Kevin's Eagle Project

Whew! It's done....over....complete.....finished....wrapped up.....what else can I say? Kevin's Eagle Project has ended!

About a month ago Maury Tanner (our good friend) mentioned that Kevin should do his Eagle Project up at Camp Lo Mia, which is a Young Women Camp outside of Payson, Arizona. It always needs some work. Maury thought it would be a good idea to plant some beautiful, green sod in front of one of the buildings that the girls use to complete various service projects at Camp. We kind of made a snap decision and jumped into the project right away. Thank heavens for Maury, because he pretty much knew what had to be done and how. Long story short.....he got us going!


Kevin had alot of work to do. The site already had a sprinkler system installed. That was our good fortune. Kevin had to clear the ground, bring in dirt to level it, put in curbing and lay roughly 3,000 square feet of sod. In order to do this he had to raise 2,500.00 (alot more that we anticipated at first!)

Kevin, with Amy's help, made a flier and gave it out to people in our Ward boundaries outlining what he inteded to do and asked for donations. Several wonderful people donated generously! That gave Kevin a really good start! Plus, Kevin's family in Utah helped him alot with donations. That encouraged Kevin to get going and he realized that he could really accomplish this project.

Our family set up a Monday night and Max, Kevin, Ryan Bennett and I went up to preview the job ahead of us. To be honest I think we were a bit discouraged at the job we had ahead of us. I think it was a little bigger than Max anticipated. Thank heavens for Ryan Bennett, who kept an encouraging word out there and knew a little bit more of what was going on than Max and I did. He kept on moving forward and that helped us alot. We started removing all the weeds, and big rocks from the site. Max, Kevin and Ryan started marking the boundaries of the sod and digging small ditches to put in the curbing. By the time we left on Monday night we were a little more encouraged.



Max had the task of arranging for the heavy equipment and locating sod (150 miles away) to be delivered at specific times. We had to arrange for a backhoe to come and spread the dirt load and arrange for a trucking company to pick up and deliver the sod. It took alot of phone calls on Max's part. What a great dad! Kevin you're lucky.



In the meantime, Kevin had to make calls to leaders and youth to head up teams to level the ground and to lay sod and for clean-up. He did a great job.

Our ward had planned a Youth Conference up at Camp Lo Mia and Kevin's Eagle Project was going to used as the Service Project for this Youth Conference! So we automatically had help up there......about 50 youth and 10 leaders.

The day before the project was due to start, Max, Kevin and I went up to make sure everything was set to go. The topsoil had been dumped and leveled and the sod was due to arrive. Max and Kevin began to install the curbing while we waited for the sod to be delivered. It was such a beautiful day up in Payson. I want to say it was almost fun doing all this hard work! Well, the sod was delivered and a backhoe came to unload it from the truck. Kevin took charge and got it all unloaded into the proper place so it would be easy to lay the sod. We were lucky Maury was up there also.....he kind of has a take charge personality and knows how to get things done! I know Max appreciated that too, plus Maury is Kevin's Teacher's Quorum Advisor. It's good!




Come Saturday morning the kids had a great breakfast and then they all came down to work on Kevin's Project. It was so much fun. Those kids worked so hard, along with their leaders. Kevin tried really hard to direct them and keep them on task. Again, Maury was right there to help him. Ryan Boyer, Ryan Bennett and Scot and Amy also were there to help Kevin. It went so smoothly. Some of the kids were die hards and stuck to it until the end. They did a great job!


It was really satisfying to sit back and look at a job well done. It changed the look of the building so much. Hopefully they will take care of the grass up there so it can be beautiful for the Young Women when they start to attend girl's camp this year. I was proud of Kevin. He stuck to it and really did a great job organizing the kids and raising the money to pay for all the material and equipment needed to pull off his project. Thanks to all who helped! Good job Kevin! For me......I am sooooooo glad it is finished!