Hello Troop 648
I was on the St. Vincent de Paul website recently and noticed a picture on their home page that looked familiar. Upon closer inspection through the fruit and vegetable jungle, I saw a shed (with a new paint job and graphics) a fence and the freeway. I quickly recalled Alex Dahlmann’s Eagle Scout project from 2013.
Alex led the troop, family and friends in transforming a gravel lot into an Urban Farm! From SVdP’s website – “(Our) Urban Farm grows and harvests hundreds of pounds of fresh produce every week. These fruits and vegetables are then used in our kitchens and added to food boxes to feed families in need.” You can read an article from October, 2015 about the farm here as well.
An excerpt from the article states, “Once harvested, the produce is transported within the same campus grounds to the kitchen where it is then batched and distributed throughout the four other dining rooms in the Valley.”
According to Esther Martinez, St. Vincent de Paul public relations manager, the main campus serves more than 300 meals each night. The menu is designed by Chef Chris Hoffman everyday and is based on what is harvested. “We find ways to use it,’ Martinez said. “Nothing goes to waste.”
The article goes on to say, “Almost two years after the initial seeds were planted (fall of 2013), the St. Vincent de Paul Urban Farm is now producing tens of thousands of pounds of food each year and it continues to grow.” Talk about an amazing and lasting impact started by a scout in our troop!
Here are some before and after pictures. You can clearly see the shed in the before pictures, that has since been repainted and features a local juice company’s logo. Also, the white cinder block wall along the south side of the farm is visible in some of the before and after pictures.
Before (can you spot some of our current scouts in the picture below?!) Shed in background
Before – white cinder block wall on south side, view looking to the west
Before
Before – Shed again, but wait until you see what’s in the empty lot now!
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Before -Â Three Generations of Eagle Scouts (from left, Eagle/father Richard Dahlmann, Alex Dahlmann T648 Eagle #42 and if memory serves me, Alex’s Eagle Scout grandfather on the right)
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Before – the shed and empty lot
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After!!! Notice the shed and the not so empty dirt lot!
After
White cinder block wall in the background along the south side
After – cinder block wall again
Way to go Alex!
As if that wasn’t enough, a quick update from another project and the Troop’s most recent Eagle Scout #54, Kevin Weinhold. You may recall, Kevin led the troop, family and friends in building a number of ramps and other structures to be used by the Skate After School program. The program “matches talented and enthusiastic volunteers, with Phoenix area schools to provide skateboard instruction to underserved youth. With donated skateboard equipment, we are able to engage students in a challenging and exciting extracurricular activity.”
Kevin shared a video that was posted to Thrasher Magazine’s Instagram account that shows a principal from a local school skateboarding and using one of Kevin’s ramps. The video has over 540,000 views to date! It was a great project and the ramps have been traveling all around the Valley.
Here is the video.
Skate on Kevin!
Have a ‘Where are they now?” Eagle Scout story? Send it to me (dmcfetters@gmail.com) as we would love to share it with the troop family!
Scoutmaster T648