Waunakee Neighborhood Connection

This month we are featuring Spencer Tuttrup for his amazing help.    Thank you all for helping make a difference!

Spencer Tuttrup — Eagle Scout Helps WNC Soar!

WNC has been blessed with another eagle scout project.  Read all about the project from the scout himself, Spencer Tuttrup.

“One long year ago, I contacted Genna Eaton in search of an idea for my Eagle project. An Eagle project is a service project undertaken by a Boy Scout to achieve the highest rank. When I initially decided to begin my Eagle project, working with WNC was an obvious choice because I was familiar with the organization from previous volunteering opportunities. I contacted Genna to discuss possible projects. The one project that seemed to stick out to both Genna and me were adjustable rolling shelves. These shelves would be very flexible in the small space available in the WNC store.  Just like that my project started.  Using skills learned in tech-ed classes, I designed a shelving unit on Autodesk Inventor in my free time between classes and at lunch.  After I had the shelving unit plans done, I took them to Genna for approval.

I estimated the cost for two shelving units was between $225 and $275.  I needed to start fundraising.  At this point, I thought my project was going really easily, and didn’t know fund raising would be the hardest part of the entire project.  I was very nervous.  One call I made was to Premier Builders.  Without hesitation, Jeanette Acker from Premier Builders happily wrote me a check.  I didn’t know how much the check was going to be because she didn’t say on the phone.  Later, after picking up the check from the super polite receptionist, I opened it and was amazed to see a significant portion of my project paid for, well over what I asked from them. I am extremely grateful.

Part of an Eagle project includes other scouts assisting with the project.  During the building, painting and delivery of the shelving units, I had the assistance of several scouts from Troop 46.  When thinking of where to get paint, Ace Hardware popped up in my head because they have a paint station right in their store.  I was really nervous to go into Ace and ask them if they could donate any paint.  Instead of being turned down, the staff at Ace was super helpful and found 3 quarts of mixed paint. They tried their best to get it as white as possible, which turned out as a nice tan color.  They not only gladly gave me the 3 quarts, but on top of the paint, they threw in a new stirring stick and bucket for free.

The project was a huge success.  Not only did I pick a project that I enjoyed, it was for an organization I believe in.  I got to experience new things that I would never have done otherwise such as fundraising, planning out a materials chart, preparing final documentation, and even building the shelves.  All of that experience is a positive on my life.  Before I started fundraising, I was extremely nervous and thought nobody would help me, but now I know the people of Waunakee are there to help you when you need it.  I not only got the experience personally, but I also know my shelves will help the Neighborhood Connection with their storage issues for many years. – written by Spencer Tuttrup.