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Boy Scouts Eagle Projects
October 21, 2009
Rain or shine, there was work to be done and a project to finish. Dreary skies this fall didn't stop my Eagle Project from being completed.
At Temple Shalom Dallas, located on the southeast corner of Alpha and Hillcrest Road, the creek at its perimieter continued to grow unattended and trash accumulated throughout the high brush. The creek, a potential natural high point, had slowly transformed into an eyesore, sadly was not in any shape to be used for services or even visited by congregants. On October 4th and 5th, dozens of people helped me carry out a massive creek clean up and to install a malibu-style bench by the creek bridge for rest and relaxation. This project was no walk in the park; but rather a day and half of hard labor by many people; scouts, high school students and adults of all ages. Trucks driving up and down trasnporting brush for collection, people sloshing up and down the creek cleaning up trash, and loppers cutting down branches were just a few of the tasks which people put their effort into. A beautiful bench was also included in this creek beautification project to allow people to sit under the tamed trees and enjoy the scenic view. The creek has truly morphed into a beautiful, useable nature area where religious and other events could be held.
The Woods and Waters Foundation's generous financial donation significantly helped my Eagle Project, by allowing tools and equipment to be acquired. This support allowed my Eagle Project to run much more efficiently and safely thanks to great organizations like Woods and Waters Foundation, Boy Scouts of America continues to be successful and to contribute to the Dallas Community.
Sincerely,
Eric Stollon
Senior Patrol Leader
Troop 570, Circle 10
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I would like to thank you very much for your generous contribution of $100 to my Eagle Project. Because of the support that you and others have provided, the project was very successful and I feel that everything went smoothly.
In all, the project took us about twelve hours to complete. My dad and I began loading up my truck and our family SUV with supplies at about 6:30 A.M. and soon we were out the door and on the way to the site of the apartments. We unloaded in the parking lot and set up a table for the boys to get some doughnuts, and help began to arrive by about 9:10 A.M.
I began the project by walking everyone through the process, showing them what we were going to fix and how we were going to do it. After dividing the boys into two groups, I sent one to begin extending downspouts, and one to build a section of gutter to be installed on the roof. The first hour in particular was not easy, as not everyone had quite figured out how to do their jobs. Soon enough, however, we had mostly resolved the details and logistics of the work, and the project began to run itself. By around 11:30 AM, we had attached the new gutter, extended most of the downspouts, replaced missing splash-blocks, and had begun to plant flowers and mulch a small area in front of one of the apartments. A little after noon, we stopped for a lunch break, and ate a meal which the Chick-filet on Rufe Snow had donated. Once returning to work, we began to work on building the underground portion of the rain gutters. We dug out trenches from two of the downspouts and joined them at one point, and then dug a few feet outward from there. In these trenches, we fitted PVC piping that we extended up to the downspouts in order to divert rainfall from causing erosion near the foundation. This process took more time than I had expected, but after several hours of digging, connecting, cementing and refilling, the bulk of the project was through. All that was left to do now was to landscape the area around where we had connected the downspouts and pipes. To do this, we surrounded the area with landscaping bricks and filled up this space with topsoil and mulch. By the time that the project was complete, collectively the group of seventeen scouts and adults that came had spent over one hundred hours in total on the project.
Again, thank you for your support. Without the help organizations like yours, my project and many others would not have been possible. Attached are some of the pictures taken at my Eagle project
Sincerely,
Matt Ryan
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For my Eagle Project I replaced the barbed wire fence located at the Garland FFA Agriculture Barn. The fence was beginning to lean over and fall apart, letting out the cattle. The first task of my Eagle Project was placing an H-post at the far end of the fence. There were 4 anchor posts spaced out along the fence already, but an anchor post was needed at the start of the fence. Two holes three feet deep were dug for the H-post. The post was placed in the holes, and then filled with one and a half bags of concrete mix. This was done three days before the start of the actual project in order to let the concrete completely dry.
On the first day of the project, I had to remove all the plants located along the fence. Parts of the plants were growing in between the fence, as well as along the fence, and needed to be removed. This was easier said than done, because parts of the pasture were flooded from rain. Another difficult task was removing the briars that completely covered parts of the fence. The briars had grown in between each other as well as the wire, making it difficult to remove. Many boys, as well as myself, had to grasp the briars with gloves and remove them by pulling on them a little at a time. Eventually, the briars loosened enough to be removed by hand. Some of the tree limbs were hanging too low over the fence, and it would have been difficult to drive the posts back in with the limbs hanging as low as they were. Anyone under the age of eighteen was not allowed to operate heavy machinery, so my grandfather, Pete Crouch, had to operate the chainsaw to remove the tree limbs.
Once all of the plants were removed, I then had to remove the old barbed wire by unclipping the old T-post clips. After removing all of the clips, the wire was rolled up and stored in a bin containing scrap metal located at the barn. We could only do sections of the fence at a time, in case the project had to be abandoned for a day because of rain. Once a section of wire was removed, the T-posts were removed with a small tractor, equipped with a heavy chain attached to the bucket. The chain was wrapped around the post and pulled out by the tractor. If the post was reusable, it was used in the completion of the new fence. Some of the posts were still in decent condition, but were bent. In the case that the bend wasn’t too terrible, it was bent back into a straight post.
Anything between two anchor posts was defined as a section. Once a section was completely removed, posts were placed ten feet apart, and then driven in by hand with a T-post driver. After the posts were driven in, then six strands of wire were evenly spaced along the fence. The wire was stretched and attached to the closest anchor. Strand by strand, T-post clips were attached to the posts.
Only one section was completed on the first day, because of all the prep work done on the first day. The next day, we experienced rain, and the day after it snowed. The project was delayed until the next weekend.
On that Saturday, we were able to complete the rest of the fence. Once the fence was completed, we then went up and down the fence picking up any trash or scrap metal. All trash, metal, and cut off plants were disposed of properly.
There were no major injuries; only two people experienced somewhat major cuts, which were cleaned up instantaneously. Water and lemonade were available at all times for anyone who needed it, and lunches were provided from other donors.
The project was a huge success, thanks to you and other donors. The FFA Advisor, Dale Mulkey, was pleased with the project and its results. Thanks gain for your donation. Without you, this project would not have run as smoothly as it did. Thanks for all your help.
Ethan Sprinkle
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Before Construction
 
During Construction
 
After Construction
 
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