By CARL E. FEATHER - cfeather@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon
MADISON TOWNSHIP —
As Madison cross-country runner Mitchell Farnsworth paused to stretch under the township pavilion this summer, he noticed the old lakefront building was looking rather shabby.
“I thought if it were cleaned up, more people would enjoy it,” says Mitchell, the son of Mike and Stephanie Blake.
Mitchell, who has been a Boy Scout since 11, was looking for an Eagle Scout project at the time of his epiphany, and decided to approach the Madison Township Trustees with a proposal. He offered to give the pavilion and its picnic tables a fresh coat of paint and tackle some other issues around the park, including cleaning up garbage left behind by thoughtless users.
Madison Township Administrator Larry Advey said he appreciates what Mitchell and the other Scouts are doing.
“We always appreciate it when young people in the community step forward and do this kind of project,” Advey said. “It’s a plus for the township. It shows the quality of the folks we have living here.”
Mitchell said he spent about two months putting together the plan, getting it approved, obtaining the donations of materials and lining up volunteers. Two work sessions were held to prep the building for its fresh coat of paint, which Sherwin Williams is donating.
Mitchell estimates that it will take about 20 gallons of paint and primer to get the job done.
“I think he picked the biggest pavilion in Lake County,” says Don Rogers, a Troop 785 committee member who volunteered with the project.
The pavilion measures 40 feet by 108 feet. All of the posts are being scraped, cleared of nails and staples and primed before painting. The entire building was power washed prior to painting.
Elsewhere on the township park grounds, Mitchell and his fellow scouts replaced about 10 of the rails in the fence around the property. Carter Lumber of Madison donated the materials.
Mitchell says he got serious about his Scouting commitment about two years ago and began working toward Eagle Scout.
He hopes to wrap up the project in September. He’s had as many as 15 Scouts, friends and family members working on the project at one time. Now that school is back in session, he’s finding that it is more difficult to assemble a crew of workers on school nights. The shorter days aren’t helping, either.
He’s balancing the project with his own school work and extracurriculars in cross country and track. He says the biggest challenge he’s faced with the project was lining up the donations of supplies and getting people who could spare a few hours to work on the project.
The pavilion will still require a substantial amount of work even after Mitchell’s project is done. The roof is badly deteriorated, and Madison Trustees have applied for grant money to fix it. Mitchell won’t be involved in that effort, however.
“That’s a whole other project,” he said.
