Eagle of the Week

For his Eagle Scout project, Lucas M. from Troop 2535 prepared 100 meals for residents of Alexandria Community Shelter (ACS). With 50 residents at ACS, Lucas provided meals for all of them on two different weekends. These residents depend on food donations, so Lucas said, “This project will show that the community cares about them.”

Lucas was originally going to build a bench located at Lyon Village Community House in Arlington, close to his home, but as he said in an article written by Shirley Ruhe about his project plan, “People would use a bench once in a while, and it didn’t speak to me. I wanted to do something I enjoy, and that would be personal.” This led to his decision to make 100 meals of homemade pasta for the residents of the Carpenter Shelter in Alexandria, near his high school. This would eventually change to the ACS, which the Carpenter Shelter runs because the original location had enough donations, whereas ACS didn’t have nearly as many and also allowed people under 18 to serve.

Lucas really enjoys cooking and feeding others. He has made boxed pasta for his confirmation project and homemade pasta with his grandmother. His meals would include homemade Fettuccine and Meatballs topped with spaghetti sauce, with sides of garlic bread and green beans. He created a shopping list of everything he needed, set up a GoFundMe page for $345 in cash donations, made an Amazon Wish List for some of the food and supplies, put up a flyer at his martial arts studio, and shared the links in the Lyon Village email bulletin and with his family. He signed up volunteers online and sent the link to his Troop and a few friends, getting a total of 29 volunteers, ranging from family, friends, Troopmates, and adults.

Lucas conducted his project on June 1st and 2nd, the first weekend, and June 14th and 15th, the second weekend. Both weekends were very successful. As Lucas states, “We successfully fed everyone at the shelter who wanted food and there was enough food left over for lunch the next day. I found good prices on bread, butter, and ground beef, so I wound up with extra money for fruit salad for the second weekend. Hungry Root sent us some free kiwi fruit in our family’s meal kits, so I threw that in. People at the shelter were really happy about the fruit, especially the kiwi.”

Of course, completing a project without a couple of hiccups is very rare. “One group of volunteers didn’t show up for the correct time slot, so it was kind of stressful. Sometimes it was hard to find everyone a job, because a lot of it was just waiting for stuff to cook. On the first weekend, it was hard to cook 50 servings of pasta all at once. The second weekend, I knew what to do.”

Most importantly, Lucas demonstrated immense leadership skills throughout his project. He showed people how to do tasks, like using the pasta machine, making meatballs, and preparing garlic bread. Instead of just telling them to do it, he showed and explained the tasks in detail before assigning them. He even had directions written for volunteers at each station.

Lastly, when asked, ‘What was the most rewarding about being the leader?’ Lucas said, “With a lot of Eagle projects, you don’t get to see the effect it has. But I got pretty much instant gratification. Most people said thank you. Some people came back and asked for more. I didn’t want to be hailed as a hero, but they gave me a round of applause after dinner. If I had the money and the help, I would do this every two weeks.”

Lucas began his project on April 4, 2024, had his plans featured in an Arlington Connection and The Gazette Packet article in early June, then followed through and completed his project on June 15, 2024, after 132 hours. He completed his Eagle Board of Review on November 19, 2024.

When asked for his advice for other Scouts doing Eagle Projects, Lucas said, “Pick something you know will make a difference and something you will enjoy. You don’t need to do the same things that everyone else does.” Having been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in September, getting the answer to why he faced certain challenges and why he came up with creative solutions, Lucas feels this advice is especially important for neurodiverse Scouts because it will help them stay motivated as it did for him.

Annabelle L from Difficult Run’s Troop 55G had her Eagle Scout project featured in the Fairfax County Park Foundation Parktakes Winter 2025 magazine!

Working with the Invasive Management Area (IMA) Volunteer Program, she rescued trees, removed invasive plants, and showed phenomenal leadership with her volunteers.

Read the full article: https://fxparks.org/e-parktakes.html

Scouts BSA Troop 58’s Grant K. painted a large mural of different explorers throughout history on a wall at the elementary school he attended: Newton-Lee Elementary School. The reason for the mural’s design is that Newton-Lee’s mascot is a compass, and the slogan is “We are Newton-Lee Explorers on a voyage to success.”

Another Scout from a different Troop who originally considered doing this mural as his Eagle project posted a survey to their fellow teachers asking which important historical explorers they would prefer to be on the wall. Grant used those historical figures selected from the survey.

With this mural featuring explorers from many different fields, backgrounds, and time periods, Grant is confident that it will help promote diversity and help students remember to explore their personal interests through brave and creative ways.

The mural is located outside the Exploratorium room, which is dedicated to exploration and encourages innovation and creativity. It took five days to paint since Grant and his group had to paint on days when the school staff was available but after hours so they didn’t disrupt the students and teachers.

After a total of 170 hours worked on this project, which includes meetings, planning, sketching, and painting, Grant completed his Eagle Scout project in early April 2024 and his Eagle Board of Review on June 3, 2024.

For his Eagle Scout project, Davis J from Troop 654 decided to help a local nonprofit focusing on food insecurity for at-risk populations better provide essential services by assessing and building a system to help them better understand their physical infrastructure.

Be the Good Project was founded in 2020 to provide food for those facing food insecurity in parts of Virginia, The District of Columbia, and Maryland. One of their programs is 25 Free Little Food Pantries distributed across 238 square miles, providing 24/7 access to food staples for those in need.

While Be the Good Project has dedicated volunteers who help keep these pantries stocked, they do not completely understand the physical status of the Free Little Food Pantries, some of which had been emplaced as long as three years ago.

Davis developed an assessment tool using a Google Form that asked volunteers to inspect a Free Little Food Pantry. His form asked questions like what the status of the paint was, whether there were holes in the roof, whether the shelves were in working order, and what the area around the pantry was like (the pantry’s accessibility).

This form then auto-populates a Google Sheet that captures the physical data about the pantries. The spreadsheet is then sortable, allowing Be the Good Project to sort the pantries by maintenance status and need for repair. This allows Be the Good to prioritize what pantries they want or need to repair with their network of volunteers, allowing them to continue their mission of providing food to those in need within the local community.

Volunteers (in groups of 2-3) from his Troop, his high school sports team, and friends in his neighborhood helped survey the 25 locations on a rolling basis over two weeks. This allowed the volunteers to complete the survey at a time that was convenient for them while simultaneously making sure all surveys were completed in a timely manner. The surveys, which included pictures of each site, were completely automated, so the only tool that his volunteers needed were their mobile phones. Each survey took about five minutes to complete, but the drive time varied because some locations were 50 minutes away.

This project took 101 hours to complete, starting July 22, 2024, to August 25, 2024. Davis completed his Eagle Board of Review on October 2, 2024.

“I really enjoyed doing this project as it allowed me to help a great local nonprofit,” Davis remarked. “The project will also have a lasting impact in my local area by helping Be the Good more efficiently provide food to those dealing with food insecurity.”

For his Eagle Scout project, Eric A. and his fellow Scouts from Boy Scout Troop 572 worked to revitalize the outdoor patio/firepit area behind the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company, Station 618 in Sterling, VA.

Under Eric’s leadership, the Scouts first cleared the area of debris and overgrown vegetation. They then dug up the area to place down the new underlayment, installed edging and spread the gravel. New benches and Adirondack chairs were built, stained, and weatherproofed for seating. Solar accent lighting was also added for evening use.

The Sterling Volunteer Fire Company and Sterling Volunteer Rescue Squad were very appreciative of the support and hard work of Eric and his dedicated team of Scouts. The newly restored area will provide a space for the volunteers to congregate, rest, and recharge for years to come.