Bryan Wendell in a recent post in “Bryan on Scouting”, wrote, “Nowhere in the rules does it require the beneficiary of an Eagle project to be human.”
He goes on to describe a greyhound rescue Eagle Service project: “Ross R. of Circle Ten Council’s Plano, Texas-based Troop 1000, organized an adoption event and raised awareness in his community about retired racing greyhounds. He also held a collection drive for dog toys, treats and towels for the dogs in foster care at this nonprofit corporation that has assisted 2,700 greyhounds to date.”
This beautiful Eagle Service Project also illustrates that your project does NOT have be something permanent. This is not to take away from the many thousands of benches, bridges, sheds, and animal shelters that have been built over the years! But the Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project is designed to allow an Eagle candidate to “plan, develop, and give leadership in a service project,” and that can be done in many ways. Here are some examples of non-construction projects that have been approved:
• Raised money to buy duffle bags for foster children and filled them with blankets, flashlights and stuffed animals.
• Ran food drives, organized the pantry and reached out to families who could use assistance
• Collected books and distributed them to children in need
• Built awareness of autism by designing a program for participants to experience challenges that some people with autism face
• Ran a donation drive, and then separated, organized, catalogued, packed and shipped donations to recipients
• Created a program to collect worn out American flags with collection boxes, and then disposed of them properly in a flag-burning ceremony, allowing people to burn a flag in someone’s memory
• Ran a community collection drive for personal items to send to our service men and women overseas.
• Assembled volunteer musicians, rehearsed, used Scouts as ushers, and held a band concert to raise food for a food pantry (or for concerts at local VA Hospitals or nursing homes)
• Organized knitters and quilters to make blankets for the neonatal intensive care unit at a local hospital
The opportunities are limitless. Just look for people (or animals) that need to be helped. They are all around us!
“Oh, the possibilities!”
Coach Hunt
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