Scouting News - The Gwinnett Citizen

Eagle Scout Award - Blake Ferrell Gilmer

Blake Ferrell Gilmer appeared before the Eagle Board of Review on November 20, 2010, and was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout. Blake is a member of Troop 508, chartered by White Oak Baptist Church in Lilburn, GA. He is also a member of the Order of the Arrow, an honorary service group of the Boy Scouts. Blake is the first scout to attain the rank of Eagle since Troop 508 was reorganized in May of 2008.
Blake’s Eagle project consisted of building sixteen benches for the Upwards Soccer program at the First Baptist Church of Snellville. He supervised over 198 hours of service and over $1900 dollars in donated funds, tools and equipment. The benches are 6 feet long, 16 inches wide and have wheels and handles for ease of movement around the soccer fields. Blake used pressure treated 2” x 4”s and pressure treated 4” x 4”s to build the benches, so they would withstand the weather and give the church many years of use. The benches were put together using 2 ∏” and 3” galvanized screws. For the wheels, he used ∏” steel axles with pvc spacers and 6” lawn mower wheels.
Blake is a member of the First Baptist Church of Snellville, and he is active in Sunday School and the Sportsman Ministry. Blake’s goal was to reach the rank of Eagle before his 15th birthday and he did it with one month to spare. Blake’s Eagle Court of Honor will be held at the First Baptist Church of Snellville in February.

Andrew Wright Tippins earns Eagle Scout Award

Andrew Wright Tippins of Troop 554 was awarded the highest rank of the Boy Scouts of America when he was named an Eagle Scout by the Northeast GA Council on August 29,2009. Brothers Bart and Glenn Tippins, also Eagle Scouts, were part of the formal ceremony that was held February 27, 2010 at the First Baptist Church of Lawrenceville, the sponsoring organization. Andrew is a junior at Grayson High School and the son of Bascom & Susan Tippins. He is the grandson of Mrs. Sylvene Fleming of Hartwell, GA and the late Hugh Fleming and Mrs. Joy Tippins of Claxton, GA and the late BG Tippins. To achieve this rank, Andrew earned the 12 required Eagle Merit badges along with 23 others. The final requirement for this rank was a service project of over 100 hours of community service, which has to be approved by an Eagle Board. Andrew’s project was the design, planning and construction of landscape improvements, including swings and fence at New Hope United Methodist Church in Grayson GA. Andrew coordinated over 25 volunteers who worked 170+ hours to accomplish this project.

Joshua Tyler Glover earns Eagle Scout rank

Joshua Tyler Glover of Troop 554 was awarded the highest rank of the Boy Scouts of America when he was named an Eagle Scout by the Northeast GA Council on March, 14, 2010. Josh is asenior at Central GwinnettHigh School and the son of Joel and Lyniece Glover. Josh’s Eagle Project was to design and build an Outdoor Classroom for his church, Oak Hill Baptist Church, located on New Hope Road in Lawrenceville, GA. The classroom is located on a small hill overlooking the church and will provide a peaceful outdoor setting for the church or community to hold classes or meetings. The classroom consists of a podium and nine benches, all constructed of pressure-treated lumber. The base of the podium is in the shape of a cross and the benches are grouped in three sections with three rows each. The outer sections are angled toward the podium. The classroom is dedicated to Oak Hill Baptist Church for their dedication to the Youth of our Community. Josh has earned 35 badges and held numerous leadership positions. Josh passed his Eagle Board of Review on October 24, 2009 and received his Eagle Award in a ceremony at Oak Hill Baptist Church on March 14, 2010. Josh's older brother, Chris, earned his Eagle Award in 2007 and had the honor of presenting Josh with his Eagle. Andrew coordinated over 25 volunteers who worked 170+ hours to accomplish this project.

Grayson Senior earns Eagle Scout

Max Fairclough with fellow scout McKay Selin in front of the Quinn House after the books were delivered.

Max Fairclough, a senior at Grayson High School, earned his Eagle Scout on Saturday, January 23. Fairclough belongs to Troop 583, which is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Dacula.
For his service project to earn the Eagle rank, Fairclough collected children’s books from the community and donated them to the Quinn House, a local shelter that assists families in need. Fairclough contacted the presidents of three homeowner’s associations in Lawrenceville and Loganville to get permission to distribute fliers within the neighborhood, asking for new and gently used children’s books. Fairclough and his Venture Crew, a team of 12 people, stapled fliers to 600 grocery bags donated by Publix and distributed them in each of the neighborhoods. A week later Fairclough and half of his crew collected more 1900 books from the three neighborhoods, while the other half built five bookshelves. The materials for the bookshelves were donated by several families in the Grayson Ward (congregation) of the LDS church. Once the books were collected, Fairclough had to sort through all of the books to ensure the books were in good condition. Fairclough said, “I was pleasantly surprised at how generous the community was. I was only expecting to collect about 500 books.” The project took 172 man-hours to complete. When Fairclough went before the review board, one of the reviewers said that Max was “the cream of Eagle Scouts.”
Fairclough said, “I choose to do this project because I felt that it would make a positive impact on the community by involving the members of the community. It was a way for me and them to give back and to help children.”
Fairclough, son of Tom and Mylene Fairclough of Lawrenceville, plays point guard and is co-captain for Grayson’s varsity basketball team, is on the student council, and plans to attend Brigham Young University in the fall.

Boy Scouts collect food donations

Troop 509 collected donated food items for local food pantries and co-operatives serving those in need.

By Staff Reports

The Boy Scouts from the Sweetwater and Apalachee districts assemble every year in December for skill games and activities at an event titled “Yule Log.” This event takes place at Scoutland on Lake Lanier. The event is sponsored by a group of veteran adult scout leaders known as the Alcovy Old Timers. The two districts cover membership in the two counties of Gwinnett and Walton and are part of the Northeast Georgia Council of Boy Scouts of America. For many years now, these boy scouts have collected donated food items and have distributed them to our local food pantries and co-operatives serving those in need. With these non-profit food outlets assisting more people in today’s economic recession, the need for broad based support is even greater. The Boy Scouts provide our community with multiple efforts during the year to collect food donations. These boys have been quite successful and label their efforts “Scouting for Food”.
This year’s Yule Log (26th annual event) took place the weekend of December 11th. A total of 925 boy scouts and adult volunteers attended. These boys as in past years, brought with them donated food items (cans, boxes, non-perishables, and food gift cards). This group heard the plea for help in our communities and excelled. When all was collected and counted, a grand total of 12,700 food items and $4500 in cash & gift cards had been brought together. This easily beat totals from past years. They were able to assist food co-ops and ministries located in Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Buford, Loganville and Monroe. The leading unit was Troop 509 who collected 6000 cans.
All the boys went on to enjoy outdoor camping and demonstrating scouting skills that they have learned and honed. It was a wonderful weekend for promoting the best ideals of Boy Scouts of America (BSA). BSA is celebrating its 100th year in 2010. For more information about scouting in our area it can be found on the web at http://www.nega-bsa.org/.

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