Eagle Scout Project Underway...

Josh has been in Boy Scouts since he was little. We've always encouraged him to get his Eagle Scout, a very small percentage of boys achieve that rank and we wanted ours to be one of them. In his younger days, we didn't need to encourage much because he had so much fun going camping, backpacking and learning so many new things. The progression came very easy and then Mer was born...and was sick all the time...as much as we tried not to let it make an impact on his life, it did. Everything else in life slowed down and the focus was on Meredith and her constant illness, doctor's appointments, hospital admissions, tests and surgeries. Marc's involvement in Scouts was reduced and that had an impact on Josh's involvement as well.

Marc had been the advancement chairmen until the troop decided they didn't want him to hold that position anymore and sent him a short, curt email to let him know. He kept everything up to date, nothing was behind but they had made a decision without ever calling or talking to my husband. That also impacted Josh.

Josh all but stopped his involvement with the troop for about two years...he started high school, marching band, harder academic classes...his life was progressing as expected. He did, however, continue to staff Golden Acorn (a leadership training course) for those two years...which kept a foot in the door of Scouting. He loved and learned so much from GA, it was for him...a true life skill learning course...not so much when he was a participant but when he went back and was on staff.

He tried going back to the troop a couple of times but they wouldn't include him in the "inner circle" of the troop. One particular adult would not speak to him and even now that he's back in the troop and has been there on a regular basis for a while...that man still doesn't speak to him. Looks right at him and doesn't speak. This man holds a position in the troop...I personally think he doesn't want Josh there and doesn't want him to get his Eagle.

Soooooo...Josh has always wanted to do an Eagle Project that would mean something more than building a birdhouse, painting a wall or other things you might read in the paper. He wants to be able to tell his children that he did a project that really meant something to both him and the organization it's benefiting.

He decided to do his project for New Beginnings Center, a domestic violence shelter in our town. After contacting many stores and getting a lot of No's...Walmart allowed him to set up tables outside their store and solicit for personal care items and cash donations.

This past Saturday he collected over $1,000.00 in cash donations...in addition there were over 500 personal care items donated.

We couldn't be prouder...despite the obstacles, he's standing strong and soaring towards his Eagle.