Eoin Heaney had a vision while preparing for his Eagle Scout project and that vision soon became a reality in just a few short months of hard work.
Heaney, a Life Scout with Boy Scout Troop 482 in Floral Park, helped to restore the flag pole outside of Floral Park Memorial High School. He also built a memorial garden with memorial bricks in the ground around the flag pole.
“I was trying to improve the area in front of and around the school,” said Heaney of his main goal of the project. “And also make the flag pole a better tribute not only to our country but to the community because people take pride in our school and our community and I thought if the flag pole was a lot better it’d be more to be proud of.”
The Floral Park Memorial High School student came up with the idea for the project while noticing that the flag pole had become rusted and the area around it had become overgrown. He thought it should be a better tribute to the country and thus decided to take it on as his final project for the Boy Scouts.
Businesses throughout the community and members of the community rallied around Heaney’s cause either by buying a memorial brick or just by supporting him. Heaney said he owes special thanks to businesses like Ciro’s Pizzeria, the local Home Depot and Dryer Tree Service.
The memorial bricks were Heaney’s source for fundraising. Selling each one for $50 apiece, a total of 83 were sold. These bricks were made by a company in Florida who engraved logos, names or different messages on the bricks to go by the flag pole.
According to Heaney, the big work of the project is now finished.
While most of the labor is already done for Heaney, the lessons he learned throughout his journey with the Boy Scouts is one he will likely take with him for the rest of his life.
“I feel like it is a long road and it is a tough road at times,” said Heaney of his time with the Boy Scouts. “But I made a lot of friends and I’ve made many memories to camping trips to just the meetings that we have. I also feel like I’ve gained a lot of leadership experience from it.”
