Coming Home to Roost
Matt Frazier, far left, and fellow scouts descend on Our Children’s to complete his Eagle Scout project and rebuild the chicken coop.
Coming Home to Roost
Lake, Wales, FL…September 12, 2011…Matt Frazier, an Eagle Scout who attends Winter Haven High School, was at Our Children’s Academy with the 4-H Club when he offered to do an Eagle Scout Project for the school. According to the Boy Scouts of America, the Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project, is the opportunity for a Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to demonstrate leadership of others while performing a project for the benefit of his community. This is the culmination of the Eagle Scout candidate’s leadership training, and it requires a significant effort on his part.
Frazier spoke to Ellynne Draper, lead teacher at the school and asked what project would be beneficial. Draper responded that the school’s chicken coop needed a roof. Frazier quickly submitted his application for the project, drew up a plan with the help of a contractor, raised the funds to purchase the materials and rallied the manpower to build the structure.
Accompanied by a dozen fellow scouts, the Troop Leader and hammer wielding family and friends, Frazier spent a weekend at Our Children’s Academy leading the team as they added to the structural support of the chicken coop, replaced the sun shade and gave the chickens some real shelter with a sturdy corrugated metal roof.
The shelter was tested that afternoon when the weatherman was proved wrong and thunderous rain storm whipped over the ridge pouring a deluge of rain on the volunteers. Seeking shelter, they squeezed under the newly completed shelter. The roof withstood the wind and the volunteers stayed dry.
Draper is grateful the school’s chickens, who are fondly called the “girls”, have shelter to keep them dry in the rain and cooler under the sun.
Our Children’s Academy, in Lake Wales, is a nonprofit charter school that serves children with special needs in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade offering a unique model which combines an individualized educational program with a medical program thus meeting both the educational and therapeutic needs of the child.
For more about Our Children’s Academy & Rehab, please call 863-294-1429 or visit the website www.ourchildrens.org. ###