Eagle Scout

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Some boy did that in our neighborhood.

I knew another kid that cleaned up the weeds in front of some property that his father had just purchased. There's somthing he can always look back on with a sense of pride, eh?

Oh yeah. Nothing like a father taking advantage of his kid to do some work for an Eagle project and not having to pay him. I have some trees in my backyard that need pruning or to be removed if he wants to do that.

You can always have your bot do the fire hydrant thing in another neighborhood. All he'd have to do is call the fire department and they can let him know where it needs to be done in areas close to where you live. The departmenmay even provide the supplies for it.

A boy in our ward did some work at the food bank for his Eagle project. It was a good experience for him and the other boys involved as they were able to see what goes on "behind the scenes" at the food bank. Other charities like that are always in need of volunteers and are willing to work with kids on their projects.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

Oh yeah. Nothing like a father taking advantage of his kid to do some work for an Eagle project and not having to pay him. I have some trees in my backyard that need pruning or to be removed if he wants to do that.

You can always have your bot do the fire hydrant thing in another neighborhood. All he'd have to do is call the fire department and they can let him know where it needs to be done in areas close to where you live. The departmenmay even provide the supplies for it.

A boy in our ward did some work at the food bank for his Eagle project. It was a good experience for him and the other boys involved as they were able to see what goes on "behind the scenes" at the food bank. Other charities like that are always in need of volunteers and are willing to work with kids on their projects.

Sounds good. He is toying with the idea of doing a bike project for the homeless shelter. You get people to donate old bikes and you fix them up and give them to the homeless shelter. They give them away to folks who need a form of transportation.

[BigFatMeanie]

My Eagle Project:

Back in 1986, the St. Vincent De Paul soup kitchen in Salt Lake City had a fire and was pretty much burnt to the ground. When they re-opened they were lacking a lot of commercial-grade kitchen equipment.

My project was to sell snow and ice melter as a fund-raiser to buy a Hobart commercial meat/cheese slicer for the soup kitchen. The scouts went door to door in various neighborhoods selling snow and ice melter that we were able to get at cost from a neighbor who worked at the snow and ice melter manufacturing plant. On the day we delivered the meat slicer to the soup kitchen, the scout troop manned the soup lines and served meals to the hungry/homeless.

If I recall correctly, the Hobart slicer was very expensive and the troop didn't fully raise the purchase price so a couple of big money guys in the ward chipped in to buy it. Funny thing, when we delivered the slicer the soup kitchen staff commented how it was as big or as powerful as their previous model that got burned up. I felt like saying "sorry, I'm only 16, this was all I could do".

I only got my Eagle because my dad wouldn't sign for my drivers license unless I got it. Thus, I turned 16 in January but didn't get my license until August. I grew up in a big ward with two Deacons quorums. It was a big troop with excellent leaders. I learned a lot of interesting things about the outdoors and we had a 50 miler every single year to such places as Havasupai canyon in Arizona (the absolute best 50 ever), Windriver Mountains in Wyo., and the Uintah Mountains (50 miles from Mirror Lake to Moon lake - that was a death march) in Utah. We went snow camping and built snow caves, camping in the sand dunes, cross country skiing, camping in the Uintahs, and river rafting down the Green River. Never once did we go to an "official" scout camp or camporee or other official scouting event.

Even though I had a fantastic experience as a scout, my Eagle award and scouting in general mean very little to me. I'm not sure why. If my boy is interested in scouting then I'll work with him and help him achieve things. I'm not sure what I'll do if he is uninterested. Knowing me, I'll probably force him to get his Eagle just like my dad did with me.

[bluegoose]

Snow and ice melter? Is that a fancy name for rock salt? I don't live in the snow and am serious. Is there such a thing?

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by bluegoose

Snow and ice melter? Is that a fancy name for rock salt? I don't live in the snow and am serious. Is there such a thing?

This is what I use:

http://www.safepaw.com/index.html

It isn't made of sodium chloride or anything like that. I'm not sure exactly what's in it, but it works great.

[Parrot Head]

For mine, we went to the Firefighters' Wives Auxiliary (whatever it was called) and received a donation from their fundraisers to buy smoke detectors and batteries and we went through some of the poorer parts of my town installing them or replacing batteries. I guess we should have raised the money on our own. But it was a good experience and one of the homes actually caught on fire not too long after that, but no one was harmed. I think we also did some fire safety/prevention things along the way and handed out stop-drop-and-roll coloring books. I think it was a good project and serves a good purpose, but maybe I'm biased.

[Jeff Lebowski]

BSA does not allow fund-raising for eagle projects. You can ask for donations (materials) but not for cash.

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by bluegoose

Snow and ice melter? Is that a fancy name for rock salt? I don't live in the snow and am serious. Is there such a thing?

Rock salt can be used to melt snow and ice; however, it can be damaging to concrete, plants, etc. Thus, there are a variety of commercial snow and ice melters (I have no idea what chemicals they use) that do the same thing but are supposed to be better for concrete, plants, and pets. Often a commercial snow and ice melter will be colored (blue, pink, and green are common colors) so that it is more visible.

[bluegoose]

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

Rock salt can be used to melt snow and ice; however, it can be damaging to concrete, plants, etc. Thus, there are a variety of commercial snow and ice melters (I have no idea what chemicals they use) that do the same thing but are supposed to be better for concrete, plants, and pets. Often a commercial snow and ice melter will be colored (blue, pink, and green are common colors) so that it is more visible.

Thanks for humoring me with the tutorial. Now I know....