct title). Not only, that but there aren't enough kids. The cub scouts from 3 wards are meeting together because of the lack of kids and adults. But hey, they added a knew unit.

I say .. social trends are a MAJOR threat (prob the Biggest) to the way TSCC is used to doing business, i think this is behind what you just observed/described...

Is this in Utah? I know there are many aging wards on the east side of the Salt Lake Valley. Wards have very few youth because the wards are almost entirely made up of retirees and near-retirees. Most of the young families are settling down in Lehi, Herriman, South Jordan, etc... Unless young families start buying homes in Sandy, Cottonwood Heights, SLC, Murray as the older folks die off there will be TONS of ward consolidations in the next 20 years or so.

This is in Washington state. The ward (and entire stake) is small town/rural. The demographics are pretty evenly split over new famlies through retired. There is 1 ward that is mainly retirees, has the nursing home and assisted living center in it's boundry. I just find it interesting that they are splitting ward then combining scouts.

A certain apple-centric small city, or possibly a university town?

A friend of mine living near Salt Lake City told me she is a Cub leader for the Bears and there are three wards meeting together for scouts, since there aren't enough in any one ward to have a den. So one ward takes the Wolves (1st yr), her ward is responsible for the Bears (2nd yr) and another for the Webelos (3rd yr). Then, when the boys turn 11, they belong to a designation that is strictly Mormon: 11-year-old Scouts. Usually Webelos is a 2-year program but Mormons want the scouting program to follow the priesthood program better so got this special designation (according to her.) All the 11-year-old scouts from her stake meet together, in order for there to be enough boys participating. This is right in the Morridor - although not out in one of those newer areas being built on the edges of the Salt Lake Valley where all the young marrieds are migrating too. But it isn't in one of the newlywed or nearly dead areas either. It's a regular, if not popular, family neighborhood. And they still can't staff their scouting program, nor have they the boys to attend, on the ward level. Interesting.