Seats of Service

16 year old, Haden Toenjes is a scout in Troop 385 who is currently working on his Eagle Project. He will be a junior at Sandburg High School this fall. Haden, who was a cub scout and now a Life Scout has been in scouts for 9 years. He has learned the value of volunteering through those years and the importance of community service. Haden has volunteered with a veterans group since second grade, helping them collect donations and fill care packages to deployed soldiers. In recent years, his grandpa who is an Army veteran, has suffered some health problems. His grandpa spent quite a bit of time being treated by and recovering at the Hines VA hospital.

When it came time to choose a beneficiary and project for his Eagle proposal, Haden decided it would be great to give back to the VA hospital. Not only do they provide great care for our nation’s veterans, they continue to take great care of his grandpa. Haden contacted the volunteer coordinator at Hines to share his intent and ideas. Through their meetings and emails, Haden was informed of a need for a picnic table and bench for the community garden on the Hines campus. Haden and his dad created plans to build a wheelchair accessible picnic table and bench with an estimated cost of $700 for the entire project.

Once approved, Haden created a Facebook page for his project as well as a donation page asking friends and family to donate and support him. Haden then created a list of supplies, shopped and began preparing the wood. He will complete the project in two phases. During the first phase he will oversee a group of volunteers, typically made up of other scout and friends, who will assemble the picnic table and bench. The second phase will be during delivery and installation. At that time he will direct volunteers to lay pavers, position the picnic table for easy access to wheelchairs and install the bench. The table and bench will be used by veterans, their caregivers, friends and family as they visit Hines VA Hospital and its community garden.

The Hines VA Hospital is the largest VA in Illinois, completing 830,000 patient visits and treats approximately 56,000 veterans annually. The addition of the picnic table and bench will benefit these veterans, caregivers and visitors of the residents in the hospital and Hines’ many extended care facilities.