My Eagle Scout Project

[Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15]

The project would include all of that. In my town, there are any car wrecks. A couple of close frineds of mine died last year in car wrecks. And the blood drive bus only comes to our town three times the whole year.

 

And I wanted to do this to give others a chance to live from a car wreck.

 

I myself will donate blood.

 

Also, three years ago, a scout in a Mississippi area did a blood drive for his Eagle Project, and the day before he was going to get the award, he go shot while hunting and died.

 

Now, do you think this could be an Eagle Scout Project?

[dan]

SPLT15

Bullet points each action that you will do for a blood drive.

Guessamate time for each task.

Standing around watching people give blood should not count.

Do you have enough hours?

How much leadership would it require, asking 2 scouts to hand out cookies is not what I would consider leadership.

A blood drive could be an Eagle project, but it would have to go alot further than what I have read so far.

 

[frank10]

SPL-T15,

I learned a long time ago that you can't judge a project by it's title. It's more what you put into that counts.

I would ask the following of any project:

 

Does it serve a real need?

-building a bench is great but will anyone sit there?

 

Will it have a lasting efect?

-I could set up folding chairs but a bench will be there for years.

 

Would it work out the same if you didn't do it?

-Is the city planning to install a bench in hte same place? Would folks just sit some where else?

 

What is your part in it?

-did you do the labor or the leading? If I walked in that day what would I see you doing? Would I know who was in charge?

 

As for your project? NOT MY PLACE TO SAY! Ask your scoutmaster.

 

[Bob White]

SPL t-15

 

Take a few moments and re-read the requirements for the project.

It must "be helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community."

 

You do not get extra points for really helpful, or really really helpful. It's fine that you have motivation, but that does not do anything more toward meeting the requirement.

 

Here is where your project is lacking "plan, develop, and give leadership to others"

 

It would seem to me that most of the planning for a blood drive is out of your control, or already done by the agency collecting the blood.

 

It's nice that you will give blood, but how? You have told us that you were what, about 14? You must be 17-years-old to give blood according to the Red Cross. But if you had fulfilled the Eagle requirement to "plan" the project wouldn't you have known that?

 

Finally, where's the beef? The only leadership you have shared with us is telling a scout to hand a person a shirt and that would have been done anyway even if you weren't there.

 

"getting the people in orderly and and being kind",

I don't know if you have ever been to a blood donation event but this is not the kind of activity where mosh pits form, or folks scramble for the best seat. Your intentions are fine but the need for such service is highly unlikely.

 

Bottom line SPL T-15 is that you've presented this to a bunch of leaders who have seen a ton of Eagle Projects and they are all telling you the same thing. If this came past a committee we sat on, the answer would be no.

 

I recommend you consider a new project.

 

Bob White

[Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15]

Planning: I can call the Blood Drive people and ask them to show up at the place and time that is convient to them and myself. I can notify the community of the blood drive. I can get a number of scouts to help with the project.

 

Develop: How can I develop the blood drive, build the bus? By making sure it runs effiencently.

 

Give Leadership: By getting the scouts to help the people who are taking the blood do things, and by handing out the goodies and by them putting up a tarp for people to sit around, also by cleaning up afterwards.

 

Theres not that many things left for me to do.

 

They wont accept it unless its something big.

[hotdesk]

As a JASM working on my Eagle Project and having several other scouts working on there Eagle Projects I find it only proper to offer the my input.

 

1. What are Eagle Advisors? From what I can tell they help file the paper work for Eagles.

 

In my council we have a District Eagle Board Chairmen who gets to approve projects and set up boards. Since he is a member of our troop he leads us through the Booklet and then we must fill it out, the actual application, and the Scholarship sheets. That is the only help we recieve with the paper work.

 

2. Blood Drives

 

Now the Councils that allow Blood Drives I say go right ahead. However, our Council DOES NOT allow Blood Drives because the Eagle Board Chairmen says that they pose dangour.

 

3. The Eagles Before me and the Ones Working

 

1. Cleared trails at a Conservation park, laid down bricks on the trail, and built a bridge. Took him a couple of weekends and he was done.

 

2. Redid a Waterfall that his church had. Put in bushes, woodchips, rockes, etc. and made it look really nice.

 

3. (Me) I am working on a School District cemetery. I'm redoing it because it is endanger of being lost since the headstones are broke, the sign wasn't noticeable, and it doesn't look good with plants.

 

There's my advice, take it as you will.

[OldGreyEagle]

I have said many times that I don't consider a blood drive an Eagle project. This is why, lets consider two scouts one decides to plant 20 trees, 15 bushes and rebuild a portion of a stream bank. The other scout does a blood drive.

 

Both scouts have pre-work to do. One has to arrange for the Blood Mobile to come, the other has to figure out what trees and bushes to plant, how far apart are the trees and bushes and the soil compatible, and how much money it will take to buy them or get them donated from a nursery or get money somehow. Also an organization must be found to "sponsor" the project, whether a Conservancy or Park District.

 

Both scouts have to line up workers and the blood drive scout may line up volunteers to give blood or furnishes publicity to get donors.

 

On the day of the event the blood bank people will set up themselves, they have this down to a science. The scout may meet and greet people and coordinate the cookies and drinks, but thats about it. The actual procedure and screening of the donors is set by medical policy. Then the blood bank people pack up and leave, again, they have it down to a science.

 

On the day of the tree event, the scout has to arrange to have the plants delievered, have people to plant them, assure the tools are there, decide where to plant, how to plant, etc. He directs the planting, and stream rebuilding and when anybody has a quesiton on what to do next, the scout answers.

 

Cant say I've seen that in a blood drive. Thats a thumbnail sketch. Now, if your council allows blood drives, go for it, but this is why I have reservations on it

[hops_scout]

Somebody mentioned blood drives being done often. In our area, there were three (3) scheduled the last two weeks alone.

 

One today at the high school.

One at a church Tuesday

And one more at a county building sometime soon.

[mk9750]

I want to try to walk a very fine line here, because SPLT15 is not in my Troop. I'm not sure I am the right person to be giving him guidance.

 

But if he were in my Troop, one of the questions I would ask is what other options has he considered. Rarely is it that a good Eagle Project is the product of the first effort. Either SPLT15 has considered other ideas, in which case I would want to discuss these with him also, or he has yet to put any effort into thinking of alternatives. If it is the latter, I would advise him he spend some time thinking about other possible projects. I would try to get him to come to the realization that there are hundreds, no, thousands of other ideas he could develop into a top notch Eagle Project. Once he had a few alteritives in mind, I would ask him to compare each against his idea to determine how each meet the requirements.

 

If he could do something else that definitely meets all of the requirements for an Eagle Project, I would hope he would consider changing his plans. If not, I'd have to ask him to consider if he was perhaps not ready to tackle an apropriate project.

 

Either way, I would certainly encourage him to set up the blood drive. He's intent on doing this, and it's a great idea for a service project. We should certainly not discourage any youth, especially Scouts, from doing service projects. It's just that this one is not likely to ever meet the requirements of an Eagle Project.

 

SPLT15, good luck to you. Speak with your Scoutmaster, your parents, and the person at the District or Council level who oversees Eagle projects. If your intent is to do a service project that meets the criteria for an Eagle Project, I am sure that all of you together can come to the correct conclusion.

 

Mark

[SharonNC]

SPLT15,

You've lots of responses, but I'm going add my two cents.......for what it's worth.

 

Our District Advancement committee does not approve blood drives. It's one of those things that doesn't follow all the prerequisites for a project, in their opinion, but there are other districts in our council that do. It's matter of talking with the Scoutmaster. The Scoutmaster should know what the guidelines from the district advancement committee.

 

In the troop I'm CC for, the Scoutmaster is the first person to talk with about a project. He knows from attending roundtables and from communication with the advancement committee things the community needs, the things for a religious organization could be at your own church, or from your sponsoring organization, is there a Homeless Shelter or Soup Kitchen in your town? There are any number of organizations that need projects completed or help.

 

Having just gone with two boys from our troop through the processes, through the projects planning, approval, and completion..........I can tell you there are lots of things to do in a community.

 

I hope that maybe you could think more in terms of helping suggest to a boy that needs service project for rank, to do the Blood Drive, and find a lasting project for Eagle for yourself.

 

Thanks for all your hard work in Scouting, it's never easy facing the adults that have so much experience and so little patience. Please don't take personally remarks that may not apply, there are many people in the world that have forgotten what it's like to be 11-18 age. Have patience. We appreciate you being here and sharing your experiences.

Sharon

[Proud Eagle]

Blood Drives could be an Eagle Scout project. However, I only know of one Eagle that got approval for a blood drive, and carried out the project to the satisfaction of the BOR. After he completed his project the troop decided it was a good service project and decided the troop would do it annually, but not allow it as an Eagle project.

 

Now, if you really want to try this project you need to discuss the possibilities with each of the folling persons, perhaps twice:

your SM to see what he thinks

someone from council/district to get their input

someone from Red Cross to find out what it actually would take on your part to do this

then talk to SM and district advancement persons again to find out if doing what the Red Cross indicated would qualify as a good project

 

Now if you were to do a blood drive there are quite a few things you could do.

Working out an appropriate date for the drive.

Scheduling the facility.

Schedule training for other volunteers to work the drive. (conducted by Red Cross)

Plan for the promotion of the drive and finding blood donors. You will need to be able to have a minimum number (often 30) of guaranteed donors before the drive. You will want to sign up as many donors as possible before the drive. You will also want to promote the drive to the community to try to get more walk ons. This could consist of having notice placed in the newspaper, church bullitens, on the radio. Also posting flyers and posters in businesses, schools and churches would help.

Use members of the troop to aid the Red Cross in setting up the drive. Here there is a ton of stuff that has to be unloaded and set up for blood drives.

Use volunteers you recruit to man the check in table (this is not the medical screening, more of a greater role).

Use volunteers you recruit to assist in the donation area. Here the Red Cross uses donors for things like placing the bandages on the donors, taking the blood from the donation to the collection area, guiding donors to the rest area after donating.

Use volunteers to man the hospitality area. Get all food and drinks for the event donated if possible.

Assist the Red Cross in packing up and loading their equipment at the end of the drive.

Clean up the facility.

Blood drives usually last several hours and we usually do ours from about 9am-2pm on a Saturday. Providing lunch for all workers would be necessary. You would also need to handle scheduling the volunteers you provide to ensure enough are available at all times before, during, and after the drive.

 

 

Now, all that being said, I don't think a blood drive is the best project to do. You run into serious questions about the benefit to the community (does the blood stay there or go 4 towns down the road?), lasting impact (you are helping collect a parishable and expendable commodity), and the level of leadership you would show. The Red Cross would essentially provide you with all the information you need for planning and most of the materials involved.

 

I would suggest consulting with your SM, CC, pastor, district advancement rep, school officials, parks and recreation officials, naturalists or coservation officers, and the heads of community organizations involved in service work. These are the people that will likely be able to provide suggestions about what is needed in the community. Often these groups have things on their "wish list" but don't have the manpower or money to do the project.

 

When it came time for me to find a project I consulted with my SM. He provided some general suggestions about who to contact. I then talked to the naturalist at the nearist State Park, and several others. However, none of those I initially conacted had anything that seemed to fit. Then my SM heard from a friend of a friend that a certain community group that does projects in many of our local parks had some things it wanted done. I contacted the head of this organization and she indicated that they did have several projects they wished to complete but lacked the recources for. I scheduled a meeting and discussed the options and came up with a set of goals that I wished to accomplish. I then planned my project based on that. It required many phone calls and several meetings with various people and even some interfacing with the local goverment since it involved park land to put the project together. In the end it required about 120 man hours from other volunteers representing two Scout troops and one high school service club to actaully carry out the project, and about 20 hours from me to handle all planning and preparation. (I am doing the numbers from memory, I don't have my project report at hand.) It then required quite a bit of time to complete the report on the project. (My troop is very big on documenting the project. The project notebook filled a 3" three ring binder with information, charts, tables, photos, the written report, and copies of just about every piece of paper in any way associated with the project placed in plastic page protectors. This is the standard format that has been used for at least a decade in my troop. Each succesive Eagle always adds to the norm and improves it in some way. By looking at past examples I was able to see quite clearly the improvements allowed by the change from typewriters to computers.)

 

 

Anywase, I wish you luck in selecting a project. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Just because most people seem to end up building something doesn't mean you have to.

[Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15]

I have considered other projects.

 

One, was to build a place for people to drop cloths, food, etc. off at a Store Front Mission(Salvation Army).

 

Another was to re level an area of ground around another scouts Eagle Scout project.

 

Another was to post signs direct people to a town's park.

 

Also, I considered cementing a driveway for our church

 

But either they werent big enough(not actually size), or they would cost too much money to raise.

 

Also, one more merit badge left, and im done with the merit badge requirement(its Communication, and all I have left to do is to invite a guest, which is already schedled)

[captainron14]

Sorry I'm a bit late to post on this thread. I noticed this on a more current thread that said you were going through with this and you were being approved? I hope not!

I've sean a few "Blood Drives" for Eagle Projects, NONE passed the requirements for Eagle.

(One did get approved, however he was a "Paper Eagle" but thats another thread..)In most Councils they are not allowed. For good reason.

The Red Cross does Everything for you. It is basicly on "Auto-Pilot" all you would do is hand out T-Shirts and Cookies. There is ZERO leadership for Eagle. As for "Setting Up" or "Building the Bus", There is NO WAY the Red Cross will let you do ANYTHING to their "Already Approved" set up. And as was mentioned in another post you are not even old enough to donate.

Remember this: In the Future, when you are asked "What did you do for your Eagle Project"?

And you reply "A BLOOD DRIVE!" The impression left will be much what you have seen on earlier posts. It looks like you are trying to take the "Easy Way out"?

I'm sorry if I came of a bit harsh, but there are so many other things you could do. I suggest you talk to School Leaders, Church Leaders, Community Leaders, Non-Profit Programs in your area, The VA or Veteran Groups. This list could go on and on...I am curious as to where your SM was on this.

Do somthing you can realy be proud of. Something that when you are a Scoutmaster and a young Scout asks you for help on selecting his Eagle Project. You can Proudly tell him about your project and have him inspired to select his.

Myself, 23 years ago I did a "Nature Trail" for a county park. And yes, I use it as an example to my Scouts today.

I hope you can find a Eagle Project that is worthy of the rank.

Good Luck!

[Senior_Patrol_Leader_T15]

I will be proud of it, I am proud of it. Im not trying to take the easy way out. When someone asks me what I did as a Eagle Scout Project, I'll say," For my Eagle Scout Project, I did a Blood Drive, and that blood that went to save peoples lives, and give them a chance to make a difference." I beleive that giving someone a chance to live is enough to be proud of. I'm asking for help, not a new idea.

[Fat Old Guy]

I think that they are trying to help you by pointing out that you project isn't up to snuff. Blood drives are wonderful things, very important to the community BUT . . . .

 

(I digress)

Many years ago a wise man told me, "if you ask someone's opinion, just keep your mouth shut, listen and say 'Thank you'." He meant, don't try to defend yourself (unless he thinks that you want to do a "dog drive" instead of a blood drive) or argue. Just listen and think about what they said. Most of us ask for opinions and advice in the hopes that the person that we ask will agree with us. Sometimes that's the case but often it isn't. Listen, think about what was said.

(back to the BUT)

 

. . . does it show leadership? I don't recall anyone saying that your

project isn't good for the community. It looks like everyone is saying that it doesn't show much in the way of leadership and, FWIW, I agree.

 

Your example of the Scout in Mississippi who ran a blood drive is an excellent attempt at misdirection. The fact that the Scout died is irrelevant to this discussion.

 

Many years ago, a local Scout ran a blood drive for his Eagle project. How it got past the committee, I don't know as I was still with Cub Scouts at the time. I do know that it was a lot of work. He found donors, found a site for the blood drive, arranged everything. The whole event was a success except that the Eagle Board decided that he didn't show enough leadership and they shot him down. He had to start from scratch with a new project.