Dr. Hart Awarded Silver Beaver Award
The Patriot’s Path Council of the Boy Scouts of America bestowed the Silver Beaver Award to Dr. D. Michael Hart during a ceremony held on Saturday, June 19, 2021. This is the highest national award given to a volunteer. The award is “to recognize registered Scouters of exceptional character who have provided distinguished service within a council,” as stated by the Boy Scouts of America.
This award is a competitive National award. Each Council is restricted to a limited number of awards per year, based on the number of scouts in the Council. The Patriot’s Path Council includes Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey. There are approximately 10,000 scouts in this area including Cub Scouts, Scouts (formerly Boy Scouts), Explorers, Venture Crews, and Sea Scouts. The Council awarded 8 Silver Beaver Awards this year
Michael grew up in Mountainside, graduated from Franklin and Marshall College, then Columbia University School of Dental Medicine in New York City in 1980. Mike is married to his wife Eileen for 45 years. They have two adult children and three grandchildren.
Mike started his own dental practice in 1984. By the time he retired 33 years later, the dental practice had grown to 4 dentists, 5 hygienists, and 18 employees. Many of the employees stayed with him for decades, indicating that Mike was concerned about his employees’ well being and was a responsible, generous, ethical employer. Dr. Hart won numerous dental awards, was published, was a leader in his professional associations, and volunteered at JFK Medical Center Dental Clinic.
As a lad, Michael went through the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and the Medical Explorer Post at Overlook Hospital, in Summit, NJ. He made Eagle Scout in 1964 at the age of 13, the youngest possible age. He became active as an adult leader in Scouts again when his son joined the Cubs. Mike earned the prestigious “Wood Badge” which is considered the Eagle Scout for adults. After his son made Eagle Scout, also at age 13, one of the other fathers died suddenly from a heart attack. Mike mentored the boy every Sunday for 8 months to earn his last 3 merit badges, and do his project, to help him achieve the fathers dying wish of becoming an Eagle Scout.
After retiring from Dentistry in 2017, Mike joined The Flintlocks BSA, Inc. The Flintlocks are a group of retired scouters who work at the Scout camps every Thursday throughout the year. Mike restarted the Flintlocks Facebook Page, started writing the quarterly newsletter, placed newspaper articles in local papers, and obtained grants from local organizations. One grant from the Westfield Foundation was $18,000 for the Flintlocks to build the STEM trailer at Allamuchy. Scouts can work on merit badges in STEM topics in this high-tech building – Science, Technology, Computers, Robotics, Video Game Design, Chemistry, etc. Next, Mike was elected Secretary of the Flintlocks in 2019. He has also been active at the Council level, both on committees and volunteering for many events. He was awarded the Council Trailblazer Award in February 2020.
An important part of the Silver Beaver Award is Service to the Community. Mike was president of two different local Rotary Clubs, then Rotary International District Governor in 2006-07, and has been active in service to Rotary for 40 years. Rotary Clubs may be found in almost every town. It is a service club of successful business people who wish to “give back” to the community. He is currently the secretary for the Rotary Club of Westfield, which does projects to feed the hungry, help homeless veterans, plant trees and provide scholarships. Mike is also the District Foundation Chair for the 81 Rotary Clubs in northern New Jersey. Early in the COVID pandemic, he arranged Rotary grants of $130,000 to buy 10 ventilators and a high-tech hospital bed for 3 hospital systems: Overlook Hospital in Summit; Trinitas in Elizabeth; and Robert Wood Johnson in Somerset. In the spring of 2021, as a retired dentist, but with an active license, Mike personally volunteered to administer the COVID vaccine to many hundreds of patients.
Another aspect of the Silver Beaver Award is Service to Youth Outside of Scouting. Mike served as a mentor to many young people who were considering the profession ofdentistry, volunteered as a teacher of dental residents for 35 years at JFK Medical Center Dental Clinic, started a scholarship to honor his father, started a Rotary youth service club – called the Interact Club- at Westfield High School in 1997, and encouraged his employees to improve themselves through advanced continuing education.
Dr. Hart has been a registered member of Scouting for 27 years. In the past 4 years alone, he has volunteered over 1,200 hours to helping the Scouts.
Mike appreciates the values and ethics that the BSA program instills in young people, with the emphasis of service to the community, and good citizenship.
