Three Achieve Eagle Scout Status

Three members of Boy Scouts of America Troop 7, chartered by The United Methodist Church in Port Washington, recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, Scouting’s highest award.  

A Court of Honor recognized the achievements of John D’Alessandro, Matthew Kennedy, and Denis McDonnell on June 15. 

Each of the new Eagle Scouts led a team of volunteers in performing community service projects involving hundreds of hours of work effort.

D’Alessandro’s Eagle Scout project, on behalf of the Town of North Hempstead Animal Shelter, helped upgrade the extensive walking trails surrounding the shelter. For his project, D'Alessandro rebuilt the trail steps with new timbers, spread wood chips along the entire length of the trail and cut down the vegetation which had grown over portions of the trail.  In addition to the work done on the walking trail, the project also included landscaping of the entry driveway into the property. D’Alessandro’s, a student at the New York Institute of Technology, secured donations of plants, materials and money used to acquire the shrubs and flower he and the troop members planted alongside the entry driveway which was landscaped as part of his Eagle project.

Kennedy's Eagle Scout project was to restore and reconstruct a trail used by the Paul D. Schreiber High School's cross country team. The trail was misshaped and rocky from years of water erosion, increasing the potential of injury to runners. With the help of 58 volunteers Kennedy leveled-out and straightened about 1440 square feet of the hazardous section of the trail and installed a 120ft long and 11 inch deep drainage ditch that included a 15ft long PVC pipe which fed into a nearby sewer drain to prevent future erosion. Roughly 2700 square feet of the course was covered with mulch and the drainage ditch was filled with dozens of recycled cinder blocks. More than 300 hours were put into this project (189 of those hours were during the project day itself) that was designed, orchestrated, and managed by Kennedy. In the Fall 2013, Kennedy will attend the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he will study electrical engineering and enroll in Air Force ROTC.

McDonnell’s Eagle Scout project benefited the local Veteran of Foreign Wars Henderson-Marino Post 1819 in Port Washington. This facility serves more than 100 veterans and also serves as an emergency evacuation shelter for the community. McDonnell's project entailed building an 8 foot by 10 foot metal storage shed with a wooden base, painting interior and exterior spaces of the post building, constructing a drain cover, repairing a chain link fence and landscaping the post grounds by trimming bushes and removing deteriorating flower boxes. To accomplish this work, McDonnell managed a team of 45 volunteers who dedicated 450 hours of work to the project. McDonnell funded the project with monetary donations from community businesses and residents, and proceeds from tag sales of donated goods. As a graduate of Schreiber High School, he will study civil engineering at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in September.