By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald
Scouts give church's courtyard a facelift
|
As part of his Eagle Scout project, Andy Bader repaired and refurbished the statue of St. Joseph and installed a new flagpole near the entrance of St. Joseph Church in Osceola. Matt's project gave the church a new two-tiered landscape garden and a new sign. (Submitted photo) |
OSCEOLA -- Last spring the courtyard that serves as an entry to St. Joseph Church in Osceola got a new look and the church gained tables for outdoor meals and meetings, all through the efforts of two of its young members. Andrew Bader, a junior at Osceola High School and his brother Matthew, who is a freshman, each earned Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts by completing a project for the church.
"Eagle Scout is the highest award a Boy Scout can achieve," said St. Joseph pastor Fr. Tom Thompson, who is also the diocesan Scouting chaplain and a member of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting.
In addition to their own work on a project, becoming an Eagle Scout involves showing leadership potential. The individual Scout plans and designs the project but is required to get other people involved and direct them in completing the project, Thompson said.
Matt gave the church a new two-tiered garden and a new cedar sign for the courtyard. In an e-mail interview he said,"My project was to tear out the old landscaping and sign, prepare the site, install a two-tiered landscape garden, filling it with rock for drainage and then dirt, lining it with plastic, and then crushed landscape rock, then planting all of the shrubs."
Of Matt's work, parish trustee Dee Quist said, "We gained a really attractive entry to our church. ... I know they did a good job of including other young people from our church too."
The new sign is really an asset, according to Jim Montgomery, who is also a trustee. He said, "The parish wasn't too well marked as time of Masses, etc. It really brought the time out."
Also by e-mail Andy said, "My project was designed to refurbish the center courtyard. ... We sanded and stained parking barriers, a park bench, refurbished and repaired the St. Joseph statue and repainted him, cleaned up existing shrubbery under St. Joseph's statue, installed a 25-foot commercial grade flagpole, and built three heavy duty picnic tables for our fellowship outdoor area."
The Scout has to take care of every detail of his project. Matt said his work included "designing the project, going to many different businesses to price materials, meetings with the landscape company and designer, meetings with the parish council, Fr. Tom, and filling out Scout paperwork. We have to account for every minute anyone spends on this project, every screw, bolt, etc. The actual project took me three days. "
Both Andy and Matt got a lot of people involved in the projects. Andy said, "Many different people helped -- my mom, dad, both sets of grandparents, friends, classmates, parishioners, Fr. Tom, my troop and leaders, and adult friends from the community."
Funding for the projects came from the parish. Matt and Andy both feel they will reap many benefits from the hard work it took to become Eagle Scouts. "I have wanted to be an Eagle Scout for many reasons," said Andy. "One is because it challenges you to become a better person. It pushes you to look inside yourself to find what it takes to make the difference. "
Besides becoming Eagle Scouts, their most valued Scouting experience was high adventure camping at Philmont, a Boy Scout Camp in Cimarron, N.M.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001