MORGANTOWN —Boy Scout Troop 65 as well as Cub Scout Pack 60 members lent a helping hand Saturday morning with the Winter Weather Posse. Hank Burton said the boys have been participating the community outreach for seven or eight years now. Each fall a group of Scouts do leaf raking and yard clean-up for senior citizens and those in need.
“It’s a great service project and an opportunity for us to give back to the community,” he said.
Eleanor Green helps the Scouts get linked up with those in the community who might need a helping hand getting their yards ready for the winter. Many people the Scouts help can’t do these tasks on their own, so the group of boys show up with rakes in hand to get the job done.
“A lot of these people have been on this list for many years. I know some of the houses we’ve done for five, six years in a row. She has a regular group of people that get their yards taken care of. She does all the coordination, we just do the labor,” said Burton.
The boys were in good spirits Saturday morning, working together to get a yard raked up on Anderson Avenue in Suncrest. Burton said the yard the boys were working on could have taken one person all day, and the Scout got it done in an hour.
“They’re full of energy, they’re having fun, but they’re all pitching in,” he said.
He said many hands make less work. With a group of about 25 Scouts and parents driving them around to get the jobs done the Scouts could hit multiple locations.
A lot of the work includes raking leaves, however the Winter Weather Posse also has people who do more complicated jobs such as tree removal. The Scouts do simple things, said Burton, like checking and changing smoke detector batteries and of course cleaning fall foliage out of the yard.
The Scouts are very active within the community, working with Arnettsville Community Center, among other entities and organizations like the Rail Trail. Whether its trail work or building shelters, they’ve got an extensive resume of community outreach. The Scouts can pick the different activities they want to get involved in as well.
One of the Boy Scout Laws is “a scout is helpful” and the troop was energized and excited to be giving back to the community Saturday. The troop has varying ages of Scouts, with many on track to become Eagle Scouts, the highest achievement a Scout can get. Part of achieving that is community service and giving back.
“It’s good to give back to the community and its part of who we are. It’s part of what makes Morgantown special, the people that give back,” he said.
