Future Eagle Scout flies high for disabled vets
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
The weatherization and housing rehab crew from Community Services Inc. lifts a framed wall into place Friday morning for a new storage building that will house donated medical equipment for use by disabled veterans and their families. The $6,000-plus project is a cooperative effort involving Community Services, Eagles Scout candidate Jathan Ungles and Maryville American Legion Post 100.
Sometimes when good people try to do good things on their own, they find each other and discover that the real key to service is working together.
One such happenstance occurred a few months ago when a Troop 190 Boy Scout in search of an Eagle project, Maryville American Legion Post 100 and Community Services Inc., a local social services agency, discovered they were all trying to achieve the same goal — a better quality of life for aging and disabled veterans.
For years, Post 100 has collected canes, walkers, crutches, wheelchairs, hospital beds, wheeled dinner trays and other medical gear for free distribution to both ailing veterans and veterans with afflicted family members.
Getting enough donations has never been a problem. Storing all the stuff until it can be given away to the folks who need it has.
At present, the medical equipment is stored in a small metal shed adjoining the post headquarters at Fifth and Laura streets and a couple of similar structures located off site.
After taking over Troop 190’s charter in January from Conception Abbey, Post 100 officials suggested that constructing a new, larger storage facility might make a great service project for some eager young Scout.
Life Scout Jathan Ungles — at age 12 already just a step away from Scouting’s highest rank — stepped up.
Since early this year, Ungles has raised about $3,000 in cash and in-kind donations from businesses, organizations and individuals in Nodaway and several adjoining counties.
Reaching out to distant friends and family, donations also arrived from as far away as Texas, California and Arizona.
The idea of an Eagle Scout service project is for the candidate to show leadership by marshaling people and resources to carry out the work. He doesn’t necessarily to do the job himself. So, in an effort to demonstrate his management and organizational skills, Ungles applied for a Home Depot grant designed to assist veterans.
His effort failed. But that’s when the magic happened.
Post 100 Adjutant David Dredge and fellow Legionnaire Robert Westfall reached out to Community Services Inc. and discovered that the agency, known locally for providing weatherization and housing rehab services for lower-income families, had successfully applied for the same $2,000 grant.
Community Services resource development specialist Glenn Miller said the agency originally intended to use the money to help out veterans in need of wheelchair ramps and other housing needs, but that the endeavor proved less than fruitful.
“Try getting a vet to ask for help,” Miller said. “It’s not going to happen. They’ll just say, ‘I’m all right.’”
Then Westfall mentioned Post 100’s need for a bigger storage facility, a concept that dovetailed with the requirements of the Home Depot grant. From then on, the project was gravy. What Miller and Ungles couldn’t do separately quickly became a done deal once they started working together.
The 280-square-foot wood-framed structure was erected on Saturday by Community Services’ weatherization crew and should be complete in a few days. In addition to the $3,000 raised by Ungles and the $2,000 Home Depot grant, the project also received $1,200 from Wal-Mart.
Lumberyards in Maryville and St. Joseph, including both Bearcat Lumber and Maryville Lumber, either donated construction materials or provided them at a discount. Major cash contributors included Maryville’s Pitzenberger Body Shop.
When completed, the metal-skinned structure will include two 14-by-7-foot lofts and offer enough space for beds, walkers and other equipment to be stored in an orderly, accessible manner
This will be a welcome change from current arrangements that make access difficult and accurate cataloging and inventory almost impossible.
“Once we were asked to take a bed out, and we had to unload the entire shed just to get to it,” Ungles recalled.
“This just turned out to be a perfect fit,” said Miller, who added that he and Community Services would love to be involved in similar cooperative efforts down the road.
“It was really a perfect storm of like-minded organizations coming together and producing positive results for the community,” he said.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Troop 190 Life Scout Jathan Ungles, right, holding level, looks on as a Community Services Inc. construction crew secures a framed wall Friday at the site of a new storage facility for donated medical equipment intended for distribution to disabled veterans and their families. Since early this year, Ungles has raised about $3,000 in cash and in-kind donations for the project from businesses, organizations and individuals in Nodaway and several adjoining counties.
