The Montana Boy Scouts have earned "gold status" for the fourth time in five years.

Gold status is an achievement putting their program in the top 10 percent in the nation, NBC Montana reports.

"So there's 300 boy scout councils in the United States of America and they are judged every year on what's called 'The Journey to Excellence,'" Boy Scouts Chief Development Officer Jory Dellinger said. "It's 18 metrics you're measured in. We are in the highest level available on the Journey to Excellence which is 'gold status.' Above and beyond that, we scored enough points as a gold council to be considered one of the top 10 percent of councils in the nation."

Dellinger said that while they did very well in their metric categories, they also did exceedingly well in community outreach.

"Our Eagle Scouts alone in the area contributed 30,000 hours of community service," Dellinger said. "They helped many other non-profits in the area. Everything from Watson's Children's Shelter to Fort Missoula to Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks...They were really out there behind the scenes all the time, every day, doing service for our community, trying to make Missoula a better place to be."

Across the state, currently 8,000 kids are enrolled in the Boy Scouts of America and 3,600 adults who help out as volunteers.

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