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Did you know over 2,000 youth are homeless or in poverty in Fairfax County? When Life Scout Jack D. of Troop 118 in Alexandria, Virginia, learned that he decided it was time to take action. He learned that many of these teenagers lack personal hygiene products; the ability to keep themselves feeling clean would allow them to have more confidence in going to school and participating in community activities.

Jack decided he would hold a personal hygiene drive for his Eagle Scout Service Project. First, he had to reach out to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and Coordinated Service Planning (CPS) Department and coordinate with his Troop’s leadership to create the plan. Unfortunately, just as his plan was being finalized the COVID-19 pandemic reached Fairfax. Being the resilient Scout he is, Jack adjusted his plan to reduce social interaction. With the power of social media, Jack alerted all those he knew, informing them the drop-off locations were.

Through his efforts and with the help of his Troop and his community, the drive was a success with about 1,000 items donated! While Jack found it rather difficult to hold this drive during a pandemic, looking back he stated, “I was doing something crucial for my community, especially in a time where every person’s health means safety and comfort in a stressful time.”

The Church of Christ at Manor Woods in Rockville, Maryland, is where I began my Scouting adventure as a Cub Scout, and where I received my Arrow of Light. I knew I wanted to do a project that benefited the place where my journey as a Scout began. So I decided to help maintain and build seats for a fire pit at my church. My first step was to get approval for my project, but due to COVID-19, I had to get through lots of emails for approval. Then I had to figure out a way to get troop assistance for the project while abiding by social distancing regulations. Social distancing guidelines meant only a limited amount of people were allowed to be on-site at a time, which became the biggest obstacle. We set the project to be done over a three day period and have two families arrive every day for a two-hour block. Fortunately for me, I already began with strong numbers as my immediate family has six members who all wanted to help.

After completing this project I can say my favorite part would have to be finishing the initial pillars for the benches. I was also able to learn a lot about planning. COVID-19 required a lot of planning ahead for the project, knowing how to get materials to the site, what families would be on-site at a given time so they could social distance, and the amount of time the entire project would take. All these steps taught me a lot about the importance of creating a plan and doing your best to stick to it.

 

When Jacob of Troop 673 in Great Falls, VA, heard that a Girl Scout camp at a church near his house needed a bridge, he knew he wanted to help them out. So Jacob got to planning; he spoke to the Pastor and the groundskeeper and decided to build the bridge just above several wells that created a small pond behind the church. There were already a few bridges there, so they decided to relocate one of them to another stream and to replace it with a new one.

Unfortunately, like many of his fellow Eagle Scouts, COVID-19 delayed his plans. For a while, his supplies had been delayed in the mail. Then Jacob had to develop an entirely new plan to fit health and safety guidelines. Once his plan was good to go, Jacob got to work on the bridge. He enlisted the help Pack of 673 to build several birdhouses, and he received help from community volunteers and members of Troop 7 from Hendron, VA, which his sister is part of.

Now looking back at the project, Jacob told us, “I learned how to be a better leader and how to overcome setbacks and challenges. I had to interact with a lot of adults and fellow Scouts. I wasn’t confident in my ability to do that at first, but as the day went on, I felt more and more able to lead everyone.”

Life Scout Jack B. of Troop 976 in Falls Church, VA, knew he wanted to help out the homeless for his Eagle Scout project. He reached out to the Father McKenna Center in D.C. to see if they needed help and he was able to build new shelves and hold a food drive to fill them! We sat down with Jack to learn more about this Eagle Scout project.

What inspired or motivated you to begin this project?

The project was at the Father McKenna Center, which is a homeless shelter that is located at the school that I go to, Gonzaga High School. I am in my second year as a sophomore there currently. It is a Catholic high school run by Jesuits located in downtown D.C. near Union Station, composed of students from around the D.C. area. The Father McKenna Center is the only high-school run homeless shelter in the US. I was motivated to begin this project because I had just learned about the Father McKenna Center in my freshman year, and I came across an opportunity to do an Eagle Scout project there. I met with the beneficiary of the McKenna Center, and I was given several options for an Eagle Scout project. I picked the option to design, build, and install two custom heavy duty shelves in the food pantry. After planning out the project, I also planned out a food drive to supply them with food.

What were the steps behind this project?

The first thing I did was fill out my Eagle Scout proposal, which is a form I needed to submit to a leader to be approved. On the form was what my project would be and the general idea of how I would do it. While filling it out, I had to plan out how I would build/assemble the shelves, so I worked with an experienced adult to figure out the lengths of wood, how we could cut it, and how it would be put together, and measured out the spaces where the shelves were to go. After it was approved, I continued to work on the plans, and I also planned out the food drive. When it was time to assemble the shelves, I went and bought the materials and then gathered volunteers to help assemble the shelves and bring them to the McKenna center. In the following weeks, I worked on the food drive, and sorted all the food by the fourth week. I then brought the gathered food back to the center and helped put it on the shelves.

What was the most difficult aspect of this project?

The most difficult aspect of the project was planning out the building of the shelves. It was difficult to get the accurate dimensions, and we were also assembling it in a restricted space. Before the project, I had to get the measurements of the places where we were going to put the shelves, but the floor was not even, so it was difficult getting the correct measurements there. I even messed up on one of the measurements on one of the final shelves, so we had to fix it. While assembling the shelves, we were also restricted in building it a little, since we assembled parts of the shelves at the McKenna Center.

What was your favorite aspect of this project?

My favorite aspect of the project was working with the volunteers to bring the shelves to the McKenna center. It was relieving when I was done with the planning phase of the project, and we were just bringing the shelves to the destination. The volunteers consisted of my friends, so it was nice to do that.

What did you learn from completing this project?

I learned about leadership and planning from completing the project, I learned about interaction with adults, as well as how to plan out a project fully so that there are minimal problems. I also learned about cutting screwing, and measuring wood and the different types of lumber. I mostly learned about carpentry and how to use the different techniques and tools to build the projects.

When considering possibilities for his Eagle Scout Project, Noah Ventura’s thoughts had turned to Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, where his family frequented. For two years, this project had sat on the Refuge’s Eagle Scout potential projects list, waiting for the right Scout with the proper combination of leadership, ambition, and drive to tackle the challenge. Many Scouts would hear about the logistical difficulties associated with the project, and immediately ask to hear about the next project.

Not Noah. When Noah heard about how both staff and visitors were getting lost on the approximately six miles of trails at Wood Marsh, he immediately began setting his mind on how he would pull off this project.

Noah spent over 300 hours across 10 months on the project. He cut boards down to size, sanded, drilled, embossed letters, and painted posts. He then had to navigate an additional process: The refuge archeological process.

Noah’s project was located in an area considered to be archaeologically significant. The Mason Neck peninsula had traditionally been used in the past by the Native American Dogue tribe, as well as colonialists like George Washington and George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Amy Wood, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Region 5 archeologist came out on site the day of the project installation to demonstrate and supervise the scouts in a series of archeological surveys at each of the proposed installation locations.

Braving the threat of an incoming storm, Noah and 12 other scouts installed 19 new signs in 6 different locations. “It’s a really cool project,” says Ventura. “The Woodmarsh Trail is all about connecting the community with nature, and the signs let you know where you are, so the people who use the trail know where they are trying to go.”

The project was a team effort. “I could not have done this without the help of my friends,” says Ventura. Youth volunteers from other Boys Scout Troops, Girl Scout Troops, Carl Sandburg Middle School, and Fort Hunt Elementary School helped with the project. Visitor Services Manager, Rosalind Wu, was on hand to offer assistance and lend a hand as well