Boy Scout helps construct playground

• Grant Collins

Grant Collins built a playground for his Eagle Scout project

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Trinity Lutheran Church in Hammond is now home to a brand new, almost finished playground. Among its features are two slides, monkey bars and swings.

A 14-year-old was responsible for its creation.

Grant Collins, 14, raised funds, organized crews and constructed the playground for the church, which his family attends.

“They’ve been wanting one for a while,” Collins explained. “I wanted to make it happen.”

The project is one step of toward Collins becoming an Eagle Scout, the most elite rank in Boy Scouts.

Typically, young men working toward the Eagle rank are juniors or seniors in high school. Not so for Collins.

“I’m just an overachiever,” he joked. “I wanted to get it done so I could goof around.”

Collins was a member of Pack 110 until his Webelos cross-over. Then he became a member of Pack 161 of Hammond and Roberts, even though he lives in Baldwin.

“I like camping stuff,” he said. “This troop does a lot more of it (than the Baldwin troop).”

Attaining the Eagle rank is something Collins said he hoped for.

“I just kind of said it was my goal and I’d like to achieve it,” he explained.

Finishing the project doesn’t automatically make Collins an Eagle Scout though. First he needs to earn the last of the 21 required merit badges, then complete a few more phases of the Eagle Scout project.

Building the playground is a big step toward becoming an Eagle Scout. It’s a big project to take on too.

His dad Brian said he’s served on the Eagle Board of Review, which hears about other young men’s projects.

“It’s way more than I’ve seen come through,” Brian said.

To make the playground dream a reality, Collins first drafted plans which he presented to the church.

Collins said he originally intended to make it 50-by-50 feet, but because of the land area it was reduced to 36-by-36 feet. Also, he planned to put railroad ties around the edges, but due to the chemicals involved, stone edging was requested.

Collins also had to raise money for the playground, fill material and edging. That came to the tune of $4,000.

Although Collins admits it was “different” asking people for money, he was highly successful. He estimated that $2,000 was knocked of through company donations.

Anchor Block donated all the stones for the edging. Wood was donated by Stock Lumber. The pea gravel that will cover the ground was given by Cemstone.

Other donations came from church members and the church itself. Collins also held a brat stand outside Nielsen’s in Baldwin.

The playground wasn’t built by just Collins alone.

“There were between 30-40 people who helped with construction, block work, donations and working,” he estimated. Among his helpers were fellow Boy Scouts, church members, family and friends.

It took about three days to get the playground itself constructed. The block work, however, was more time consuming, Collins said.

“That’s the hardest part,” he said. Previous to this project, Collins said he’d never worked with edging blocks, but Boy Scouts taught him to be prepared for anything, including that.

Collins is the son of Brian and Rachel. He has one sister, MacKenzie.

Tags: grant collins, boy scout, playground, communities, hammond