Luke’s Eagle Scout Project was to benefit the American Legion Post #112 of Abington, Massachusetts. The building that the American Legion meets in is at 1027 Washington Street, Abington, and is more than 140 years old; it used to be the town’s high school over a hundred years ago, and served many municipal functions to the town of Abington over the years.
Over time the American Legion had accumulated a huge amount of junk from years and years of yard sale leftovers and a lack of need to throw things away. The upstairs of the Legion has two rooms which are connected; one is a large rectangular room with two windows facing the front of the building, and the other is an adjoining rotunda room with several large windows also facing the front of the building. This rotunda room was completely covered, floor-to-ceiling, with shelves upon shelves of old yard sale cast-offs and other miscellaneous junk. The room was so filled with refuse that you could barely even enter the space. Also from years of misuse and abuse, the door to the room was cracked and falling off its hinges; in fact, the door was only being held in place by a hasp lock connected to the door frame.
On the other side of the upstairs attic the Legion has a very large attic room, which was likewise filled with some 30-40-50 years of junk, including doors, a slate pool table, large restaurant-style benches, wood, scrap metal, and many other items. Another legacy of the past was a large HVAC ductwork system that connected to the large meeting room down below. In years past, when smoking was allowed in the building, this HVAC system was used to draw the smoke from the meeting room into the attic and exhaust it outside the building through a window. Since smoking has long since been banned from the building and this HVAC system had no purpose anymore but to obstruct the use of the attic, this system also had to be removed, and the floor where the ductwork came out of repaired, as well as the window where the system expelled smoke to the outside repaired also.
Luke’s project to renovate the rotunda room and attic therefore involved:
- removing nearly 30 dumpster loads of trash, junk, construction debris, scrap metal, and other miscellaneous items from the American Legion attic and rotunda room
- taking apart the HVAC system in the attic and disposing of it
- disconnecting the electrical connection to the fan powering the HVAC system
- removing the old door and frame to the rotunda room and replacing the door, frame, and lockset
- painting the new door and surrounding frame to color match the existing adjoining paint colors
- turning in nearly 800 lbs. of scrap metal to a metal scrapyard
- disassembling several very large and heavy items for disposal, including:
- one very large steel-reinforced alarmed solid-core wooden door
- full-sized slate pool table
- three large restaurant-style benches, each of which could seat 4 adults
- many large, heavy wooden items requiring break-down before being able to be disposed of
- relocating the electrical outlet powering the HVAC exhaust fan to another safe location
- repairing and reinforcing two large 2’x2′ holes in the attic floor where the old HVAC system was
- repairing the window where the HVAC system exhausted air to the outside with a pressure-treated, outdoor rated plywood, and painting
- moving two large 3’x8’x6′ wooden shelving units from the rotunda room to the attic space
- coordinating adult and Scout volunteers to help with the refuse disposal, break-down of items
- over 600 hours worth of combined work effort on the part of Luke, family members, Scouts, adult volunteers
The project took several months, and involved coordination between the American Legion, several local antique dealers (attempting to sell several older items), volunteers, etc. Luke also raised over $1200 in funds to help purchase required materials for the project, and was so successful in his fundraising efforts that he was able donate more than $200 left over directly back to the Legion. Upon the project’s completion, the rotunda room and the attic were converted into usable spaces again for storage, or for further renovation work.
The American Legion Commander Ken Coburn was extremely thankful to Luke for all the hard work that he put into the project, and he told Luke several times that this project was certainly the largest, most comprehensive project he has ever seen, and the benefits of the project to the American Legion and the community of Abington would be immediately felt.
In recognition of the superior quality, importance, and dedication Luke brought to his Eagle Scout Project, we are submitting his project for consideration in the Glenn and Melinda Adams Service Project of the Year Award contest. Links to various sections of Luke’s Eagle Scout workbook are found below:
