Eagle project benefactors

[dlearyous]

 

Eagle Scouts hit the mark with projects

http://www.army.mil/-news/2011/01/21/50652-eagle-scouts-hit-the-mark-with-projects/

 

This article states that the Eagle projects were for the Rheinblick shooting range and for the Army. Are those allowed? The workbook states it should be a religious institution, school, or your community. It goes on to state that it could not be performed for businesses.

 

Yet district, council and national approved it. I don't get it?

[dg98adams]

Unless the US Army is training recruits to use

air rifle and archery targets

......

 

I'd image that's a MWR range on/off the base for non-military use.

 

The other

building two obstacles for the Military Police working dogs

could be used by police outside the base (or is already off base).... without more info, it's a guess.

 

 

 

 

[CalicoPenn]

Why wouldn't a military base in your community be considered part of the community? Particularly a miltary base on foreign soil where there is a chance you're living on the military base with your family?

 

Why would we treat a military facility any differently from a National Park, National Forest or National Wildlife Refuge? If you live near Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin, wouldn't that be part of your community and shouldn't you be allowed by the BSA to do a project there?

 

I think these sound like great projects, and thank you for sharing them with us.

[Beavah]

Yah, seem like fine projects to me!

 

dlearyous, sometimes it is hard to figure out the real intent of some of the BSA wording if you're not familiar with the issues.

 

The intention is that an Eagle project not be done for Scouting, and not be done for a private person, private club, or for-profit business.

 

Yeh might think in terms of da IRS 501©(3) rules, or anything to which yeh could reasonably give a charitable contribution, eh? Because that's what we want Eagle projects to be, service-oriented charitable contributions, not somethin' that is a private benefit.

 

So one of these projects was for the range maintained by the base community for a whole variety of community users. That's just like doin' a project for a public park. And another provided assistance to a police training facility. Just like doin' a project to help your local police, fire, or EMS.

 

No problem with either of 'em on that basis. Now 26 total man-hours assembling prefab target kits someone might consider a bit "light" for an Eagle project in terms of the leadership component, but that's up to da folks on site who know the conditions and the boy.

 

Beavah

 

[Twocubdad]

Unfortunately, Beav's right as to what is now allowed for ESLPs.

 

I'm not sure when the 503©3-ish definition became exclusive and providing service for individual deleted. Some of the most meaningful Eagle projects I've seen were for well-deserving individuals. Helping someone personally is can be so much more rewarding than building picnic tables in the park which some person may or may not use sometime sometime in the future.

[OldGreyEagle]

Arrgghhhh, I am doing it again, quoting from the official BSA Literature

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/512-927.pdf

 

Limitations

 

Routine labor (a job or service normally rendered) should not be considered.

 

Projects involving council property or other BSA activities are not acceptable.

 

Projects may not be performed for businesses or an individual.

 

Projects may not be of a commercial nature.

 

Projects may not be a fund-raiser. Fund-raising is permitted only for securing materials needed to carry out the project.

 

Donors to projects must be made aware of what entity is benefiting from the project, and that it clearly is not the Boy Scouts of America.

 

Any funds raised for a project and not used for the purchase of project materials must be returned to the donors.

 

No minimum number of hours is required.

 

The project is an individual matter; therefore, two Eagle Scout candidates may not receive credit for working on the same project.

 

So, as long as a project is not done on BSA property or for a BSA activity, is not routine labor, not done for a business, individual or of a commercial nature or a fund raiser, its good.

 

The US Army is not a Commercial Enterprise nor a business nor was this done for an individual. It was not done on BSA property nor at a BSA activity and it wasn't a fundraiser

 

It's an Eagle Project

 

PS National does not Approve Eagle Projects, they would only get involved if an appeal was done and that does not seem to be the case

[Venividi]

Twocubdad,

There is a way to do a service project that benefits a well deserving individual - do it for a church. For example, say a scout is aware of an elderly widow whose house is in disrepair, and she does not have the money or means to do the repairs. The scout would like to scrape and paint their house as a project. The scout could approach either his church or the widow's church to propose this project as part of their community outreach program, and offer to lead the project. The benefactor is now the church rather than an individual. (I would not recommend this if the widow was the scout's grandmother or other relative.)

[Beavah]

Some of the most meaningful Eagle projects I've seen were for well-deserving individuals.

 

Yah, ds way around this is to get a NFP to ask for it as a project, eh?

 

Consider Habitat for Humanity. The house yeh help build benefits a deserving individual in need, but da project is done for Habitat for Humanity. If yeh know a person or a family in your area that genuinely needs help, ask your CO, a church, or a community service agency to approve the project on their behalf. Then just like Habitat, the person in need gets the help, but the scout is doing the project for the NFP.

 

Beavah

[Eagle732]

So how many hours should an Eagle project be?

An actual number, not "enough to show leadership".

Our District's guidelines are 200 hours is a goal.

[OldGreyEagle]

200? Damn, ours is 100...

 

nothing like consistency

 

Note, I am not saying 200 or 100 is the "correct' amount, just noting the difference

[Twocubdad]

Sneaky! I like it.

 

E732 - I like to see 150 hours or more, although our council's unofficial-official mark is 100 hours. My reasoning is most boys seem to put 40-60 hours into a project personally. I think a good show of leadership can be demonstrated over two 6-8 hour days leading a crew of 6-8 people. That puts you in the range of 100 man-hours for the workers.

 

Just as important, I like to see projects while will require at least two good days. The project needs to be big and complicated enough that the candidate will encounter some problems which require him to analyze and solve. It also requires him to keep his crew together and motivated for a period of time.

 

None of which is hard-and-fast. If a smaller project comes along which allows the scout to demonstrate his leadership adequately, I'm all for it. I approved one project for about 60 total hours in which the Scout and a two others taught hour-long read classes for a semester. I felt that the Scout would be required to maintain the project over five months required a greater level of leadership that a conventional construction project.

 

[nolesrule]

Even the planning stages of a project usually involve more man-hours than just the scout.

 

My project was small. We built a dozen wood shiva benches (14-inch stools used by Jewish mourners) as an option to non-traditional yet more modern "cardboard box" stools that the local funeral homes had been providing. It totaled 120 man hours from inception to delivery. I know for my project I met with a committee at my synagogue multiple times as well as two funeral directors just in the planning stages. Those meetings are multiple man-hours, not just the scout's hours.

 

If scouts are properly accounting for all the man hours from start to finish, it's difficult for even the most basic project to not accumulate a significant number of hours.

[Beavah]

I always use the metric that the project should be a good "stretch" for the lad, and beyond what he and his family could do on their own.

 

What that "stretch" is depends on the boy. For younger fellows or boys with challenges, it might be a bit shorter. For others, a bit longer.

 

Because of what nolesrule indicates, I tend to be a bit disappointed by projects under 100 hours for an average lad. 150 feels better, 200 is pretty solid. That's just my sense in terms of da amount of learning/growth the boy experiences in doin' the project.

 

Beavah

 

[nolesrule]

I was definitely on the younger side when I put the project together. I don't remember my exact age (if my Eagle book wasn't in temp storage, I could check my time log for dates), but I know my mom or dad were chauffeuring me around town, which means I wasn't yet 15.

 

I have to admit that at the time I was honestly surprised that my project exceeded 100 hours. It's such a large number for a 13 or 14 year old to comprehend. But I learned a lot about the meaning of man-hours. I can tell you that I was put out of my comfort zone working on the project, especially in the planning stages and dealing with the adults. Heck, I even got a "no" for support on the project from one funeral director because he preferred the cardboard box stools (man, those things are tacky). In comparison, leading the execution stage was the easy part.

 

My project may have been small, but I was very proud of it. At the time, my exposure to other Eagle projects at the time was building picnic tables for churches. I wanted to do something that would have more personal impact, and it wasn't an idea that was handed to me by a 3rd party.

 

Had I been older, I'm sure I would have expanded on the idea a bit more (heck, 15 years later I still sometimes think about what I would have done differently or in addition), and it would have been really easy to hit 150 or 200 hours like Beavah said.

 

As it turned out, my family used the shiva benches once while I was still a scout and once again while I was in college, so it was personal.

I had asked to use them again when my grandfather passed away in 2007. Unfortunately, due to the way they were stored when not in use (wood and non-climate controlled outdoor storage don't mix well in Florida), they aren't around anymore, which saddens me.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

[Twocubdad]

It is also important to remember we're not really talking about "man-hours" here but "scout-hours." Big difference. About 4:1 or better. If I can look at a project and think to myself " I can hire two of my regular guys and and they could do this in two days," then it's probably of a reasonable scope for an ESLP.