While Boy Scouts do a lot to help the community and make a difference, they usually do not create notebooks filled with various information on all of the Veterans buried at a specific cemetery. However, a certain Boy Scout did just that, in hopes of becoming an Eagle Scout and benefiting the community.
Boy Scout Samuel Haines received a great honor from Trustee Brendan Clancy at McCool Cemetery for a project he had been working on. Haines received recognition for putting together an information notebook on all Veterans buried at McCool.
It was a small ceremony held next to some of the graves of the Veterans. Although it only lasted 15 minutes, it had an important meaning behind it. At the ceremony, Clancy gave Haines a proclamation stating everything he had accomplished.
"The ceremony was to basically show what I've done for the cemetery and community and it's very inspiring to me," Haines said.
Haines wanted to accomplish this because he hoped it would overall benefit the community.
"To me, it just means that I have accomplished the goal I set out to achieve and it is an honor that I greatly appreciate from the cemetery," Haines said.
Haines decided to do this as a step in the process of becoming an Eagle Scout, which requires him to show leadership skills. He served at the official manager of the project and had many scouts working with him.
The scouts gathered names and information of all the Veterans buried at the cemetery and then Haines, with help from a volunteer, began putting together several copies of the notebooks. The notebooks contain all of the information that Haines and his fellow scouts have gathered. Altogether, there are about 24 finished notebooks in various locations around the community. One copy will stay at McCool in case any researches want to use it as a source of information.
Haines said he picked this idea after going through several ideas in his mind. He decided that out of all of the ideas he was considering, he thought this one would make the biggest impact.
Although Haines worked on this individual project more than 4 months, his journey of becoming an Eagle Scout in not yet complete. He now has to turn in all of the required forms that his Scout Leader must sign. However, he is nearing the end of the process.
"I hope this information can get out to everyone exactly how I intended it to and that it will be as great of a benefit as I intend it to," Haines said.