Just a few months ago, visitors to Reservoir Park in Tyrone sure had an eyesore to look at when pulling up to the entrance.
\nBut thanks to the community work of one dedicated Boy Scout, the monument and area surrounding it in the park is a sight to be seen once again.
\nFifeteen-year-old Nathan Barber is the guy behind it all.
\n\u201cThe whole area was in pretty bad shape when I started it all,\u201d said the Tyrone youth. \u201cBut once me and some other guys from the troop got going, the improvements started showing immediately.\u201d
\nNathan is part of Boy Scout Troop 103, based in Bald Eagle. He\u2019s working to attain Boy Scouting\u2019s highest honor \u2013 the Eagle Scout badge. And doing a community service project is one of the requirements for the feat.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted since I became a Boy Scout,\u201d said Barber. \u201cMy brother Brandon was an Eagle Scout, and that made me want to do it also. Now it\u2019s going to happen.\u201d
\nNathan said the idea to do his community work came after a long brainstorming session with two other major influences in his life \u2013 parents Ray and Mary Jo Barber.
\n\u201cThey really helped push me through this,\u201d Nathan said.
\nWith their help, he began mapping his course. Nathan said they worked for a few hours on the planning, got the permission from the borough, then began ironing out all the details. Soon, the weather broke and he and his fellow scouts began on the project.
\n\u201cThere was a lot to do,\u201d said Nathan. \u201cWe pressure washed the entire monument and did a whole lot of landscaping around the area. We mulched the area, planted flowers and other plants, and it all came together pretty much like I hoped it would.\u201d
\nBut there\u2019s still more work to be done.
\n\u201cWe still have some more plants and flowers to get in,\u201d said Nathan. \u201cAnd we also have to build two benches that will sit parallel to the fountain in front of the monument.\u201d
\nAltogether, Nathan said there\u2019s about 15 hours of work already put in at the park, and expect the few remaining jobs to do to take another couple of hours.
\nPart of the requirement of the project is that the scout raise his own funds to support the project. Nathan said he conducts fundraisers to foot those bills. He said his most fund-generating project came with a recent sale of Marianna\u2019s hoagies. He said a car wash will be scheduled in the near future.
\n\u201cI really enjoy Boy Scouting,\u201d said Nathan. \u201cAnd I\u2019d tell anybody to give it a try. You learn a lot and make a lot of real good friends.\u201d
\nNathan expects to finish his Eagle Scout requirement by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just a few months ago, visitors to Reservoir Park in Tyrone sure had an eyesore to look at when pulling up to the entrance. But thanks to the community work of one dedicated Boy Scout, the monument and area surrounding it in the park is a sight to be seen once again. Fifeteen-year-old Nathan Barber […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}