HUNTERDON COUNTY, NJ – Hunterdon County Commissioners Director John E. Lanza at this weeks commissioners meeting recognized two distinguished young men for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.
Thomas Mani and Kevin York of Boy Scouts of America Troop 108, recently attained the rank of Eagle Scout, scouting’s highest award.
Thomas Mani’s Eagle Scout project consisted of building a school garden at Franklin Township School.
Thomas transformed the courtyard area to house raised portable planting beds for students enabling them to take their plants home during breaks and ultimately for transplanting back at home gardens.
Creating three inground beds, and made a portable wooden desk for the teachers to utilize as an outdoor classroom. Along with the work that was proposed, Thomas assisted the school in obtaining a $2,000.00 grant from Sustainable Jersey, to help fund the garden.
Thomas began operating his own farm in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic put students on remote status at North Hunterdon High School; and will be attending Polytech in the fall for Heavy Machine Operator training and he will continue his passion for farming.
Kevin York has been an active scout demonstrating outstanding leadership and has contributed many service hours during his years of scouting during which time he has earned 35 Merit Badges, including, Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship of the Nation, Citizenship in the World, and Emergency preparedness badges.
Kevin’s project benefited the Woodsland Wildlife Refuge in Pittstown, which is a state licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility for orphaned or injured wildlife and is a nonprofit 501(C)(3) charitable corporation.
The project involved the construction of a large enclosure to house raccoons that have been rescued while they are being rehabilitated; this new enclosure and will supplement the existing structures, which are needed since Woodsland Wildlife Refuge has been caring for a growing number of raccoons each year.
