Eagle Scout Project Builds New Garden Beds

When you ask an Eagle Scout what the most rewarding part of their journey was, most will say it was their Eagle Scout Service Project. The purpose of the Eagle Project is to give the Scout an opportunity to “plan, develop, and give leadership to others.” Eagle Scout projects are evaluated on the benefit to the organization being served and, on the leadership, provided by the candidate.

This Scout’s Honor

Ian Eckman, from Troop One of The Coastal Georgia Council of the Boy Scouts of America, is an excellent leader.  His troop is part of the charter organization Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church Savannah, Georgia.  For his certification, Ian chose to design, organize funding, and build a set of much-needed garden beds for the new master gardens at EmployAbility.  During the pandemic, we lost one of our buildings and the gardens we worked so hard to cultivate, which created uncertainty for one of the programs in our Academy – Nourish.

When Ian chose to build these garden beds, he didn’t realize the extent of his contribution.  These new gardens are incredible educational tools; but to us, they also represent a new season, growth, the abundance of life, and progress.

2020 was a tough year, there were a lot of changes. Some were good, some were difficult, but all were important. As we heal together, we look forward to the future. This non-profit provides the best services possible.  To do so, we create a warm and nurturing environment to foster development. Our programs are designed to help our participants thrive, and these gardens are some of the many important tools we utilize to create a foundation for personal and professional growth.

Nourish

Our Nourish program focuses on one of Savannah’s biggest industries, the hospitality industry.  This course utilizes a true farm-to-table model of the food industry. Participants can start training in our gardens and then move forward to food safety and sanitation, nutrition, and finally prep cook training.  In addition to the Academy, our Enrichment Center takes advantage of the gardening program. Growing food is an incredible and rewarding life-skill for anyone to have. Plus, we have so much fun doing it.  Life’s a garden, dig!  

Thank you to Ian and the amazing team of volunteers who contributed. We’ll be rooting for Ian this spring!