Scout earns Eagle Scout award by helping Illinois Doberman Rescue Plus
Hoffman Estates resident Tyler Matuszczak, 15, a freshman at Fremd High School, recently achieved the prestigious Eagle Scout Award.
He joins his two older brothers Zachary and Brandon by becoming the third Eagle Scout in the family. Tyler started serving along with this brothers before he was old enough to become a Cub Scout and donated several hundred volunteer hours before becoming an Eagle Scout.
As a Boy Scout, Tyler held several leadership positions. He quickly advanced in the ranks and earned 32 merit badges. After successfully completing his rank advancements, Tyler was ready to begin his Eagle Scout project.
Without any hesitation, Tyler decided to pick a project that would pay it forward to all the volunteers who helped rescue his dog, Bear. After being involved in the pet adopted process, Tyler realized he wanted to do his part and help the animal shelter that saved his dog. He contacted Illinois Doberman Rescue Plus and presented them with a work plan which was accepted.
The shelter was in need of such basic items as food, beds and pet supplies. Tyler focused his project on those areas and started contacting friends, family and the community for assistance. Many pet suppliers sent donations and Home Depot supported his project by donating some PVC pipes for the dog beds. With the supplies, the scouts constructed 25 elevated dog beds.
Tyler decided he wanted to help the environment my using recycled items in his project. He reached out to his fellow scouts and asked for donated T-shirts and sweatshirts. The scouts all pitched in and Tyler had an abundance of supplies. With the donations, they made 150 dog toys, 15 handmade sweatshirt beds and several cat tents all from recycled material.
The last part of the project was to help out at a pet adoption day. The scouts were on hand to answer questions, help with set up and take down and most importantly help take care of the animals up for adoption. On that day, the scouts got to take care of six Husky puppies that were up for adoption.
When Tyler was asked what was the best part of your project? He replied "Seeing the faces of the volunteers when they looked at all the donations I collected."
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