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.
