Josh Haworth builds fence around special needs house at Maine West - for Eagle project

Josh Haworth will be honored as Troop 6's 71st Eagle Scout in a ceremony at Trinity Lutheran Church this Saturday (July 26th).

Josh completed his Eagle Scout project last summer - a fence and other improvements for Homestead, which is the special needs facility on the campus of Maine West High School. Gardening is a significant portion of the education provided to Homestead students, but the garden area was unprotected - and often accidently inundated by overly zealous athletes during practice, as well as by errant footballs, soccer balls, and so on.

To protect the garden space, Josh gathered materials and friends, and created 80' of fencing around the perimeter. He also 10 wooden planters for use throughout the garden, provided two large rain barrels, and built two sturdy stands to elevate the barrels - providing water pressure for distributing water and filling watering cans.

Much of the lumber for the fence was donated by Addison Building Materials, and other lumber was either purchased or created by ‘repurposing wooden pallets that had been used to for delivers at the school.

The planters and water barrel stands were built during the fall, and installed during the summer of 2013. The fence itself was completed on Aug 2, 2013.

Eagle Scout projects are designed to benefit the local community, but they are also intended to teach a Scout how to work with a team and run a project. Josh learned a lot in recruiting other Scouts, coordinating with government services (like JULIE), working with and requesting donations from building material and rental companies, and coordinating with various people at the school. He worked closely with a number of Maine West staff, including principal Dr. Audrey Haugan.